The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

chapter 7 | Giving Notice and Designating Leave | 137
Employee Notice Requirements
While most of the obligation to administer FMLA leave falls on you, the
employee bears some responsibility. Primarily, an employee requesting leave
that may be FMLA-qualified must give you enough information so that you
can determine whether the FMLA applies.
Methods of Employee Notification
The employee’s notice may be either oral (including by telephone) or in
writing (including by fax or email). An employee’s spokesperson may give the
notice if the employee is incapacitated or otherwise unable to give the notice.
What does the employee need to tell you? Not much: only enough information
to let you know that the need for leave may be covered by the FMLA.
(29 C.F.R. § 208.) The employee doesn’t even have to mention the FMLA or
the particular rights protected by the FMLA. Nor does the employee have to
give you any medical information when making the initial request for leave:
It’s enough if the employee’s notice reasonably informs you that the leave is
for a serious health condition or birth, adoption, or foster placement.
Caution
There are no “magic words” for an employee to use to request FMLA leave.
All the employee has to do is tell you enough information for you to
determine whether the leave may be covered by the FMLA.
That means it’s up to you to recognize the possibility that the leave is
covered by the FMLA. For example, if you know that an employee suffers
from a chronic medical condition and the employee requests leave without
specifying why, you should preliminarily designate the leave as FMLA leave.
Your knowledge of the chronic medical condition and the leave request
amount to notice under the FMLA. Likewise, if an employee’s behavior
shows that the employee is suffering from a serious health condition, that
may be enough to put you on notice of the need for FMLA leave. Again, you
should make a preliminary designation and then investigate and determine
whether a permanent designation is appropriate.