Family Medical Leave Act issues at work

[EEck]

Ohio
I have an FMLA for a hereditary nerve condition.
My dr. filled out the proper paperwork in Aug. of 2001 and now the H.R. person that handles the health paperwork is making people that have FMLAs to go get re-evaluated...the FMLA papers
say that they are suppose to be good for a rolling year...after a Dr. has given his/her educated decision on my health now be told by my employer to re-do the evaluation? What's more the woman
"up there" is saying she can make us return to our Dr.s every 30 days and just may do it! I do not have that kind of time...I feel she is harassing people with FMLAs...what do you all think?

All advice and thoughts are greatly appreciated!

 

[cbg]

The FMLA statute does give employers the right to have a condition re-certified not more frequently than every 30 days. You are misinterpreting if you are reading the forms to say the the certification is good for a rolling year; FMLA is only for 12 weeks in a 12 month period, so how could the certification be good for 12 months?

 

[EEck]

The 12 weeks can be used at any time within the year; not necessarily all at once; some days I work very hard and physically
am unable to go in the next day and work very hard so I call my
employer and tell them I am going to use an FMLA day, which doesn't get held against my attendance. A lot of the employees
were just getting the impression that the H.R. lady was just "flexing her powers" to make us miserable...Our Dr.s are not
going to want to fill out paperwork every thirty days and she knows it's just a matter of time before the Dr.s wont fill them out if she does this...thanks for your reply.

 

[cbg]

That doesn't change the fact that the company does have the right to request recertification. You are correct that you can use the 12 weeks at any time in the 12 months IF you were certified for intermittant FMLA. But frankly, that's all the more reason why a company might want to make sure that the situation has not changed since you are using the benefit over a longer period of time. I rarely ask for recertification, but I'm far more likely to ask for it on an employee who is using it intermittantly than I am on someone who is using the entire 12 weeks at once.

 

[EEck]

My main reason for asking is because as I first posted I have a nerve disease which will only worsen...and if she is going to make me go back to the Dr. every thirty days I feel that this would be
a type of harassment because MY particular condition will never get better and she is aware of this...I guess if she has the right
there's nothing that can be done but I feel also that she is abusing her powers and after awhile she will only be annoying the Drs (with paperwork) and the employees (having to make a Dr. appt. once in awhile is a pain). Which I am sure is her objective.

Thank you for your input!

 

[cbg]

I'm not saying that this is the case with you personally, but there is a LOT of FMLA abuse out there. She may be abusing it from her side of the desk too, I wouldn't know. But I do know that if there have been other abusers at your company that she needs to crack down on, and then she lets you only get one certification and doesn't make you get recertified when she would make someone else, it could be considered discrimination. It may not be about you, but about how she has to deal with the employees at your company as a whole.