Originally presented on November 20, 2009
10:30 a.m. to Noon (Pacific)

Order Option       Price   CD Recording Only       $219

The sweeping changes to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which took effect this past January, contain several provisions related to requests for medical certifications. For instance, the regulations increase the amount of time an employer has to request certification, from two days to five days after receiving notice of a worker's need for leave.

The regulations also provide employers with greater leeway in authenticating medical certifications and allow them additional opportunities to request certain information from a medical provider. The catch? This leeway comes with increased compliance requirements. One small slip, and your organization could find itself in a huge legal mess.

Join us for an in-depth, 90-minute interactive webinar all about the potential legal pitfalls—and how to avoid them. You'll learn:

• How the new FMLA certification rules interact with existing California law
• The DOL form California employers must never use—and why
• When you can and cannot contact a healthcare provider about a worker's medical condition
• The questions you may ask a medical provider, and the legal line you must never cross when requesting medical information
• What to do if a worker's documentation is incomplete, vague, or unresponsive
• When you can legally deny leave based on an employee's failure to provide sufficient and complete medical documentation
• The recertification challenges you could face in light of the new regulations
• When you may request a recertification
• The major effect the new regulations have on your requests for fitness-for-duty certifications
• Potential liability that could arise under the Americans with Disabilities Act if mishandle medical certifications

About Your Speaker:

James W. Michalski, Esq., is senior counsel at the Los Angeles office of Holland & Knight, LLP. Michalski represents management in state and federal courts, administrative agencies, and arbitrations in cases involving claims of wrongful termination, discrimination and harassment on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, race, national origin, and disability. He also represents management in cases involving breach of contract, fraud, misrepresentation, interference with contract, unfair competition, misappropriation of trade secrets, violation of wage and hour laws, and violation of civil rights laws. He also counsels employers on personnel matters including administering leaves of absence. He teaches employment law at the University of Phoenix.

This program has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). This program is also a California-specific continuing education activity for PHR-CA and SPHR-CA recertification. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org. The use of this seal is not an endorsement by HRCI of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met HRCI's criteria to be pre-approved for recertification credit.

The Employer Resource Institute is an approved MCLE Multiple Activity Provider, and this program has been approved for 1.5 hours of MCLE credit by the State Bar of California. For more information, please contact our customer service department at (800) 695-7178.

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