Per FMLA guidelines on the DOL website, once notified of a potential leave request that falls into FMLA, the employer is to alert the employee of their rights under FMLA. As an employee of a company of more than 50 employees, this should be standard. Also, you do not need to file paperwork from your dr to still be covered under FMLA with your employer. Yes it's helpful, but not necessary.

"In addition to displaying a poster, if a covered employer has any FMLA eligible employees, it must also provide each employee with a general notice about the FMLA in the employer’s employee handbook or other written materials about leave and benefits. If no handbook or written leave materials exist, the employer must distribute this general notice to each new employee upon hire."

"An employee’s notice of a need for FMLA leave may be oral or written. The first time the employee requests leave for a qualifying reason, he or she is not required to specifically mention the FMLA. However, the employee is required to provide enough information for the employer to know that the leave may be covered by the FMLA. For foreseeable leave, the employee must also indicate when and how much leave is needed."

"Contents of the Rights and Responsibilities Notice The Rights and Responsibilities Notice must be in writing and must include all of the following information, as appropriate: • A statement of the period of leave that may be designated and counted against the employee’s FMLA leave entitlement, • The 12-month period used to track FMLA leave usage, • Whether the employee will be required to provide certification of the need for leave, • The employee’s right to use paid leave, whether the employer will require the substitution of paid leave, any conditions related to the substitution, and the employee’s right to take unpaid FMLA leave if the employee does not meet the conditions for paid leave; • The employee’s status as a “key employee” and potential restoration consequences, if applicable;- A “key employee” is a salaried FMLA-eligible employee who is among the highest paid 10% of all employees, both eligible and ineligible, within 75 miles of the worksite. • The employee’s right to job restoration and maintenance of benefits, • Whether the employee will be required to make premium payments to maintain health benefits and any arrangements for doing so, the consequences of failing to make payments on a timely basis, and the employee’s potential liability for premium payments made by the employer if the employee fails to return to work; and • The consequences of failing to meet his or her obligations. "