Employee Fitness for Duty Exams: Navigating the FMLA and ADA Traps to Keep Employers Compliant

Littler

Employers increasingly face situations where they are concerned about an employee’s mental health or physical ability to perform to perform the job. Stress and anxiety, erratic behavior, an aging workforce, and the prevalence of substance abuse all raise fitness for duty issues in today’s workplace. Naturally, employers want to take every reasonable step to ensure their employees can safely perform their job to ensure the overall health of their workforce.
 
In this complimentary 75-minute webinar, Littler shareholder Jeff Nowak and FMLASource Vice President Matt Morris will tackle the most common and difficult fitness for duty scenarios that employers face and provide practical suggestions on how employers can address these situations.  Through the use of case studies and their usual cheesy humor, Jeff and Matt will cover the following:

• When an employee is acting erratically or appears physically to be unable to perform the job, can an employer obtain a fitness for duty?
• When does an FMLA or ADA fitness for duty apply and what is the difference?
• What is the difference between a fitness for duty and independent medical examination?
• Can an employer use its “own” physician to conduct a fitness for duty?
• When the employee’s physician submits a vague or incomplete medical documentation, how should an employer respond?
• What should an employer do when the medical opinion of the employee’s physician differs from the employer’s physician?
• What kind of communication can the employer have with a physician to assess an employee’s fitness for duty?
• Can an employer force an employee on a leave of absence while it obtains a fitness for duty examination?

Presenters

Jeff Nowak, Shareholder | Chicago, IL 

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