The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

chapter 8 | Medical Certifications (Proof of Illness) | 161
As discussed in Chapter 7, you should make a preliminary designation
of the leave if you believe it is covered by the FMLA. Then, when the
employee returns and gives you the medical certification, you can issue a
final designation either confirming it was FMLA leave or withdrawing the
preliminary designation if it wasn’t. Just be sure to issue the final designation
within two business days of receiving the medical certification.
Deadlines for Returning the Certification
As explained in Chapter 7, an employee who requests leave for a foreseeable
reason—for example, because the employee’s wife is having a baby or the
employee has scheduled surgery—is usually required to give you 30 days’
notice. Once you get that notice, you can request medical certification. In
this situation, the employee must return the medical certification before
he or she starts leave, as long as the employee has at least 15 days to get the
certification. If the employee doesn’t return the certification on time and
doesn’t have a good reason for the delay, you can postpone the start of the
employee’s leave until you receive a certification.
If the employee takes leave for an unforeseeable reason—such as an injury,
emergency surgery, or premature birth—the employee has 15 days to provide
the certification. If the employee can’t meet this deadline despite reasonable,
good-faith efforts to do so, the employee must return the certification as
soon as is reasonably possible. If the employee doesn’t, you can delay the
continuation of the employee’s leave.
Because the employee will already have started leave when you ask for the
medical certification, you should designate the employee’s time off as FMLA
leave pending your receipt of the certification; if the certification shows
that the employee isn’t entitled to leave, you can withdraw your preliminary
designation. Chapter 7 explains how to make a preliminary designation (and
how to withdraw it, if necessary).
If the employee never provides you with a medical certification you
properly requested, the leave is not protected by the FMLA.