On September 4, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage
and Hour Division released the long-awaited new Family Medical
Leave Act notices and certification forms. The new forms are
now available for download from the DOL website.
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the DOL must submit
its forms to the Federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for approval every three years. The previous forms expired on
May 31, 2018, and since then the DOL had renewed the expired forms
on a monthly basis pending OMB approval of the new forms.
The good news is that except for an updated expiration date of
August 31, 2021, which appears in the top right
corner of the forms, the new versions are identical to the expired
forms. Therefore, employers do not need to worry about any
substantive amendments to the forms at this time, but should update
their FMLA procedures to ensure that the new forms are used going
forward.
