Before you Initiate a Fitness for Duty Exam:
Main Rule:
Make sure that the exam is job related and consistent with business necessity.
Job related and consistent with business necessity means:
you have reasonable belief based on objective evidence surrounding an employee's ability to either:
perform the essential job functions
or
pose a direct threat to themselves or others.
Example:
An employee with depression seeks to return to work after a FMLA leave of absence during which she was hospitalized and her medication was adjusted.  In this situation the supervisor can request a fitness-for-duty examination because he has reasonable belief that her ability to perform the essential job functions may continue to be impaired by a medical condition.  
IMPORTANT NOTE: Limit the scope of inquiry to the employee's ability to perform the essential job functions!  Inquiry into the employee's entire psychiatric history would exceed the scope of inquiry.
When can you request a fitness for duty exam?
Follow-up on a request for reasonable accommodation when the need for accommodation is not obvious.
To address reasonable concerns based on objective evidence and/or observation that the employee is capable of performing the essential functions of a position.
*When another Federal law or regulation requires it. 
*Must not exceed the scope of the specific medical condition and ability to perform essential job functions.
This document is available in alternative formats upon request.   
		May 27, 1999
		Version 1.0 Page 1