FMLA - Ohio Call-off Procedures

I'm in need of ammunition for a meeting this afternoon to terminated an non-compliant employee.

Here's the situation. On 8/5, the employee came to work and informed her manager that she was in need of a FMLA beginning the next day. On that same day, I provided her (via email) with the forms due on 8/20 (extended to 8/27) and notified her that she was eligible for FML. I also explained that until we received the completed Cert and she heard from me, she would need to continue to call the absence line each day. Employee emailed me, stating she would have the forms completed and would continue to call in each day.

The employee called in 8/5 – 8/14. On 8/17, she did not call, nor has she since. On 8/19, she sent me an email since she was on the no call/no show email sent to the schedulers. She stating she was informed by the doctor that the forms were faxed. Since we had not received the forms, employee said she would mail the hardcopies she had to the office. She did NOT continue to call the attendance line, even though she was instructed to do so.

Yesterday, I received a voice mail from the employee, saying she needed a new set of paperwork sent to her home because she never received the first set. The paperwork due date was extended to 8/27, and as of right now, we still have not received the completed forms.

Since I have all of the above information documented via her personal and work email accounts, can we terminate? If yes, can we terminate based on the NC/NS since the certification has not been received and the leave isn’t designated FML? We rarely terminate employees for FML non-complaince and always give the benefit of the doubt, so I need to involve on legal team to proceed. I just wanted to have something to show the employee was completely in the wrong.

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FMLA - Ohio Call-off Procedures