The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides employees of medium or large companies with 12 weeks of unpaid leave for specified family and medical reasons. Only employers who have at least 50 employees are covered by the law. For employees, an important step in obtaining leave under the FMLA is to make sure you provide notice to your employer. Under the law, the employee has the initial burden to provide notice. To satisfy this burden, you need to inform the employer that you need leave from work for a medical or family reason. It is not enough to mention that you are sick. On the other hand, at this initial step, you do not need to provide specific details of your medical condition to meet your notice obligations. Federal regulations state that the employee must provide "verbal notice sufficient to make the employer aware that the employee needs FMLA-qualifying leave." 29 C.F.R. § 825.302. When requesting leave, it is not necessary for you to expressly assert rights under the FMLA or to even mention the FMLA. See 29 C.F.R. 825.303(b). You do not need to use "magic words", as many courts have stated, in order to obtain FMLA leave. Notice can take the form of informing supervisors of your need for leave due to medical reasons. Notice can also be satisfied by providing a doctor's note stating that medical leave is necessary or that you have been diagnosed with a certain medical condition. See Krenzke v. Alexandria Motor Cars, Inc., 289 Fed. Appx. 629 (4th Cir. 2008). You can also request leave before knowing the exact dates or duration of the leave you will take or even before scheduling any necessary treatments. See Sarnowski v. Air Brooke Limousine, Inc., 510 F.3d 398 (3d Cir. 2007). In a case from Pennsylvania, an employee with epilepsy who told her employer of a "probable need for future time off... in order to undergo testing and possible treatment" had a viable FMLA claim against her employer. Mascioli v. Arby's Rest. Group, Inc., 610 F. Supp. 2d 419 (W.D. Pa. 2009). It was not necessary for the employee to provide precise dates when the treatments and testing would take place in order to show that she had provided adequate notice. If your condition is one that does not require immediate medical leave but could potentially develop into such a condition, it is important for you to provide information to your employer regarding the condition as it evolves. In Burnett v. LFW Inc., 472 F.3d 471, 480 (7th Cir. 2006), the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals determined that an employee who, over a period of fourth months, provided notice to his employer of the need for various medical visits and tests, complained of "a weak bladder" and repeatedly stated to his supervisor that he "felt sick", had a viable FMLA claim when his employer fired him shortly before he was ultimately diagnosed with prostate cancer. It is also important that you provide your employer with at less 30 days notice before the date that the leave is to begin. See 29 U.S.C. § 2612(e)(2)(B). If the need for leave will arise in less than 30 days, you must provide notice as soon as you can. Failing to do so could prevent you from being able to take leave. Once you have provided notice of your need for leave, your employer then has the burden to gather additional information and make the determination of whether the FMLA is implicated. If your employer finds your request for leave vague or insufficient, the employer has the duty to gather more information. The employer can ask you to provide additional documentation and information to help in this process.
