Human Resource Blog

Depression, Paperwork and the FMLA

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Our Alaska firm has an employee that has taken off several weeks to deal with depression. This time off has been unpaid. We have suggested to the employee that she consider taking FMLA time off if she ever needs to take time again. However, she said that she hates to do paperwork and would not want to hassle with it. We’re concerned not only that she will continue to take time off to deal with her illness and that the time off not only hurts her salary, but it also is hard for us to predict. Please advise.

Depression is a tough issue to deal with for many people. That’s why is it is one of the serious medical conditions that the Family Medical Leave Act protects. So yes, your employee is perfectly within her right to want to take her hours as part of the FMLA. Those hours might even be paid, depending on her personal situation.

First, before you offer her the opportunity to take FMLA, make sure that she qualifies. She must have worked for 1,250 over the past year or a total of 12 months with your company. Your company must also have at least 50 employees and qualify for the FMLA benefits. Keep in mind that those weeks that your employee took off for her depression issues before do not count as hours worked. Neither to other sick days, vacation days, or personal days that she might have taken over the past year.

Next, she actually does not have to deal with a great deal of paperwork in order to qualify for FMLA benefits. In fact, she just has to notify you verbally. It would be best if she could try to plan a schedule for when she can return to work, but it is likely that she will not even know. Therefore, let your employee know that when she is suffering from her extreme depression, she simply needs to call you to tell you she cannot come into work.

As an employer, if you need proof of her depression, it is up to you to track this proof down. You may have to ask for her doctor’s note or medical records, but the ball is in your court there. It’s also up to you to notify her when her 12 weeks begins. Though the law is fuzzy, unless you specifically notify her that her 12 weeks of FMLA is in full force, the Department of Labor may rule that any time off has not yet qualified for FMLA benefits and she may get another full 12 weeks.