The calendar now says 2012, but employers may notice that their Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) forms from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) carry a December 31, 2011, expiration date. What to do? For now, just keep using the old forms.
The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has submitted the forms for medical certification, leave designation, and certification related to service member leave for renewal to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Until the OMB approves the documents, you can continue to use the expired forms.
You should be careful, however. The expired forms don’t include the “safe harbor” language required by the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). Therefore, you should include that language with requests for medical certification.
The safe-harbor language informs employees that they shouldn’t provide any genetic information when responding to any employer request for medical information.
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