What are you doing between now and Feb 2? How about using some of that time to suggest changes to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

FMLA allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid (but benefits continued) leave each year of their employment to care for their own or a family member’s serious health condition or to bond with a new child. Employers have complained about certain aspects of the law for years.

A key complaint has involved FMLA’s intermittent leave provision, which lets workers take just a few hours or even a few minutes off, often without prior notice. “The law is used by people with attendance problems,” says Michael Eastman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “You have an employee with chronic tardiness … who says it’s for a health condition.”

Others have pointed out that claimed health problems are especially prevalent on Mondays and Fridays. And a survey by HR publisher B21 showed that 47% of employers surveyed felt unjustified intermittent leave posed at least “somewhat of a problem” for their operations.

Now the Department of Labor is contemplating changes in the law, with a Feb. 2 deadline for comment. In the past, business leaders have asked that the law not cover illnesses of less than 10 days’ duration, or that the somewhat vague definition of “serious health problem” be better spelled out, among other changes. The rules and procedure for adding your comments are listed here.

Meanwhile, say FMLA experts, there are several steps you can take now to curb intermittent leave abuse.

--Have a doctor certify all FMLA leave for medical reasons. You’re entitled to ask for a second or even a third opinion.

--Use a form that asks the certifying doctor for complete information on the claimed condition, including schedule of dates and times for treatments, and minimum amount of time leave will be needed. The DOL provides a form for this purpose.

--Have the employee recertify the condition every 30 days. This is at the worker’s expense and has proved a strong deterrent to bogus leave claims.

--Ask for a new certification for the claimed condition for each 12-month period.

--Insist that the employee work with you in setting up a schedule that includes as many treatments as possible in off-work hours.

--Transfer the employee to a position where absences are less disruptive. The law permits this, as long as pay and benefits remain equivalent to the previous job.

--Look for obvious abuse patterns, such as the “Monday/Friday syndrome.” You are entitled to ask for recertification of a claimed medical problem if “the employer receives information that casts doubt on the stated reason for the leave,” say the regulations. A Monday/Friday absence pattern is considered evidence to cast that doubt, and you can bring it to the certifying doctor’s attention.

Use these tools, says attorney Randi Klein Hyatt of Maryland law firm Shawe Rosenthal, LLP, “to ensure that the FMLA (particularly intermittent leave) is being used for employees who truly need it, and not those looking for an easy way to get away with a year of protected absences.”

If you're interested in sending the government comments on FMLA, click here for instructions from the Department of Labor on how to do so. Remember, the deadline is 5 p.m., February 2nd, so, as they say in the ad business, act now!