Knowing information the employee hasn't told us about

Jocelyn

As we prepare for HIPAA compliance, we are accutely aware of possible violations in our daily activities. A recent situation has put us in limbo. A clinic member told the administrator about an employee being referred to a specialist for surgery; however, the employee, who's scheduled to work this weekend has yet to notify us. Do I send FMLA information knowing this person has had surgery? Does the supervisor make arrangements to have weekend coverage even though the employee hasn't notified her? Do we wait until the employee notifies us even though we're sure it will now be at the last minute for scheduling or after she returns to work for FMLA notification? We're a small town. Is it possible the employee assumes we must know about this by now and that's why she's not notifying us? We will be using this scenario for HIPAA education.

Don D

I don't think I would jump the gun and start sending out FMLA forms. Technically, she was required to give you advance notice of scheduled surgery if she expected FMLA, not to mention notice to the facility for scheduling needs. Maybe it wasn't on her mind. There's a bit of he said - she said in your post so I wouldn't get ahead of myself. On the scheduling issue though, depending on the critical nature of her presence or coverage in her absence, I would alert the supervisor to have a backup plan. To ignore that I think might jeopardize other things. If she gets bent because you had coverage arranged, oh well. What if it's out-patient and she never misses a beat? It might all be an over-reaction. If I was really alarmed about coverage and I were her supervisor, I think I'd ask, "You'll be here Saturday, right?" If all of your suspicions and suggestions turn out to be true, at minimum, I would certainly counsel her later about the necessity of pre-notification, not only for your legal obligations to her, but also for the sake of the facility and its mission to its clients. A Monday-morning-quarterback would also ask the administrator if she evaluated the validity of the report by asking the messenger the source of her information. Then the Administrator could have attached some value to the report or determine if it was just a bunch of workers whispering about each other's private stuff.......x:D

LFernandes

I agree - just have the supervisor ask the employee if she's going to be in this weekend. Short, sweet and to the point. If she says no, the make arrangements to cover her schedule and send out the necessary paperwork.