Apwu Union Fmla Forms

Please note that the two new "optional" medical certification forms created by the DOL to replace the old optional WH-380 allow the health care provider to provide information beyond the required requirements. For example, while the new "optional" forms WH-380-E and WH-380-F explicitly allow the health care provider to provide the employee`s medical diagnosis on the form, they are not required to do so. On a positive note, the new regulation provides for special leave rights for military families. The rule allows military family employees to take time off to care for ill or injured military personnel and to take time off to manage the affairs of active duty military personnel. For a summary of the changes, see www.apwu.org/issues-fmla/analysis.htm. Information about the Family and Medical Leave Act, including USPS-approved forms to document and certify family leave and sick leave requests. An excerpt from "The Legal Rights of Union Stewards" by Robert M. Schwartz (Workers Rights Press). Named after a 1975 Supreme Court decision, Weingarten Rights provides that a unionized worker is entitled to a steward when faced with an investigative interview. This document explains what constitutes an investigative interview and the rights of employees and stewards in such an interview. The document contains a list of questions and answers about Weingarten`s rights.

The notice sent to the APWU Postal Service on January 13, 2009 contained changes to the DOL forms as well as a copy of an employee service call. Please note that while neither party can dictate how they design instructions or guidelines for field service, the presentation of services to employees was subsequently revised at the suggestion of APWU. To learn more about the complaint procedure, download the forms here. The APWU FMLA forms have been updated to meet revised certification requirements that came into effect in January. 16, 2009. The forms have also been renumbered. APWU Form 1 is for vacation for an employee`s critical health and APWU Form 2 is for vacation to care for a family member`s serious health. APWU Forms 3 and 4 are new and are intended for employees who apply for military family leave under the new regulations. Although the law does not require that medical certification be provided in a specific format, the new FMLA regulations require additional information on the certification form. Apwu`s new FMLA forms now include spaces for 1) the Health Care Provider`s (HCP) phone number, fax number, and type of medical practice/specialty; and (2) if the employee requests intermittent or reduced leave to care for a family member with a serious medical condition, a brief explanation of why such care is necessary.

Despite the fact that an employee may have submitted their medical documents using an APWU medical certification form or other format for FML medical documentation, the postal service gives the employee`s medical certification as well as the "optional" DOL forms WH-380-E, "Health Care Provider Certification for the Employee`s Serious Medical Condition" or WH-380-F, "Certification of the health care provider for the serious health condition of a family member". State of health". The POSITION OF THE APWU is that once an employee has submitted an APWU Medical Certification Form or other form for fml documentation, it is not necessary or required to use any other format or optional WH-380 forms to provide additional information required. Employees should be advised to use the same form and simply ask their health care provider to add the additional required information to the original certification or provide it on a separate sheet of paper. We will have ongoing discussions with the postal service about the implementation of the changes to the FMLA and any issues that may arise in this area. If there is a problem as to whether or not management is entitled to certain information, the local union may contact its respective national commercial agent or the Department of Industrial Relations. The union has published FMLA forms that can be used by health care providers to certify serious illnesses of APWU members and their family members. Pursuant to an arbitral award dated April 18, 2012, these forms are accepted by the USPS. The APWU notes that the DOL WH-380 forms created in 2009 request information from health care providers beyond what is actually required by law. For example, Forms WH-380-E and WH-380-F prompt health care providers to provide the medical diagnosis. The APWU has repeatedly stated, and the postal service has agreed that the medical diagnosis/prognosis is private health information that is not required on the form. In a December 17, 2010 memo to local, state and national union officials, Mike Morris, director of industrial relations, wrote that the APWU continues to claim that the use of Department of Labor (DOL) forms is optional.

Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), medical certification must be accepted in any format as long as it contains all the information required by law, he said. In the past, the union encouraged members to use the forms offered by the APWU, as the DOL forms require physicians to provide certain information that is not required by the FMLA regulations. Regardless of the forms used if certification is incomplete or inadequate, the new regulations require the postal service to indicate in writing what additional information is required to make the certification complete and sufficient and to give employees the opportunity to submit the additional information. The Postal Service will use Form DOL WH-382, "Notice of Designation", to comply with its obligation to designate the vacation as protected by the FMLA and to notify the employee of the amount of vacation that will count towards the employee`s FMLA vacation entitlement. Form WH-382 is also used to inform employees of additional information that may be required and/or if a second or third notice is requested from the postal service. We have received complaints from the field that, in some areas, local managers said so in January. 16, 2009, they will no longer accept the "APWU FMLA medical certification forms", and some managers have stated that employees must now use the new optional DOL WH-380 forms. Please note that the APWU has been informed by the Postal Service Headquarters that it has not asked its managers to refuse to accept the APWU forms. The law does not require that the medical certificate be issued in a specific format. APWU forms are lighter, easier for health care providers to use, and protect against inappropriate disclosure of protected health information. For these reasons, the APWU encourages union members to use the fmLA medical certification forms developed by the APWU.

The USPS told the unions in July 2010 that it intended to amend the ELM so that workers only had to use the WH-380 forms for FMLA notification. The arbitrator noted that "[b]given that the unilateral amendment of ELM 510 to require the use of previously optional WH-380 forms violates Article 10.2.A of the National Convention and the JCIM, it is not necessary to decide here whether the act of the postal service. also violated the FMLA ... The POSITION OF THE APWU has not changed: an employee`s medical diagnosis is private health information that does not and does not have to be provided on the form. .