FMLA Medical Certification, Recertification, and Second Opinions: The Employer's Rules

Requesting the FMLA Medical Certification Form

When you may ask

An employer may require a certification from a health care provider when leave is for the employee's own serious health condition or to care for a covered family member with one (§ 825.305(a)). It may not be required for leave to bond with a healthy newborn or newly placed child.

"In most cases, the employer should request that an employee furnish certification at the time the employee gives notice of the need for leave or within five business days thereafter, or, in the case of unforeseen leave, within five business days after the leave commences" (§ 825.305(b)). A later request is allowed "if the employer later has reason to question the appropriateness of the leave or its duration."

How to ask

The first request must be in writing, as part of the rights and responsibilities notice, and must state the consequences of not providing adequate certification (§ 825.305(d)). DOL's optional Form WH-381 contains all of this. See our FMLA forms guide for employers.

The 15-calendar-day deadline

The employee must return the certification "within 15 calendar days after the employer's request, unless it is not practicable under the particular circumstances to do so despite the employee's diligent, good faith efforts or the employer provides more than 15 calendar days" (§ 825.305(b)). Fifteen days is the minimum you may allow, not the maximum.

What you may ask for

Section 825.306(a) lists the content. In summary:

• The provider's contact information and type of practice.
• The approximate date the condition began and its probable duration.
• Medical facts sufficient to support the need for leave.
• For the employee's own condition, that the employee cannot perform the essential functions of the job.
• For a family member, that the family member needs care, with the frequency and duration of leave required.
• For intermittent or reduced schedule leave, the medical necessity and an estimate of treatment dates or of the frequency and duration of episodes.

DOL Forms WH-380-E (employee) and WH-380-F (family member) ask for exactly this. You may use your own form, but "no information may be required beyond that specified in §§ 825.306, 825.307, and 825.308" (§ 825.306(b)).

Three limits are easy to miss:

1. No mandatory release. An employee may choose to give you an authorization to talk to the provider, but "may not be required to provide such an authorization, release, or waiver" (§ 825.306(e)).
2. Diagnosis is optional on the DOL form. The WH-380-E tells the provider he or she may, but is not required to, give other medical facts such as symptoms or diagnosis, and notes that some state or local laws restrict that disclosure.
3. Other plans can ask for more, for their own purposes. A paid leave or disability plan may require more information, as long as you tell the employee it is needed only for those benefits (§ 825.306(c)). ADA procedures may also be followed where that law applies (§ 825.306(d)); see medical information and inquiries under the ADA.

A January 2026 DOL opinion letter (FMLA2026-2) added a point on scope: a certification for medical appointments is complete and sufficient without an estimate of travel time, and travel to and from the appointment may be FMLA leave. For intermittent-leave specifics, see medical certification requirements for FMLA intermittent leave.

Complete and Sufficient: Reviewing What Comes Back

The regulation defines three different failures, and each has a different consequence (§ 825.305(c)).

The seven-day cure

When a certification is incomplete or insufficient, the employer "shall state in writing what additional information is necessary to make the certification complete and sufficient" and must allow seven calendar days to cure, "unless not practicable under the particular circumstances despite the employee's diligent good faith efforts."

The written notice has to name the entries. For example (an illustration, not a required script):

Question 9 on the certification, frequency and duration of episodes, says "as needed." Please have your health care provider give a best estimate of how often episodes are expected (for example, times per month) and how long each is likely to last. Please return the corrected form by October 21, 2026.

Section II of DOL Form WH-382 has the checkboxes and space for this. If the deficiencies are not cured, you may deny the leave.

The DOL form itself warns providers that terms such as "lifetime," "unknown," or "indeterminate" may not be sufficient. What the regulation asks for is an estimate, and an estimate is not a cap: use beyond it is a reason to consider recertification, not to deny the excess on the spot.

Authentication and Clarification: Contacting the Provider

Once a certification is complete, sufficient, and signed, "the employer may not request additional information from the health care provider" (§ 825.307(a)). Two narrow kinds of contact are permitted:

• Authentication means "providing the health care provider with a copy of the certification and requesting verification that the information contained on the certification form was completed and/or authorized by the health care provider who signed the document."
• Clarification means "contacting the health care provider to understand the handwriting on the medical certification or to understand the meaning of a response."

