Leave Administration Toolkit
Your one-stop resource for all of the questions you may have in HR about the policies and procedures that govern employee leave.
Contents
- Introduction
- Workers Compensation
- Disability
- Family Medical Leave
- New York State Paid Family Leave
- New York State Paid Sick Leave
- Reviewing Organizational Policies, Procedures, and Practices
- Approving or Denying LOAs and Documentation
- Taking Action as the Situation Progresses
- Performing Ongoing Evaluation and Analysis
Introduction
As an HR professional, you’re going to run into a lot of situations that are extra stressful because of the laws and regulations that surround the situation you need to handle. One of those stressful situations is coordinating leaves of absence.
Leaves of absence are governed by a lot of federal and state laws, and not every situation is going to be the same as the one before. This toolkit provides an overview of different types of leaves of absence, including who is eligible, what qualifications are required, and what benefits are available.
This Leave Administration Toolkit is designed to be a one-stop resource for all of the questions you may have in HR about the policies and procedures that govern employee leave.
What does the Leave Administration Toolkit include?
- A detailed list of types of leave.
- A guide for reviewing organizational policies, procedures, and practices
- How to approve or deny LOAs based on the ground rules that everyone has agreed to.
- How to take action as the situation of LOAs progresses.
- How to evaluate and analyze any changes that need to be communicated to all stakeholders.
The following types of leave are required for New York State employees:
Workers' Compensation
An employee is entitled to Workers’ Compensation if they suffered an injury or illness while on the job that required them to miss work. In New York State, employees are entitled to paid income replacement in the amount of up to 67% per week. As of 2022, the weekly maximum is $1,063.05. If a return to work is not possible, these benefits will last as long as the disability lasts.
Open to all New York State employees, these benefits also cover required medical expenses that are accrued due to the illness or injury. While job protection is not guaranteed through Workers’ Compensation, FMLA and ADA still provide that protection.
Disability
Most NYS employees qualify for either short-term or long-term disability when an employee cannot fulfill their job duties due to a non-work-related injury or illness. An employee can remain on short-term disability for 26 weeks, and after that time, long-term disability is available.
The benefits for disability include 50% paid up to $170 a week through the disability fund for NYS. These benefits kick in after a required 7-day unpaid waiting period. While job protection isn’t guaranteed with this type of leave, short-term disability is designated a reasonable accommodation for the job to be under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Family Medical Leave
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 guarantees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a year for the following situations:
- The birth and care of a newborn child (including adoption and foster care)
- The care of an immediate family member with a serious medical condition
- The care of a family affected by military deployment
- The care and management of an employee’s own serious health condition
While this is unpaid leave, the power of FMLA is that it protects the employee’s job for up to 12 weeks in a year. FMLA requires that a qualifying employee who takes FMLA will be reinstated after their leave.
An employee must meet the following criteria to qualify for FMLA:
- Employed in a business with 50 or more employees
- Have been employed for at least 12 months
- Have worked at least 1,250 hours over the 12 month employment period
These 12 weeks do not need to be taken all at once. Employees can access FMLA intermittently from days to weeks at a time.
New York State Paid Family Leave
New York State offers residents an additional family leave benefit for the following reasons:
- To bond with a newborn, an adopted child, or a foster child
- To care for a seriously ill family member
- To assist a family after the military deployment of a spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent
This leave gives the employee 67% paid wages at a maximum of $1,068.36. To be eligible for NYS PFL, the employee must have completed 26 weeks of employment with their employer before the leave.
Like FMLA, this leave can also be taken intermittently for up to 12 weeks within a year. This leave protects your job and you will be reinstated after returning from this leave within the required time frame.
New York State Paid Sick Leave
All employees of New York State are entitled to compensated time off that is paid by the employer at the employee’s regular rate of pay. This paid sick leave can be used for the following reasons:
- An employee’s own mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition
- The treatment of mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition
- An employee’s need for preventative care or a medical diagnosis
- An absence due to Safe Leave (an employee or employee’s family member status of domestic violence)
- COVID-19 symptom recovery, vaccine recovery, and family care
How much guaranteed paid sick leave an employee gets depends on the size of the business where they are employed.
