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We have an employee who was seen by her physician, diagnosed with COVID and was taken off work for five days. We have her doctor’s note, and we provided her FMLA paperwork as soon as we were notified, but she is refusing to have the FMLA certification completed. Does this qualify as FMLA (under serious health condition), and can we still designate this as FMLA without signed paperwork?

Two Department of Labor opinion letters—one from 2023 and one issued in October 2025—clarify how to calculate how many hours of FMLA leave an employee is eligible for.

We have an employee who has intermittent FMLA leave for migraines. She’s pregnant and calling off for morning sickness. Can we just chalk her time up as FMLA for migraines?

I have an employee who for two years has obtained an intermittent-leave certification for leave of a continuous period of two weeks. I just ask her doctor for the amount of time she needs off, but I’m fairly certain she is taking this as a vacation based on her social media postings. What else can I require of her doctor?

When considering how many hours an employee is ordinarily working: How do you figure the ordinary working hours of an exempt employee whose actual work is on an as-needed basis and often exceeds standard in-office hours to the point that the employer doesn’t even know for sure how much time that exempt worker is working?

September is National Recovery Month, highlighting the work being done to help Americans recover from often-devastating addictions to drugs and alcohol. It’s a good time to review your policies on detecting, preventing and eliminating drug abuse in the workplace to make sure you’re doing so the legal way.

We just fell below 50 employees. Does that mean we don’t have to provide FMLA leave?

Employees who are absent for an FMLA-covered reason are required to provide employers with enough information in their notice to demonstrate the need for FMLA leave. Most employers expect the employee to call in before the beginning of the shift, mentioning FMLA leave. But what happens if you count the absence against the employee because she only reported that she was ill?

We have a team member who currently has a certified intermittent FMLA in progress, stating she could have to have up to six episodes for her condition per year. She is having more frequent episodes that are lasting longer than usual and was recently hospitalized for a short time. Should we ask to have an updated certificate of health-care provider done?

As a recent case shows, employees with intermittent leave certifications for serious health conditions that may flare up from time to time are entitled to more time off than the estimate. Holding an employee strictly to the certification and terminating that employee for missing more work may backfire badly.