Morning Focus: Master FMLA Essentials to Make Sure Your Knowledge Foundation is Up to Date
Afternoon Focus: FMLA Compliance Scenarios and Case Studies for Real-World Application
Lunch is included with your registration!
Think employee leave management is a one-time policy issue? Be careful! New and confusing regulations, conflicting court decisions, and increasing employee abuse of FMLA protections means family and medical leave will remain one of HR’s biggest management headaches.
To help you master your obligations and avoid costly penalties, the publisher of Texas Employment Law Letter has crafted a cost-effective and engaging solution: 2017 FMLA Master Class: Texas - Advanced Skills for Employee Leave Management. This intensive day-long workshop provides the comprehensive knowledge you need to master real-life issues. An experienced Texas attorney will provide substantive instruction on FMLA compliance in light of new and existing regulations, court rulings, and application of this far-reaching law. You’ll engage with your instructor and your peers, solving challenges you face day in and day out concerning intermittent leave, return to work, employee performance, and much more.
This event teaches employee leave management essentials while instilling the confidence you need to make the right coverage calls, control abuse and fraud, answer the toughest questions from employees and your executive colleagues, and avoid the expensive missteps that have devastated other employers.
You’ll enhance your advanced-practitioner skill set when you attend this satisfaction-guaranteed event and learn:
"When an employer routinely disregards the FMLA rights of its workers, whole families can be harmed. We will continue to use all enforcement tools at our disposal to uphold FMLA protections for workers and make sure that all employers operate in compliance with the law."
– Wayne Kotowski, Wage & Hour Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Registration
7:30 a.m.–8:30 a.m.
Part I: Mastering FMLA Fundamentals
FMLA Eligibility: Granting FMLA Leave When It’s Due and Getting It Right under the Rules
8:30 a.m.–9:00 a.m.
Employers often neglect to take the critical first step in administering FMLA leave—determining employee eligibility. Taking defined, consistent steps in determining employee eligibility in the first place helps employers not only properly deny leave when workers don’t qualify, but also grant leave for a period that is reasonable and necessary. Additionally, eligibility for leave to care for covered family members has changed in recent years as the definition of family member has been altered by FMLA regulations, court decisions, and changes in the family structure. In this opening session, we’ll explain these developments and how to adjust your policies and practices to ensure compliance with the changing regulatory, legal, and practical landscape. You’ll learn:
Managing Serious Health Conditions and Medical Certifications
9:00 a.m.–9:45 a.m.
At the heart of many FMLA leave requests is the serious health condition. The FMLA regulations do offer guidance and allow you to require medical certification, yet there are a multitude of possible reasons for needing FMLA leave. Assessing the information requires keen judgment, and this session will show you how to make these crucial calls. You’ll learn about:
Networking Break
9:45 a.m.–10:00 a.m.
Meeting FMLA Deadlines: Notification, Curbing Abuse, and Preventing Claims
10:00 a.m.–10:45 a.m.
FMLA is ruled by deadlines for giving and receiving information, for measuring how much leave has been taken, and for determining how much leave employees have remaining in a given year. A good grasp of timing rules—and learning how to monitor other key areas of FMLA usage—can help you prevent abuse of FMLA entitlements and fend off litigation. This session covers:
Mastering the Tough FMLA Issues
10:45 a.m.–11:30 a.m.
It’s one thing to grasp individual FMLA rules, but another thing entirely to put those pieces together in the real world. For example, intermittent leave seems pretty straightforward on paper, but how employers really manage it is another story. How is intermittent leave certified and calculated? What about temporary light-duty positions and fluctuating work schedules? Reinstatement after leave? And finally, how do you handle a FMLA investigation by DOL. This session will help you learn:
All Together Now: Coordinating FMLA with ADA, Workers’ Comp, and State Family Leave Laws
11:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
FMLA seems pretty comprehensive, but it’s not the only law that applies when employees need time off for their own serious health condition, to care for a family member, or for other reasons. You need to know when other laws create different obligations—and how their requirements work in tandem with FMLA. In this session we’ll cover:
Networking Power Lunch (included with your registration)
12:15 p.m.–1:15 p.m.
Part II: Intensive Workshop Addressing the Real-Life Application of FMLA Rules, DOL Regulations, and Court Rulings
1:15 p.m.–4:00 p.m. (Break from 2:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.)
During this highly interactive portion of the program, your Master Class leader will walk you through a series of scenarios to solve the real-life FMLA issues that stump even the most seasoned HR practitioners. You’ll cover different leave management and decision-making challenges with your trainer and fellow attendees to determine the correct course of action, based on the facts and your knowledge of fundamental FMLA compliance principles.
Recent court rulings, long-standing case law precedent, DOL interpretations, opinion letters, and regulations—as well as the trainer's own experiences in advising clients — are interwoven into this engaging afternoon workshop with the goal of providing you with actionable insights into the tricky FMLA hurdles that come up in daily work life.
You’ll dive deep into:
1. Addressing issues with medical certifications and what to do when:
2. Intermittent leave
3. Reduced schedule leave
4. FMLA during the holidays and shutdowns
5. Addressing performance issues that arise prior to the request for leave
6. Return to work—what to do if an employee is:
Final Questions and Closing
4:00 - 4:30 p.m.
Have lingering questions about points raised during this intensive FMLA workshop or want to revisit a fundamental concept or two from earlier in the day? Take advantage of this opportunity to get clarification from the attorney before we wrap up.
William E. Hammel
Partner
William "Billy" Hammel is a partner in the Dallas office of Constangy. Billy's practice includes counseling and representing employers in the areas of employment law, labor relations, compensation and benefits, workplace safety, corporate governance, officer and director liability, preventative counseling, liability and risk management, and best practices. He regularly represents employers in a wide variety of labor and employment law matters before administrative agencies and in state and federal courts. Billy's practice also includes drafting and litigating employment agreements and restrictive covenants, trade secret agreements, independent contractor agreements, vendor agreements, and corporate agreements. Billy's primary focus is on helping clients avoid litigation in the first place through preventative counseling, compliance counseling and training, internal audits, investigations, and damage control.
John E. Duke
Senior Counsel
John advises and represents regional, national, and international employers across the spectrum of industries in the full panoply of labor and employment matters. In addition to advising employers on such union-related concerns as organizing campaigns, collective bargaining, and strikes, John also defends employers in representation and unfair labor practice cases before the National Labor Relations Board, handles labor issues in the federal courts, and has tried dozens of labor arbitrations. He also represents employers before federal and state trial and appellate courts in single plaintiff, complex class/collective action employment litigation, and non-compete litigation.
Please contact the event manager Marilyn below for the following:
- Discounts for registering 5 or more participants.
- If you company requires a price quotation.
Event Manager Contact: marilyn.b.turner(at)nyeventslist.com
You can also contact us if you require a visa invitation letter, after ticket purchase.
We can also provide a certificate of completion for this event if required.
NO REFUNDS OR TRANSFER ALLOWED ON REGISTRATIONS
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