- 100+ employees: 56 hours per calendar year
- 5 - 99 employees: 40 hours per calendar year
- 0 - 4 employees: If net income is $1,000,000 or less, 40 hours of unpaid sick leave; if net income is greater than $1,000,000, 40 hours of paid sick leave
This paid sick time also comes with job protection, and reinstatement is required when you return from paid sick leave. In addition, employers can only ask for documentation of why you took paid sick leave if the leave is 3 days or greater.
Reviewing Organizational Policies, Procedures, and Practices
When coordinating Leaves of Absence requirements, you need to determine:
- What do your organization’s policies explicitly say when it comes to Leaves of Absence
- What supervisors may have represented or promised to employees goes beyond the organization’s written policy or conflicts with that policy.
It isn’t always intentionally done, but supervisors may represent policies to employees that are not in line with what the written policy states. This misrepresentation often comes from a supervisor not being up-to-date about what the policy states in the organization’s employee manual.
Supervisors can also show favorable or unfavorable bias toward certain employees and state policy that doesn’t match the official policy. This is especially problematic as any written or oral representation or promise that a supervisor makes about leaves of absence may be legally enforceable.
This is why your first and one of your most important responsibilities is to get everyone on the same page as far as your organization’s policy when it comes to leave. HR professionals must speak to the supervisor and the employee requesting leave to ensure that the organization’s policy has been followed to the letter.
If you work in an unionized organization, you may also need to navigate a collective bargaining agreement and a union contract that also has regulations governing LOA. This complicates your job exponentially as you may be dealing with three federal statutes, three state statutes, one or two municipal ordinances, a written policy, and any verbal or written representation of available leave by the employee’s supervisor.
Approving or Denying LOAs and Documentation
It is your responsibility to determine whether an employee's leave request is approved or disapproved, based on the ground rules that everyone has agreed to.
When stating these terms and conditions, HR professionals must have a record of that conversation documented. This could be a form that you are required to fill out or even a simple email would work as a record of the conversation.
Written documentation is vital because of how easy it is to make a mistake when it comes to LOAs that could hurt you professionally or hurt your organization. HR should always have written evidence of this phase of communication because of the dire consequences that could happen as a result of miscommunication.
Once the leave has been approved or not approved under specific circumstances, the HR professional still has work to do as the LOA doesn’t end there. HR professionals should always communicate frequently, thoroughly, and in writing as to how LOAs will be handled.
Taking Action as the Situation Progresses
Leaves of Absence are not something that, once started, take care of themselves. Rather, an HR professional should review any current LOA every week to assess for changes or new developments. Additionally, it is recommended that you also obtain some sort of written communication from either the employee or a healthcare professional about the employee’s leave status every month.
HR professionals must stay on top of LOAs for the following reasons:
- Unpaid leave such as FMLA does not last forever. Once that time runs out, your organization should have provisions in place as to what happens to that employee’s position and compensation. Many HR departments find that drawing the line where the law draws the line is best.
- Situations and people can change. The employee on leave may have a different diagnosis at the beginning of leave than at the end of one. Since LOAs are often a fluid situation, it’s important to remain in contact with employees to ensure that the leave they are taking is still working for them and their evolving needs.
- Employees deserve a personal touch. Don’t forget the “human” part of human resources. An HR inquiring sensitively about an employee’s circumstances as they change over time reminds the employee that they are physically away but still a part of the organization. When in contact with the employee, ask them how things are going, how they are feeling if there’s anything they need from your organization in terms of their LOA.
Documentation is essential. Any changes or developments in the employee’s situation should be extensively documented. Even small changes can turn into major developments, so to be safe, document everything you can.
Performing Ongoing Evaluation and Analysis
No matter the size of your organization, staying on top of all state, federal and organizational rules and regulations that govern Leaves of Absence can be overwhelming to even the most experienced HR professional. These laws and regulations must be evaluated and analyzed consistently by HR for any changes that need to be communicated to all stakeholders.
When changes in these regulations occur, some of the actions that need to be taken by HR include:
- Written policies need to be updated in any policy manual that is produced by the organization.
- Changes need to be communicated clearly to employees.
- Additional training for managers and supervisors may need to take place.
- Any posters that are hung for employee reference need to be updated.
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