The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) forms for medical certification, leave designation and certification related to service member leave quietly expired on December 31, 2011. The DOL recently posted new, unexpired forms (now available under the forms section on Compensation.BLR.com). The new forms contain an expiration date of February 28, 2015.
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Get Your Report Now!Unfortunately, the expiration dates are the only things that changed on the forms. Although the DOL had the opportunity to address shortcomings on the FMLA forms such as lack of a GINA safe harbor statement and specific references to new FMLA family military leave provisions, it did not choose to do so.
Instead, in the latest proposed FMLA rules the DOL stated that it will remove the FMLA forms and notices from the appendix in the FMLA regulations and post them to the Department's website in the interest of “streamlining the clearance process, [and permitting] the forms to be more expeditiously amended in response to statutory and other changes, as well as suggestions from the public.” This, says DOL “will ensure that the most accurate and up-to-date forms are available to the public.” The Department also announced that it intends to develop a new form for the certification for the serious injury or illness of a covered veteran.
This is not to say, however, that future substantive changes to FMLA forms and notices will not be subject to notice and comment by the public. The new system of posting prototype forms and notices to the Department’s website is “intended to facilitate the information collection requirements of the FMLA…. [and] as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, [DOL] conducts a pre-clearance consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of information every three years in accordance with the requirements of the [law.]. Substantive changes to the forms as they appear in the Appendices require additional and separate rulemaking activities.”
Article updated 2/20/12.