FMLA/Worker's Comp

SENOJ

One of our supervisor's was verbally counseled on a process and two days later she came to work with doctor's note taking her off work for two and one half weeks. She worked one day, had a fainting episode, went back to her family physician and was given another 3 weeks from work. Our company policy is to coordinate sick and vacation with FMLA, so she is getting paid at 100%. She is soon to be out of PTO and has contacted STD carrier claiming her illness is work-related. We filed the WC report and she visited a WC doctor. The WC doctor's diagnosed was totally different for her PCP and he sent her back to work on 4/20, however, her PCP said that she could return to work on 4/26. While at the WC clinic she asked the WC doctor to give her 2 more weeks off work which he denied. I need help. If she presents another doctor's note putting her off work, can we seek a second or maybe at this point third opinion. Also, the doctor noted on the Cerification of Healthcare Provider that she has a Permanent/Long Term Illness requiring Supervision, can we ask her doctor to give us a fitness for duty certification based on our job description. Please respond.

Don D

Yes, you can certainly do all of the above. You would be wise to seek another opinion and you can surely require a fitness for duty report based on the job description that you provide. Hang tough!

E Wart

Just a word of warning. You mentioned that the 2 doctors haave 2 different diagnosis. If this is true, then you should treat the 2 different and separate from each other. (Had this happen the other day with an employee who said he was out with hernia and turned out to be gland infection which had nothing to do with w/c. W/C denied the claim and said he could come back to work, but regular doctor has had him out for 2+ weeks. Follow the doctor's orders. If you feel that doctor is just parrotting what employee says, then you might want to get a second opinion.
E Wart