Navigating Leaves of Absence

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20 Sep

Navigating Leaves of Absence

Navigating Leaves of Absence

Sunday, September 20, 2026 (12:00 AM) to Monday, July 31, 2028 (11:59 PM)
1 PDCs
Provider: Applied Potential Solutions
Course Name: Navigating Leaves of Absence

Speaker: Laura Azzarella
Program Type: Videoconferences, webcasts, audiocasts, podcasts, eBooks, self-directed E-Learning
Registration URL: https://applied-hr.trainercentralsite.com/course/navigating-leaves-of-absence

Email Details

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to: -Evaluate employee eligibility for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) coverage by applying the three-part eligibility test. -Identify FMLA qualifying reasons and recognize informal employee requests or events that trigger mandatory administrative timelines. -Differentiate between the four regulatory 12-month measurement methods to select, policy-codify, and consistently apply the optimal tracking method for an organization. -Execute the FMLA administrative workflow within strict legal deadlines, including issuing notices, managing medical certifications, handling the cure process, and tracking continuous and intermittent leave down to the smallest available payroll increment. -Navigate the statutory overlap between the FMLA, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), and state leave laws to manage multiple concurrent or sequential leave clocks. -Facilitate a compliant, good-faith ADA interactive process upon FMLA exhaustion to evaluate leave extensions, modified duties, or alternative remote work as potential reasonable accommodations. -Conduct essential function analyses and substantiate documented undue hardship findings before making employment or accommodation determinations. -Apply legal standards to safely restore returning employees to identical or equivalent positions while establishing compliant, non-discriminatory fitness-for-duty requirements. -Conduct thorough, fair internal investigations before taking adverse employment actions during protected leave for high-risk scenarios, including pre-leave misconduct, reductions in force (RIF), leave fraud, or moonlighting.

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This course provides a practical framework for managing employee leaves of absence, one of the most legally complex areas of employee relations. Participants will learn how to administer FMLA leave from eligibility through return-to-work, navigate ADA accommodations and the interactive process, coordinate federal and state leave requirements, and handle high-risk situations such as leave extensions, intermittent leave, return-to-work evaluations, and terminations involving employees on protected leave. The course also explores modern leave challenges, including mental health accommodations, remote work, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and multi-state compliance. Through lessons drawn from Ragsdale v. Wolverine World Wide, Wysong v. Dow Chemical, and Seeger v. Cincinnati Bell Telephone, learners will develop the processes, documentation practices, and decision-making skills needed to manage leave cases consistently, compassionately, and defensibly. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped to balance employee support with organizational, state and federal expectations.