calling employee on FMLA leave

Call centerHow many employers have had this situation arise?  An employee requests and receives FMLA leave.  While they are out, the employee’s supervisor needs to locate a document, find out the status of a project the employee was working on, or a crucial question comes up that only the employee on leave can answer.

According to

To what extent may an employer contact an employee on FMLA leave about work-related matters before that contact becomes, in effect, a denial of FMLA leave? 

"Fielding occasional calls about one’s job while on leave is a professional courtesy that does not abrogate or interfere with the exercise of an employee’s FMLA rights," according to