Intermittent FMLA: Tips to Stop Banging Your Head Against the Wall

Is there any bigger headache for HR managers than the one brought on by intermittent FMLA? The laws, the chronic conditions, the snippets of time….. It will eventually drive even the most organized leave professional to head vs. wall madness. Is there anything to do but take an Advil? Yes. By implementing a couple of strategic tips posted in a recent [guideline to intermittent FMLA leave](http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/glp/25988/fmla-intermittent-leave.html), you can start to ease the head pains that come with managing one of the biggest drains on employee productivity and HR’s time. **Tip #1: Tracking** Intermittent FMLA might seem like it can go on forever, but the good news is, it can’t. Careful tracking of time used under FMLA leave (down to the smallest increment possible) will add up and quickly exhaust the twelve-week protected period. For a leave specialist, a cloud-based system that can accurately track the time that an employee takes under FMLA will alleviate the burden of manually consolidating days, hours, and minutes. It will also reduce the opportunity for an employee to go *over* the protected time allotted to them. **Tip #2: Certification** To cut down on potential leave abuse, an employer has the right to require a doctor’s certification for intermittent FMLA. Additionally, if the certification doesn’t include a time limit (as may be the case in chronic conditions), seeking recertification is a right that employers can exercise every 30 days (in most cases). To stay on top of certifications, leave specialists need electronic access to doctors’ notes and other forms. Shuffling through paper-based employee files isn’t a sufficient system nor does it offer automatic reminders for recertification if, and when, necessary. By implementing these two steps via a [cloud-based system](http://optis.com/cloud-software/leavexpert), leave managers will be able to remain compliant while maximizing their time (and may save a few heads from banging against the wall).