An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 8 – Leaves And Absences

a. School’s Request In most cases a school should request that an employee furnish certification from a health care provider at the time the employee gives notice of the need for leave or within five (5) business days, or, in the case of unforeseen leave, within five (5) business days after the leave commences. 1223 b. Employee’s Time To Provide When an employee’s leave is foreseeable and at least 30 days’ notice has been provided, the employee should provide the medical certification before the leave begins. When this is not possible, the employee must provide the requested certification to the school within the time frame requested by the school (which must allow at least 15 calendar days after the school’s request), unless it is not practicable under the particular circumstances to do so despite the employee’s diligent, good faith efforts. 1224 c. Consequences For Failure To Provide An Adequate Or Timely Certification At the time the school requests certification, the school must advise the employee of the anticipated consequences of failing to provide adequate certification. 1225 The school must advise the employee in writing whenever it finds a certification incomplete or insufficient and inform the employee of the additional information that is necessary to make the certification complete and sufficient. 1226 The school must provide the employee with at least seven (7) calendar days (unless not practicable under the particular circumstances despite the employee’s diligent good faith efforts) to cure any such deficiency. If the deficiencies specified by the school are not cured in the resubmitted certification, the school may deny the taking of FMLA leave. A certification that is not returned to the school is not considered incomplete or insufficient, but constitutes a failure to provide certification. 1227 d. What Information May Be Required In A Medical Certification? The FMLA regulations set forth the type of information which an employer may request of an employee providing a medical certification to support a request for FMLA leave. The sample medical certification forms included in the Compendium set forth the information which may be requested. 1228 LCW Practice Advisor We recommend that Schools do not use the Department of Labor’s medical certification form, WH-

380. The DOL’s sample form does not take into account the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act which generally prohibits employers from acquiring or using medical information, such as an employee’s medical diagnosis, without prior written authorization from the employee. The sample included in the Compendium, takes into account California law.

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 284