Do you feel lost when it comes to employees who are out on medical leaves? Are you not sure which leaves apply to your employees and how? Do you have employees who abuse medical leaves because your policies are not clear? Do you confidently know how to require employees to cure incomplete medical certificates or when to get second opinions? Do you know when you can deny leave? Are you comfortable with the risks associated with terminating an employee for abuse of leave?

Do you refrain from terminating under performing employees who have been (or are on) FMLA/ADA leave because you are concerned about staying in compliance with all of the laws and regulations that apply to employee termination? Or maybe you’ve felt it’s just too hard to find the time to stay on top of these leaves and control the absences! Many employees resort to claiming a variety of disabilities or needs for accommodation when in the heat of the termination process. They are aware that the path they are on is leading to termination, yet they continue to violate company policy or flout the rules. Learn when enough is enough and how to clearly document the process to avoid costly lawsuits.

This training workshop will provide you real life strategies from an in-the-trenches medical leave management and HR Expert Witness. You will learn best practices for controlling medical absences and understand when and how you can have the confidence to terminate employees who have violated company policy or are not meeting performance expectations in the midst of their medical accommodations.

Course Objectives:

Providing comprehensive step by step procedures, Ms. De Lima will enable you to navigate the complex (and sometimes dangerous) network of mazes that the road of California specific leaves can take, allowing you to navigate the maze with confidence. Throughout the seminar, we will focus on how California leaves such as FEHA and CFRA interact with Federal medical leaves, such as the FMLA and ADA.

Learn which leaves can run concurrently, how to make the transition from one leave to the next and what you need to document to protect yourself and your organization. Drawing from real life scenarios, this workshop will allow you to confidently cure medical certificates, ask for second opinions, and terminate with confidence in cases of poor performance and failure to respond. This workshop will provide you with exposure to detailed documentation processes that can easily take you through your Medical Leave travels in California and explicitly document your activities in confidence. You’ll discover that when you clearly document the entire process in a consistent and meticulous manner, you can protect your organization from potential litigation should the need to terminate arise. Having strong policies and procedures consistently applied; clear and well written letters, forms, and documentation; as well as integrated leave policies allows HR to consistently and confidently counsel employees while simultaneously reducing risk of litigation.

Many employees are aware that they have the right to medical leave, however they do not understand what leaves are available to them and how they are applied to their time off work. By learning these California specific leave laws and how they interact with Federal leaves you can aid your employees by confidently explaining their leave options while simultaneously helping them through what can be a stressful time away from work. This will build trust between your organization and your employees. And, as everyone knows, a happy employee means higher overall success for the organization.

Course Outline:

• Overview of CA Specific leave laws – PDL, CFRA, FMLA, ADA, FEHA and PFL
• Explanation of their interaction with Federal leave laws – FMLA, ADA and Workers’ Compensation
• How to apply leaves that run concurrently
• How to document the transition from one leave type to the next
• Specific rights you have as an employer to deny leave for employees who use more leave than the certificate allows
• Method for curing medical certificate or getting second and third opinions
• Simple strategies to manage the medical leaves in a consistent manner to avoid expensive litigation and preserve the employer-employee relationship
• Integrating you own companies leave policies and union contracts or MOU’s with state and federal regulations and how vacation, sick and PTO can be utilized concurrently.
• Gain the confidence to deny leave and terminate the employee if they do not comply with your medical certification requests
• Exposure to the various forms, letters and documentation that Ms. De Lima has perfected over 20 years of consulting in the ADA, FMLA, and Workers’ Compensation arena.
• Guidance from an in-the-trenches HR Expert Witness on how to maintain pristine documentation in an efficient and effective way to avoid costly litigation
• Understand specific situations that allow you to terminate employees for performance management issued even if protected by state or federal ADA, FMLA and Workers’ Compensation regulations
• Take home suggestions on how to integrate your leave policies to assure you are maximizing leave time that can run concurrently for your employees
• Obtain money saving strategies that help HR show a positive impact on the bottom line
• Real life scenarios designed for you to walk away with the skills and tools needed to immediately apply the strategies presented so you can start controlling the Medical Absence in your own workplace.

What You Get:

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

Who Will Benefit:

This webinar will provide valuable assistance to all companies, not-for-profits, school districts, governmental agencies and pseudo governmental agencies. 
Those that would benefit most would be the following positions located in California or with Employees in California:

• Human Resource Managers / Administration
• Risk Managers
• Benefit Specialists
• Supervisors
• Business Owners
• General Managers
• Controllers/ CFOs / Financial Managers