Introduction

Years ago, most workers' compensation professionals understood completely all of the legal risks. Follow the schedule listed in the statute, check compliance with other rules, and you knew the approximate costs of the claim. With the passage of the ADAAA, FMLA, GINA, such claims are not as easy to administer. Even the Pregnancy Discrimination Act has become a claim that many employers rarely see (because you treat pregnancy as any other "temporary disability"). How can you comply with each and every one of these statutes when they all have different purposes and different rules? Don't get caught like other employers recently have, because you haven't kept up with the latest regulations and court decisions.

Learning Objectives

• The differences between the ADAAA and FMLA when it comes to leaves of absences
• Do workers compensation statutes require an employer to offer "light duty" positions?
• What are the pros/cons of light duty positions?
• Even if your state statute doesn't require light duty positions, will the ADAAA require it?
• Can you terminate an employee out on workers' compensation leave for refusing a light duty position?
• How to run the various leave requirements concurrently?
• Can you run workers' compensation payments concurrently with other paid leave such as sick leave, vacation, short term disability, etc. Can the employee request that you do so even if you don't require it?
• How is GINA different from the ADAAA? How is it similar?
• How to treat pregnancies under the ADAAA, FMLA and PDA (and, yes, it is very different under each statute)
• When are you required to provide COBRA notices to those out on leave?

Who Will Benefit

• Human resource managers
• Company owners
• Chief operating officers
• In house counsel
• Benefits specialists