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Welcome to a Two Part Series:

Part I: What Employers Need to Know about Leaves of Absence – An Employment Law Overview

Part II: What Employers Need to Know About Handling Benefits When Employees are on Leave

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• Next Month, on July 9, Attend Part II

• Potentially, any form of leave, can impact health benefits so tune in next month for details

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Presented by:Jennifer Sandberg

Phone: (404) 240-4152 | Email: jsandberg@fisherphillips.com

What Employers Need to Know about Leaves of Absence

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Various Forms of Leave

• Voluntary Paid Time Off

• Potentially Required Paid Time Off

• Unpaid Time Off• Federal

• State

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Voluntary Paid Time Off

• PTO/Vacation

• Holidays

• Personal days

• Other• Sabbatical

• Volunteer work, community service

• New parent leave

• Whatever it takes

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Potentially Required Paid Time Off

• Sick

• Jury

• Voting

• State paid leave (CA, NJ)

• Workers Compensation

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Unpaid Time Off - Federal

• FMLA

• ADA Leave

• USERRA/Military

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Unpaid Time Off - State

• Witness duty

• Volunteer firefighter/Civil Air Patrol/emergency responders

• Bone/Organ donation

• School participation/visitation

• Maternity/Paternity/Adoption

• Election service

• Political activity

• Domestic Violence

• Victims of Crime

• Family care

• Meal periods

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Not As Easy As It Sounds

• Vacation/PTO• Unlimited, Some, None

• State rules• Rollover

• Termination

• Accrual or frontload?

• Process, approval

• Holidays• Eligibility

• Absenteeism

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Not As Easy As It Sounds

• Sick• Who decides?

• Concurrent with other benefits?

• Maternity vs New Parent• Discrimination?

• Primary care giver bonding?

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State and Local Paid Sick Leave

• Existing States as of 2019• Arizona, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oregon, District of

Columbia, Vermont, New Jersey, Washington, Rhode Island, Maryland

• Existing Cities and Counties as of 2019• Emeryville, Oakland, San Diego, Santa Monica, Los Angeles,

Berkeley, and San Francisco, CA; Portland, OR; Bloomfield, East Orange, Irvington, Jersey City, Montclair, Newark, Passaic, Patterson and Trenton, NJ; Seattle and Tacoma, WA; New York City and Westchester County, NY; Montgomery County, MD; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (on hold), PA; Minneapolis, Duluth and St. Paul, MN; Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, TX; Chicago and Cook County, IL

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State and Local Paid Sick Leave

• Accrual or frontload

• Generally, earn up to 40 hours

• Coordination with other employer policies

• Rollover rules

• Covers employee, spouse, child, and in some states parents, in-laws, sibling, grandparent, blood relative with close association

• Illness, domestic violence, sexual assault, school closed, communicable disease

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FMLA Policy

• DOL dictates the bare minimum

• Must be precise

• Don’t co-mingle with other polices

• More in a minute!

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ADA Policy

• Don’t call it that!

• “Reasonable Accommodations and Modified Job Duties”

• Then, keep it simple

• More in a minute!

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Personal Leave Policy

• Need a catch-all for non-FMLA eligible employees

• Should cover post-FMLA too

• May overlap with ADA obligations

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FMLA Refresher

• FMLA covers employers with 50 or more employees

• Eligible employees have:• Worked for the employer for a total of 12 months

• Have worked 1250 hours in the preceding year

• Work at a location with 50 or more employees in a 75 mile radius• Considerations for small locations

• Have a qualifying need

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FMLA Qualifying Reasons

• Serious health condition• Own or family member

• Pregnancy

• Birth or Adoption

• Military Duty

• Injured in Military Service

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FMLA Entitlements

• 12 weeks of unpaid leave (sometimes 26)

• Continuation of health insurance coverage

• Restoration to the same or equivalent position

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Provide FMLA Notices

• General Notice• Poster

• Handbook

• Notice of Eligibility within 5 days of request

• Notice of Rights and Responsibilities

• Notice of Designation

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Deal with Tough FMLA Issues

• Intermittent leave

• Non-covered family

• Discovery of misconduct

• Joint employer concerns

• Return to work issues

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ADA Refresher

• Emphasizes what employee can do

• Requires evaluating individual’s ability to perform

• May require a reasonable accommodation

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ADA Eligibility

• Employee has a “disability”• Physical or mental impairment that

substantially limits a major life activity

• History of impairment

• Regarded as having impairment

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ADA Obligation

• If an employee (or applicant) has a disability, the employer must provide a “reasonable accommodation” that allows the employee to perform the essential functions of their job.

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Reasonable Accommodations

• Determined on a case-by-case basis

• Employer may define essential functions

• Requires interactive process• Be sure to document this process

• If employee is “permanently disabled” under other laws, do notautomatically deny accommodation

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Final Questions?

Presented by:Jennifer Sandberg

Phone: (404) 240-4152 | Email: jsandberg@fisherphillips.com

HRCI: Activity ?

SHRM: Activity ID ?

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Presented by:Jennifer Sandberg

Phone: (404) 240-4152 | Email: jsandberg@fisherphillips.com

Thank You