The Family and Medical Leave Act allows employees who are eligible to go on leave for family and medical purposes. The purpose of this is to protect the job of the employee to ensure that the employee won’t be terminated due to leave. All employees who are working for eligible for an employer can use their FMLA leave for up to 16 weeks during the calendar year.
For the FMLA leave to be complete, the employee needs to fill out the corresponding FMLA form for the purpose of the leave.
Different FMLA Forms and Healthcare Professionals
There are different FMLA paperwork that needs to be done for family, medical, and veteran/active-duty military personnel leave.
The employee may also need to take the FMLA paperwork to the healthcare professional he or she seeing in order to get the notes necessary. The healthcare professional will detail the illness or the injury of the employee requiring leave along with the number of days needed for the leave. This part is a bit vague but generally, healthcare professionals tend to write a couple of more days than the actual needed amount of leave.
There are five different FMLA forms that serve a different purpose. These forms come in the form of a PDF document which you can find in our FMLA Forms section. You can download a free copy of printable FMLA paperwork.
FMLA Paperwork Process
Here is how the process of completing the FMLA paperwork and starting the official leave works.
First and foremost, the employee needs to fill out the right FMLA form for the type of leave requested. We cited above where you can get the printable FMLA forms. The part where the healthcare professional must fill out – the FMLA Medical Certification – must be returned within 15 days after receiving it. Then, once it’s approved, the employee must present it to the employer within two days of requesting the FMLA leave.
The process of FMLA paperwork is as simple as that. There is no need for any further documentation to prove to the employer that you’re going on leave for these kinds of purposes. As long as the FMLA paperwork is done correctly, the leave will be granted. Take note that no employer has the right to terminate employment due to FMLA leave. This is protected under federal law and for abuses of FMLA, contact the Department of Labor.