The APWU is encouraging members to use Department of Labor forms when requesting Family & Medical Leave, while the union pursues a dispute with the Postal Service over employees’ right to use APWU forms or other equivalent documentation.

In a Dec. 17, 2010, memo [PDF] to local, state, and national union officers, Mike Morris, director of Industrial Relations, wrote that the APWU continues to assert that use of Department of Labor DOL forms are optional. Under the Family & Medical Leave Act FMLA, medical certification provided in any format must be accepted, as long as it contains all of the information required under the law, he said.

Despite the APWU’s position, Morris said, the union is encouraging employees to use the DOL Forms WH-380E [PDF] and WH-380F [PDF] until such time as a national-level grievance [PDF] on the issue is resolved. The union filed a dispute on the matter, after management notified the APWU of its intent to require employees to use the DOL forms.

In the past, the union encouraged members to use forms offered by the APWU, because the DOL forms ask physicians to provide some information that is not required by FMLA regulations.

via Union Encourages Members to Use Department of Labor Forms for FMLA Leave Requests.

The FMLA allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period to care for loved ones or themselves. The 1993 law also allows employees to take time off for the adoption or the birth of a child. The administrator interpretation issued by Nancy J. Leppink, deputy administrator of the department’s Wage and Hour Division, clarifies that these rights, which provide work-family balance, extend to the various parenting relationships that exist in today’s world. This action is a victory for many non-traditional families, including families in the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community, who often in the past have been denied leave to care for their loved ones.

"No one who loves and nurtures a child day-in and day-out should be unable to care for that child when he or she falls ill," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "No one who steps in to parent a child when that child’s biological parents are absent or incapacitated should be denied leave by an employer because he or she is not the legal guardian. No one who intends to raise a child should be denied the opportunity to be present when that child is born simply because the state or an employer fails to recognize his or her relationship with the biological parent. These are just a few of many possible scenarios. The Labor Department’s action today sends a clear message to workers and employers alike: All families, including LGBT families, are protected by the FMLA."

As the interpretation makes clear, an uncle who is caring for his young niece and nephew when their single parent has been called to active military duty may exercise his right to family leave. Likewise, a grandmother who assumes responsibility for her sick grandchild when her own child is debilitated will be able to seek family and medical leave from her employer. And an employee who intends to share in the parenting of a child with his or her same sex partner will be able to exercise the right to FMLA leave to bond with that child.

"This is a critical step in ensuring that children have the support and care they need from the persons who have assumed that responsibility," said Leppink. "Nothing in the statute or regulations suggests that we should restrict the rights of various individuals who take on that very important role."

The administrator interpretation provides guidance to employers in applying the FMLA’s provisions in the workplace and ensures that employees are aware of their rights. Under the act, covered employers must grant eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for the birth and care of a newborn child; to adopt or assume care for a foster child; to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child or parent) with a serious health condition; or to take medical leave due to a serious health condition.

For more information on the FMLA and the administrative interpretation, visit the Wage and Hour Division’s website, http://www.dol.gov/whd, or call the division’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243).

The Postal Service is soliciting medical releases for those employees that are required to partake in the 2nd and 3rd opinion process. In doing so, the FMLA Coordinators are requiring employees to release the “specified information” to the USPS Law Department. Specifically, the USPS is requesting access to:

Any and all records regarding treatment, including but not limited to, all current and past medical treatment, aliments and/or conditions (sic);

Other: Stress, Psychological and/or Medical Disorders, Aliments, Conditions (sic) to include a copy of complete chart, progress notes & interview notes, discharge summaries, operative reports, x-ray & all imagery, laboratory tests, pathology tissue, and all diagnostic studies whether in electronic data or other format.

The Local Union has filed a complaint with the Department of Labor, and we have asked Senator Udall to intervene. We are also addressing the issue at the National level. The request seems highly improper. What legal purpose does the Law Department have with sensitive, private and personal medical information? Is the Law Department going to review x-rays and pathology tissue? The USPS letter goes on to assert that the information sought is the “minimum necessary” to accomplish the intended purpose of the request. There is nothing minimal about the information being sought. It is the Postal Service’s customary and routine practice to request everything.

Hopefully we will have this resolved quickly. Until then, we need to have every mail handler that is pushed to a 2nd and/or 3rd opinion (and required to sign the referenced medical release) to file a complaint with the DOL. The Union can assist you with this. It is nothing more then a simple letter written to:

Denver Colorado District Office Martin Barrow, District Director
US Department of Labor ESA Wage & Hour Division 1999 Broadway, Suite 2445
Denver, CO 80202-5712

Those that are affected and do file complaints should remind the DOL that the USPS will likely terminate their FMLA (for refusing to sign and return the medical release) asserting non-cooperative with the 2nd/3rd opinion process. They should ask for appropriate extensions until their complaint is addressed. Additional information will be posted as this situation develops.