Managing employee leaves are the most complicated aspect of a human resource professional’s job. In addition to applying an employer’s own leave policies, employers must work through the maze of various laws impacting employee rights during these leaves – laws such as the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act, workers’ compensation laws, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act to name a few. Each individual law is complicated in and of itself; however, the various twists and turns that come about when these laws come together can be mind boggling. How do you untangle this maze?

Course Objectives:

To understand the basics of individual leave laws such as the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, workers’ compensation and other laws that impact your obligations to employees needing leave. To understand when an employee is entitled to leave and what rights and protections they have while on leave. Working through the maze of how these laws interact and ensuring compliance with each as you manage your employee leaves of absence.

Course Outline:

Family and Medical Leave Act Basics

• Covered Employers and Employees
• Employee Leave Entitlements
• What is a “serious health condition”
• Your right to obtain medical certifications
• Difference between Interference and Retaliation Claims
• Employee’s Rights to Continued Health Insurance

Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act Basics

• Who are the disabled?
• What is a physical or mental impairment?
• What are major life activities?
• What do we mean by substantial limitation?
• Impact of mitigating measures
• Leave of Absence as a Reasonable Accommodation
• Establishing Undue Hardship
• Requests for Indefinite Leaves of Absences
• Telecommuting and Reasonable Accommodation Requests

Workers’ Compensation Basics

• Meaning of “course and scope” of employment
• Employee wage replacement rights
• Retaliation claims under workers’ compensation laws

Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act and HealthInsurance Portability Act Basics

• Covered employers
• What do we mean by “genetic information”?
• GINA prohibitions
• Meaning of “inadvertent” disclosures under GINA
• Other laws such as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act
• Legal obligations under the PDA
• What do we mean by discrimination due to “pregnancy and related medical conditions”
• Using the disparate treatment theory to support a PDA claim
• Using the disparate impact theory to support a PDA claim
• Young v. UPS: Where are we now?

Untangling the Web

• Difference between Serious Health Condition and Disability
• Why you must always consider FMLA and ADA when an employee has a workers’ compensation lost time injury
• Lifting restrictions and the ADA
• Running paid leave concurrently with FMLA legally
• When can pregnancy complications be considered a disability under the ADA?
• Avoiding GINA and HIPAA problems when getting medical information you need to determine employee leave eligibility
• When can you terminate an employee for failure to return from leave?
• When is COBRA triggered in the leave process?

What You Get:

• Training Materials
• Live Q&A Session with our Expert
• Participation Certificate
• Access to Signup Community (Optional)
• Reward Points

Who Will Benefit:

• CFOs
• Employers and Business owners
• Human Resources Specialists and managers
• Benefits specialists