Returning to Work

Returning from PLOA or FMLA

You should keep DriveTime's Disability Department and your manager informed of your expected return to work date (generally, notice should be given at least 2 weeks in advance).  If the actual return-to-work date is different than the originally reported dates, you must notify DriveTime's Disability Department of the updated dates (or hours) of the actual leave so that leave tracking is accurate. 

Upon the end date of their leave, employees are expected to return to work with a release provided by their doctor. Returning to work after the expiration of your expected return date may be considered a voluntary resignation.

Following an Approved FMLA

If an employee has been on leave for his/her own serious health condition (definition provided in the Employee Handbook) and was on a continuous leave, the employee is expected to return to work when released by his/her health care provider and will be required to provide a copy of the release to return-to-work to his/her manager or Regional Team Manager (RTM). 

When the employee's health care provider has indicated the employee can work with medical restrictions, the manager and/or RTM will evaluate whether or not the employee can perform the essential duties of the job and/or if the restrictions can be accommodated.  If the employee's restrictions cannot be accommodated, the employee will remain on FMLA leave until recovery or exhaustion of leave.

If an employee returns to work within 12 weeks (or 26 weeks if caring for an ill/injured service member) of approved FMLA leave, the employee will be returned to the same or a substantially similar position. A "substantially similar position" is defined as a job of similar job duties, job classification, work hours, location or comparable commute, and salary as that which was held at the time the employee went out on leave.

Employees must use FMLA only for FMLA-qualifying reasons and must return to work when the need for FMLA leave is resolved.  Employees that do not return to work at the conclusion or exhaustion of leave will be considered to have voluntarily resigned.  Examples of when leave is concluded are:

• when the employee is no longer incapacitated from his/her own serious health condition and/or has been released to return to work by a health care provider
• when care of a family member is no longer medically necessary.
• FMLA leave has been exhausted

Exceeding the Maximum Leave Period

An employee on leave who qualifies for a reasonable accommodation pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") of 1990 may be entitled to additional, unpaid leave. Employees seeking ADA accommodation leave must submit a written request for accommodation to the Disability Department prior to the expiration of the current FMLA leave, and must present the most recent medical reports from the treating physician (1) explaining the need for additional leave, and (2) estimating the projected return to work date.

Such requests will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis through an interactive process. Injuries, illnesses and conditions of a temporary nature, or those that do not substantially limit the employee in a major life activity, as defined by the ADA, may not qualify for additional accommodation leave.

Upon expiration of leave, the employee may be returned to his or her former position if available and at management's authorization.