HR sent a form. It has a box for the diagnosis, a box for symptoms, and a line for the provider's signature, and the whole thing is sitting in your inbox because you do not want your manager reading the word on the first line.
The short answer: a California leave certification has to establish three things — the date the condition began, its probable duration, and that you cannot perform one or more essential functions of your job.¹ It "need not, but may, at the employee's option, identify the serious health condition involved."¹ Your employer may not go further: the regulation says plainly that "the employer may not ask the employee to provide additional information (e.g. symptoms, diagnosis, etc.) in the medical certification beyond that allowed by these regulations."² A form with a diagnosis box is a form, not the law.
The three facts, and nothing else
The regulation's definition of a certification for your own serious health condition lists what it contains:¹
- "The date, if known, on which the serious health condition commenced."
- "The probable duration of the condition."
- A statement that "due to the serious health condition, the employee is unable to work at all or is unable to perform any one or more of the essential functions of the employee's position."
Then the sentence that most people never see: the certification "need not, but may, at the employee's option, identify the serious health condition involved."¹ The option is yours, not theirs.
What to do with the form that asks for more
Give the form to your clinician and say which parts you want completed. A clinician can write a certification that answers the three questions and leaves the diagnosis line blank, or attach their own letter instead of using the employer's form. If HR pushes back, the regulation is the answer, and it is one sentence long: they may not ask for symptoms or a diagnosis beyond what the rules allow.²
The phrase that does the work in the conversation:
"My provider has certified a serious health condition, the date it began, its probable duration, and that I cannot perform the essential functions of my position. Under the CFRA regulations that is a complete certification."
If your employer doubts the certification
They have a route, and it is at their expense, not yours. An employer with good reason to doubt the validity of a certification may require a second opinion "at the employer's own expense," from a provider the employer designates who "shall not be employed on a regular basis by the employer."² If that second opinion differs from the first, the employer may require a third opinion "at the employer's expense," from a provider "designated or approved jointly by both the employer and the employee" — and that third opinion is "final and shall be binding on the employer and the employee."²
Three things follow. You do not pay for a second opinion. Your employer cannot send you to their own in-house doctor for it. And you get a say in who breaks a tie.
Recertification, and how often they may ask
An employer may ask for recertification, but not endlessly. Where safety concerns are the basis, recertification is limited to once every 30 days.² If the certification named a probable duration, asking again inside that duration is asking you to prove the same thing twice.
The one that surprises people most
When the leave ends, your employer may require a release stating you can resume work — but only if they have "a uniformly applied practice or policy" of requiring one and no collective bargaining agreement prohibits it.² And the regulation draws a hard line after that: "An employer may not require an employee to undergo a fitness-for-duty examination as a condition of an employee's return."²
A note from your own provider saying you can return is one thing. Being sent to a company doctor for an examination before they will let you back is another, and the regulation forbids it. What returning to work should actually look like →
Q&A
Q: Does my employer get to know my diagnosis? A: Not through the certification. It has to establish the date the condition began, its probable duration, and that you cannot perform essential functions of your job; identifying the condition is at your option, and the regulation forbids the employer from asking for symptoms or a diagnosis beyond what the rules allow.¹ ²
Q: My employer's form has a diagnosis box. Do we have to fill it in? A: No. A form is the employer's document, not the regulation. A certification that answers the three required points is complete, and your clinician can leave the rest blank or write a letter instead.¹
Q: Can they make me see their doctor? A: For a second opinion during the certification process, yes — at their expense, and not with a provider they employ on a regular basis. As a condition of returning to work, no: a fitness-for-duty examination may not be required.²
Q: What if they ask for updates every two weeks? A: Recertification on safety grounds is limited to once every 30 days.² Ask which rule they are relying on, in writing, and keep the reply.
Q: Which law am I even using? A: Probably California's, which starts at five employees rather than fifty. CFRA or FMLA — which one covers you →
Our therapist directory: See its current status →
Sources
- Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, §11087 — definition of "certification," including the three required contents and the option not to identify the condition — law.cornell.edu.
- Cal. Code Regs. tit. 2, §11091 — no additional information such as symptoms or diagnosis; second and third opinions at the employer's expense with the third binding; 30-day limit on safety-based recertification; release to return to work only under a uniformly applied policy; no fitness-for-duty examination as a condition of return — law.cornell.edu.
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