If the employer requires, the employee must provide a medical certification of the employee's fitness to return to work if the FMLA leave was taken for the employee's own serious health condition.

The employer's requirement must be made pursuant to a practice or uniformly-applied policy and applies only to the health condition which caused the employee to be unable to perform the functions of the employee's job. For example, if the employee took FMLA leave because a back injury prevented the employee from loading trucks, the employer could not require the employee to submit certification regarding HIV.

The employer's requirement for a fitness for duty medical certification must be communicated to the employee in writing, usually at the time the employee provides notice of the need for leave, or immediately after leave begins if unforeseeable.

The medical certification of the employee's fitness to return to work may be only a simple statement from the employee's doctor.

The requirement for a certificate of fitness to return to work must be job-related and consistent with business necessity pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). For more detailed information, see Regulations 29 CFR Part 825.310.

If all the employer's notification responsibilities have been met, and the employee fails to provide a fitness certificate as required at the time the employee is to return to work, the employer may delay the employee's return to work until the fitness certificate is provided.

Under some circumstances, if the employee fails to provide the fitness certificate, the employee may be terminated. For more information, see Regulations 29 CFR Part 825.311(c).

Please return to the Previous Page to continue learning about employee responsibilities under FMLA.

Please return to the Main Menu for other information on FMLA.