Any employee planning a medical leave in Cocoon will be prompted to complete the FMLA Serious Health Condition form (also known as the WH380E) or a Certification of Health Care Provider (applicable to employees in California only). Completion of this form is required before Cocoon can approve any leave entitlements that may be available to the employee.
For employees, planning a medical leave may feel extremely overwhelming. From figuring out what paperwork is needed, when it’s due, and where to send it, they’re also dealing with the condition that’s prompting the medical leave request. Cocoon addresses this in the leave submission process by highlighting everything an employee needs to know about the Serious Health Condition form, which is required before anything else can be submitted for their leave.
On a single page, employees get the following information:
Why: These leave forms are required for leave to be job-protected.
How: Employees need to download the applicable forms that Cocoon surfaces and have their medical provider complete them. After completion, they upload the forms to their Cocoon dashboard in the ‘Documents’ tab.
When: They have 15 days from their leave submission date to complete and upload the forms.
Once the employee returns their forms, Cocoon will review for completeness before approving the leave and granting any leave entitlements. Under FMLA, an employer does have the right to complete a sufficiency review, however, this will not be performed by Cocoon.
What happens if an employee misses the 15-day deadline?
If the employee has not returned their serious health condition form within the required 15 days, on the 16th date post leave submission, Cocoon will send the employee an email informing them that they have a 5-day grace period to do so. If they fail to do so, their leave will be denied. Workspace admins will be cc’ed on this email as well:
If the employee does not return their form within the grace period, on the 21st day, Cocoon will deny the leave and notify both the employee and the employer via email.
After a denial, there are a few options:
The employer can extend the employee’s deadline for returning the forms (and communicate this to Cocoon via email),
The employer may waive the requirement for the employee to return the Serious Health Condition form entirely and approve the leave without it (and communicate this to Cocoon via email), or
If the employer does not extend the deadline or waive the form requirement, the employee may request leave as an accommodation from the employer, and the employer would process that accommodation request.
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