Moving from Legal Overlap to Real-World Leave Risk Management

In our prior program on navigating the overlap between FMLA, ADA, and Workers’ Compensation, we examined how these laws intersect and what they require. 

This session addresses the next, more difficult question: 

How do you manage leave when concerns arise about misuse without creating legal exposure? 

During the earlier session, many participants asked:

• How long do we have to hold someone’s job open?
• When does FMLA end but ADA obligations continue?
• What if restrictions never change? 
• What can we do if we suspect leave abuse and what crosses the line? 

This program builds on those questions and focuses on the practical realities of identifying, addressing, and preventing employee leave abuse while staying within the law. 

If you did not attend the prior session, this training stands fully on its own and dives directly into the operational and risk-management side of leave administration.

Whether You’re Addressing Concerns or Working to Prevent Them 

Some employers attend because: 

• Intermittent leave patterns raise red flags 
• A position has remained open longer than anticipated 
• Managers believe leave may be misused 
• HR wants clarity before taking action. 

Others attend because they understand that leave abuse issues rarely begin as obvious misconduct. They often develop through inconsistent enforcement, weak documentation, unclear procedures, or misalignment between HR and operations. 

Even if you are not currently dealing with suspected abuse, this session will help you strengthen your policies, processes, and documentation so your organization is less vulnerable if concerns arise.

This session provides a practical and legally grounded framework for addressing and preventing leave abuse while protecting your organization from claims of interference, retaliation, or discrimination. 

You will learn how to: 

• Define what legally constitutes leave abuse and what does not 
• Recognize common red flags without jumping to unsupported conclusions 
• Manage intermittent leave effectively and consistently 
• Use certifications, recertification's, and call-in procedures lawfully and strategically 
• Strengthen documentation to support defensible decisions 
• Navigate how long a job must be held open under FMLA and ADA 
• Evaluate when extended leave may become an undue hardship 
• Conduct appropriate investigations into suspected misuse 
• Apply lawful discipline or termination where justified 
• Reduce exposure to FMLA, ADA, and workers’ compensation claims

Suspected leave abuse presents a difficult balance: 

• Act too quickly, and you risk liability. 
• Act too cautiously, and operational strain increases. 

This program equips HR professionals, leave administrators, and business leaders with practical tools to respond confidently, consistently, and defensibly.

• HR Managers and Directors 
• Leave and Benefits Administrators 
• Business Owners and Executives 
• CFOs and Controllers 
• Payroll Administrators 
• Operations Leaders 
• Front-Line and Middle Managers

If you are responsible for approving, tracking, questioning, or advising on employee leave, this session will provide practical tools you can apply immediately.

During the Q&A session following the live event, ask a question and get a direct response from our expert speaker.

Important Notice for Our “Live” Attendees: If you have enrolled in the “Live Webinar,” you will get your instruction kit before 24 hours of the live class.

For Recorded and E-transcript Participants: If you have signed up for the “Recorded” class or for the “E-transcript,” you will get access to the “Recording link” or the “PDF” within 24-48 hours of the live class.

SPEAKER

Janette Levey Frisch

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Janette S. Levey, “The Employer’s Lawyer” has over 20 years of legal experience, more than 10 of which she has spent in Employment Law. It was during her tenure as sole in-house counsel for a mid-size staffing company headquartered in Central New Jersey, with operations all over the continental US, that she truly developed her passion for Employment Law.

Janette operates under this core belief: It is possible, and it is in an employer’s best interest, to proactively solve workforce challenges before they become problems, before they result in lawsuits or steep fines caused by government audits.

Janette works with employers on most employment law issues, to ensure that employers are in the best position possible to avoid litigation, audits, employee relations problems, and the attendant, often exorbitant costs. Janette authors the firm’s weekly blog, where you can read each week, in plain English (not legalese) about issues impacting employers today. Janette has written articles on many different employment law issues for many publications, including EEO Insight, Staffing Industry Review, @Law, and Chief Legal Officer.

Janette has served on the Workplace Violence Prevention Institute, a multidisciplinary task force dedicated to providing proactive, holistic solutions to employers serious about promoting workplace safety and preventing workplace violence.

Janette currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for Child and Family Resources of Morris County, New Jersey.

Janette has also spoken and trained on topics, such as Criminal Background Checks in the Hiring Process, Joint Employment, Severance Arrangements, Addressing and Preventing Employee Leave Abuse, Pre-Employment Screening among many, many others.

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