HR Training Recruting

DOL's FMLA Forms Expired 12.31.11

January 10, 2012

As some of you may have noticed, the Department of Labor's (DOL) Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) paperwork expired on December 31, 2011.

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the DOL is required to submit its FMLA forms to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval, so that OMB can ensure the information request and the time spent responding to the request is minimized. The forms were initially approved in late 2008 and have a three year approval, which is the maximum time allowed.  Even with the expiration of these forms, the DOL and employers may continue to use them, bearing these things in mind:

  • Add the GINA safe harbor provision to your FMLA notices and forms. Under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), employers requesting medical certification or fitness for duty certification must instruct health care providers not to collect or provide any genetic information.
  • Employee's Serious Health Condition - To comply with this law, we are asking that you not provide any genetic information when responding to this request for medical information. 
  • Family Member's Serious Health Condition - To comply with this law, we are asking that you not provide any genetic information when responding to this request for medical information. 
  • Consider adapting the DOL's "model" FMLA forms to suit your needs. The DOL's forms may be lacking in several areas. 1) the medical certification forms do not request all of the information that employers may require, such as information regarding an employee's work restrictions; 2) the model designation notice does not include language addressing therules for fitness-for-duty certifications for intermittent or reduced work schedule leave, which will be crucial to combat FMLA misuse and abuse; and 3) because the DOL's forms are designed as a "one-size-fits-all" solution, they include extraneous information that will not apply to all or even most employers, and do not reflect individual employers' policies and procedures. Additionally, the forms do not account for the changes to exigency leave, which now is possible as a result of a family member's call to duty in a foreign country (as opposed to the confusing "contingency operation" language originally used).

For more information regarding this update please contact your HR Director or the Achilles Group office at 281.469.1800.  Also, more information can be found at FMLA Insights or the DOL website.