Out Sick, or Sick of Work? Effectively Managing Employee Absence
As employees increasingly spend more time away from work using FMLA, taking leave to address disabilities, away in connection with workplace injuries, or just not showing up for work, you play an even more important role as a risk manager and company communicator. You must be able to effectively track, manage, and communicate about employee leave to keep managers happy and strategically address problem employees. This session will educate you about cutting-edge legal issues in leave management and will help you:
· Understand your obligations under applicable leave laws.
· Learn when leave must be provided as an accommodation under the ADA and state laws.
· Learn about the EEOC's latest enforcement positions under the ADA and state laws.
· Understand how the DOL and state agencies are enforcing FMLA and state laws.
· Enhance your ability to communicate effectively with leave users to get people back to work or exit.
· Identify ways to educate managers about how their failure to address performance issues makes leave management harder and creates risk.
Laurence E. Stuart
Larry is an experienced counselor and trial lawyer. He is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and represents clients in all types of labor and employment matters, including wrongful termination and employee disloyalty litigation, development of personnel policies, implementation of workforce reductions, negotiation and drafting of employment agreements and compensation packages, union avoidance and collective bargaining, and investigations and administrative proceedings. Larry has tried cases to verdict, judgment and decision in state and federal court, before administrative agencies, and in arbitration.
Larry was named a Texas “Super Lawyer” seven times in Texas Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters (2003-2005 and 2008-2011) and was recognized as a “Leading Labour Lawyer of the World” by Euromoney in 2003. Larry served as President and General Counsel of HR Houston, as an instructor for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Technical Assistance Program, and is an Adjunct Professor in Management in the Jones Graduate School of Business. Larry is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Society for Human Resource Management and other professional organizations and currently serves as President of Jones Partners. He is a regular speaker at national and regional human resources conferences and has authored numerous articles on employment law topics. Before founding the firm, Larry was a partner at Baker & McKenzie and co-director of the labor and employment practice at Legge Farrow.