Agenda

This workshop commences at 8:30 am and concludes at 4:30 pm. Registration is from 8:00 until 8:30. The lunch break will be one hour, and two 15-minute breaks will be taken at appropriate intervals.

Clarifying the FMLA Legalese and Auditing Your Policies and Procedures for Compliance: What Exactly Are the Employer's Responsibilities Under the FMLA?
Interactive Case Studies:

• Apply the FMLA legalese to real-life situations and get clarification on the employer's obligations


• Determining when an employee's absence is covered under the FMLA


• What does "50 employees" and "75 mile radius" really mean?


• Applying eligibility requirements to exempt, nonexempt and temporary workers


• Tips on developing an effective FMLA policy for your organization: Ensuring that your employee handbook effectively addresses FMLA issues


• Following posting requirements


• Implementing fail-safe documentation and recordkeeping procedures


• Tips on creating and maintaining confidential files for all FMLA-related documents


• Clarification on new HIPAA medical privacy rules


• Deciding whether your employees are eligible for FMLA leave: Calculating the 12 month and 1,250 hour eligibility requirements


• Defining what types of events qualify for FMLA leave


• Learning to properly designate leave as FMLA leave and documentation practices that you should follow


• Ensuring that you are fulfilling your obligations to notify your employees about the FMLA: Communicating with your employees throughout the process

Deciding When to Pull the FMLA Trigger: How Much Information Do You Need from the Employee and How Can You Get It?
You Be the Jury:

• Analyze recent cases and decide whether the employee gave proper notice of the need for FMLA leave


• Clarifying what notice the employee must provide in order to trigger the employer's obligations under the FMLA: No magic language required


• What recourse does an employer have when an employee fails to give proper notice?


• Training your front-line supervisors to ask the "right" questions and properly document an employee's reason for being absent


• Tips for handling the situation where the employee gives limited information about his/her absences


• Dealing with the employee who shares too much information about his/her medical situation

But I'm Not a Doctor: Determining What Constitutes a Serious Health Condition Without Going to Medical School
Interactive Case Studies:

• Practice interpreting the DOL regulation defining a "serious health condition" as you work through several realistic factual scenarios which you may face


• Deciphering what the courts are saying about what is and is not a "serious health condition"


• Training managers and supervisors to listen for key words and observe attendance/performance problems that suggest that a "serious health condition" may be involved


• How to make the medical certificate and recertification process work for you


• Clarifying how and when to challenge an initial medical certificate


• Tips for dealing with the employee who won't return the medical certificate and fights you every step of the way

Deciphering When an Employee Can Take Leave "To Care For" a Family Member: Which Relatives Qualify and for What Type of Care?
Interactive Case Studies:

• Responding to employee requests for leave to care for family members


• Defining the meaning of spouse: Does it include common law marriages and same sex marriages? What about cohabitating partners?


• Determining who qualifies as a "parent" under the FMLA regulations: What does in loco parentis really mean?


• When can an employee use FMLA leave to deal with a minor or adult child's medical condition?


• Determining whether "serious health condition" means the same thing with respect to family members as it does with respect to an employee with a medical condition


• Comprehending the breadth of the term "to care for" with respect to family leave

Common FMLA Conundrums: How to Manage Intermittent Leave, Comp and Benefits, and Other FMLA Challenges
Interactive Case Studies:

• Analyze actual workplace situations involving tracking intermittent leave, administering comp and benefits, and strategies for handling other day-to-day FMLA challenges


• Determining whether FMLA leave is paid or unpaid: How to ensure that your employees use their paid leave during FMLA leave


• Tips on computing and tracking FMLA leave when an employee is on a reduced schedule or takes the leave intermittently


• Strategies for calculating FMLA leave for exempt employees


• Determining the pay rate for employees on intermittent or reduced leave schedule


• Reevaluating goals, commissions, and quotas for employees that have used FMLA leave


• Cutting off medical benefits without exposing your organization to liability: Staying in compliance with COBRA


• Managing other employee benefits issues while an employee is out on leave, such as holiday pay, accrual of vacation or PTO, flex plans, pensions, and seniority accrual


• Dealing with the employee who engages in other employment or activities while on FMLA leave


• Handling performance evaluations and salary increases that come due during leave

Training Your Managers and Supervisors to Comply with the FMLA: Heading Off Trouble and Minimizing the Risks of Costly Errors
Role-Play:

• Use a recent court decision to design a brief presentation that will motivate managers to stay in compliance with the FMLA


• Delivering training that is practical and relevant: Using case studies to inform managers how the FMLA applies to actual workplace situations


• Training managers and supervisors to recognize the "red flags" and eliminate sources of FMLA liability


• Ensuring your supervisors are trained to assist employees in designating leave time correctly

What to Do When FMLA Leave Comes to an End: Managing Hairy Return-to-Work and Termination Issues
Part 1: Dealing with the Employee Who Can Return to Work
Interactive Case Studies:

• How best to handle situations where the employee can return to work but no longer perform his/her previous job


• Securing appropriate return-to-work medical certificates from the returning employee


• Understanding what job restoration is all about: Placing the employee back in the same shoes they were wearing before they left


• Determining whether a position is an "equivalent" position or not


• Defining the limitations on an employer's obligation to reinstate an employee returning from FMLA leave


• Clarifying the circumstances under which an employer can deny restoration rights to a "key employee"

Part 2: Dealing with the Employee Who Can't Return to Work
Interactive Case Studies:

• Practice your FMLA administration skills by analyzing scenarios involving employees who are unable to return at the end of their FMLA leave


• Tips on how to properly document the employee's usage of his/her FMLA leave entitlement


• Ensuring that you are complying with workers' compensation laws and the ADA


• Deciding when to send the COBRA notice so that you remain consistent with your policies and practices


• Making the tough decision: When termination is the correct option

Q & A: Sharing Your FMLA War Stories from the Front Lines
In this open forum, you will have an opportunity to share your FMLA conundrums and get feedback from the facilitator as well as your HR colleagues. Find out what other organizations are doing to address the challenges you are confronting.

4:30 pm Moderator's concluding remarks