The conditions:

1. Cure comes first. Contact is allowed only "after the employer has given the employee an opportunity to cure any deficiencies."
2. Who may make the contact: "A health care provider, a human resources professional, a leave administrator, or a management official."
3. Who may not: "Under no circumstances, however, may the employee's direct supervisor contact the employee's health care provider."
4. No new questions: "Employers may not ask health care providers for additional information beyond that required by the certification form."
5. HIPAA: The HIPAA Privacy Rule must be satisfied when a HIPAA-covered provider shares individually identifiable health information with the employer. Check HHS guidance on 45 CFR Parts 160 and 164 or consult counsel about what authorization may be needed for clarification or authentication.

The burden of an unclear certification stays with the employee. If the employee chooses not to authorize clarification and does not otherwise clarify it, "the employer may deny the taking of FMLA leave if the certification is unclear."

If you suspect a certification was altered, authentication is the correct first step; see investigating suspected FMLA abuse.

Second and Third Opinions

When and how

An employer "who has reason to doubt the validity of a medical certification may require the employee to obtain a second opinion at the employer's expense" (§ 825.307(b)(1)). The rules:

• You choose the provider, but it may not be one "employed on a regular basis by the employer," and you may not regularly contract with or otherwise regularly use that provider, unless access to health care in the area is extremely limited (§ 825.307(b)(2)).
• The employee is provisionally protected. While the second or third opinion is pending, the employee "is provisionally entitled to the benefits of the Act, including maintenance of group health benefits."
• You pay, including reasonable out-of-pocket travel expenses (§ 825.307(e)).

The third opinion

If the first and second opinions differ, you may require a third, again at your expense. The third provider "must be designated or approved jointly by the employer and the employee," and the opinion "shall be final and binding" (§ 825.307(c)). An employer that does not act in good faith in choosing is bound by the first certification; an employee who does not is bound by the second.

Where second opinions are not available

So for a long-running intermittent leave, a second opinion becomes available again when a new leave year allows a new certification. State law may restrict second opinions for state-protected leave; check the relevant state rules on second opinions and certification costs where you have employees.

Recertification Timing Rules

The timing rules in § 825.308 fit in one table.

The regulation's own examples are useful benchmarks. Significant change: a certification says migraines will last one to two days, and the last two absences lasted four days each; or unscheduled leave is consistently taken next to scheduled days off. Doubt: an employee on leave for knee surgery recovery plays in the company softball league in week three.

Mechanics:

• Deadline: The employee gets the time you request, which must be at least 15 calendar days (§ 825.308(d)).
• Content: The same information as the original certification. You may also give the provider "a record of the employee's absence pattern and ask the health care provider if the serious health condition and need for leave is consistent with such a pattern" (§ 825.308(e)).
• Cost: At the employee's expense unless you provide otherwise (§ 825.308(f)).

Recertification, not discipline, is the lawful response to a suspicious pattern. See FMLA abuse and retaliation.

Annual Certification

"Where the employee's need for leave ... lasts beyond a single leave year (as defined in § 825.200), the employer may require the employee to provide a new medical certification in each subsequent leave year" (§ 825.305(e)). This is a new initial certification, not a recertification, so authentication, clarification, and second and third opinions are all available.

When the Certification Never Arrives

Section 825.313 sets the consequences.

• Foreseeable leave: You "may deny FMLA coverage until the required certification is provided."
• Unforeseeable leave: You may deny coverage if the certification is not returned within 15 calendar days of the request, "unless not practicable due to extenuating circumstances," such as a medical emergency. If it is never produced, "the leave is not FMLA leave."
• Fitness-for-duty: If you gave the required notice with the FMLA designation notice, you may delay restoration until the certification is provided. See FMLA fitness-for-duty certification requirements.

Before denying, check that your request stated the consequences and that the employee was not making the diligent, good faith efforts the regulation excuses. Absences that lose FMLA protection may still be covered by the ADA or a state leave law.

Whatever the outcome, certifications must be kept "as confidential medical records in separate files/records from the usual personnel files" (§ 825.500(g)). Judging whether a certification is complete, sufficient, and authentic, without crossing into a prohibited inquiry, is one of the stated learning objectives of our Leave and Accommodation Management course, a two-day, instructor-led workshop for experienced HR and leave professionals.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Each certification tool has a sequence and a limit. Ask in writing, give 15 days, say exactly what is missing, give seven more, keep supervisors away from the provider, and use recertification rather than suspicion.

The FMLA Guide links every article in this series, and the FMLA FAQs and Glossary of FMLA Terms are quick references. For hands-on practice with difficult certifications where the ADA, workers' compensation, and state leave are also in play, see the Leave and Accommodation Management course.

This article is general education, not legal advice for a specific situation.