FMLA Pharmacology & Medication Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An employee takes a medication that requires monthly laboratory monitoring visits. Under FMLA, these monitoring visits are best characterized as:
- Ineligible because they are not treatment visits
- Qualifying intermittent leave if the underlying condition is a serious health condition (Correct answer)
- Only qualifying if each visit lasts more than three days
- Eligible only when the medication is a controlled substance
Correct answer: Qualifying intermittent leave if the underlying condition is a serious health condition
Required monitoring visits tied to medication management for a serious health condition qualify as intermittent FMLA leave.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes 'incapacity' under FMLA when related to medication side effects?
- Only applies if the employee is hospitalized
- Inability to perform essential job functions due to medication side effects can constitute incapacity (Correct answer)
- Medication side effects never constitute incapacity under FMLA
- Incapacity requires a physician's daily certification
Correct answer: Inability to perform essential job functions due to medication side effects can constitute incapacity
FMLA regulations recognize that debilitating medication side effects that prevent performance of essential job functions can qualify as incapacity.
Question 3: An employee with bipolar disorder takes lithium and has periodic leave for dose adjustments. The FMLA administrator should:
- Deny leave because mental health conditions are excluded
- Require the employee to change medications before approving leave
- Treat dose-adjustment visits as part of continuing treatment for a serious health condition (Correct answer)
- Only approve leave if the employee is psychiatrically hospitalized
Correct answer: Treat dose-adjustment visits as part of continuing treatment for a serious health condition
Medication management appointments, including dose adjustments for serious mental health conditions, qualify as continuing treatment under FMLA.
Question 4: An employee requests leave to travel to a specialty pharmacy that is three hours away to receive a biologic infusion. How should the administrator treat travel time?
- Only the infusion time itself counts as FMLA leave
- Travel time to and from the treatment may be counted as part of FMLA leave (Correct answer)
- Travel time is only covered if the infusion exceeds four hours
- Travel time is never included in FMLA leave calculations
Correct answer: Travel time to and from the treatment may be counted as part of FMLA leave
Under FMLA, time spent traveling to and from necessary medical treatment, including infusion therapy, may be counted as part of the leave.
Question 5: A healthcare provider certifies that an employee's chemotherapy regimen will cause intermittent flare-ups of unpredictable duration. The employer may:
- Require the employee to schedule all chemotherapy side effects in advance
- Deny intermittent leave because the timing is unpredictable
- Approve intermittent leave based on the provider's estimate of frequency and duration (Correct answer)
- Require a new certification after each chemotherapy session
Correct answer: Approve intermittent leave based on the provider's estimate of frequency and duration
Employers must approve intermittent leave based on the healthcare provider's good-faith estimate of expected frequency and duration of episodes.
Question 6: When a second opinion physician disagrees with the treating physician about whether a medication regimen constitutes 'continuing treatment,' the employer should:
- Automatically side with the second opinion physician
- Automatically side with the treating physician
- Seek a third opinion from a jointly approved healthcare provider if the opinions conflict (Correct answer)
- Deny leave until the physicians reach agreement on their own
Correct answer: Seek a third opinion from a jointly approved healthcare provider if the opinions conflict
When first and second opinions conflict, FMLA regulations require the employer and employee to jointly select a third provider whose opinion is binding.
Question 7: An employee requests leave each time they experience nausea from daily oral chemotherapy. If the nausea typically lasts one to two hours, intermittent leave should be:
- Denied because each episode is too short to qualify
- Tracked in the smallest increment used for other forms of leave, such as hourly (Correct answer)
- Only approved in full-day blocks
- Approved only if the nausea leads to hospitalization
Correct answer: Tracked in the smallest increment used for other forms of leave, such as hourly
FMLA intermittent leave must be tracked in the smallest increment the employer uses for other types of leave, which cannot exceed one hour.
FMLA Pharmacology & Medication Management 2
An employee takes a medication that requires monthly laboratory monitoring visits.
Under FMLA, these monitoring visits are best characterized as: