When Leave Raises Red Flags: Managing and Preventing Abuse Under FMLA, ADA & Workers’ Comp

Overview:

Every questionable leave case creates two records.

The first is the one you think you have: the request, the certification, the absence dates, the manager’s notes, the emails, and the decision you made at the time. It looks complete. It feels fine.

The second is the one someone else reads months later — an attorney, an agency, a court — and it gets asked much harder questions. Was the employee treated like everyone else? Was the medical information handled the right way? Were the call-in rules applied consistently? Was recertification used properly? Did anyone consider ADA obligations once FMLA ran out? Were Workers’ Compensation restrictions, modified duty, or return-to-work issues handled consistently? Was the decision built on facts, or does it read like punishment for taking protected leave?

Most employers never see that second record until they are sitting in front of it. And by then, the gap between the two may become the whole problem.

This is where leave abuse quietly becomes the employer’s problem instead of the employee’s. The absences that always land on Mondays, Fridays, and the day before a holiday. The certification that says too little. The return-to-work date that keeps sliding. The restrictions that never lift. A manager who is certain the system is being worked. The instinct is to act — but suspicion is not a record, and acting without one is how a defensible decision can become an expensive one.

The challenge is that these cases rarely stay inside one law. A leave file may begin as an FMLA entitlement issue, continue as an ADA accommodation question, and still be shaped by Workers’ Compensation restrictions, medical updates, modified duty, or return-to-work concerns. Treating those obligations separately can create gaps. Treating them together requires a process the employer can explain later.

Recent court decisions have made one thing clear: employers can win these cases, but the record matters. An employer may be able to act on suspected FMLA abuse when the decision rests on a reasonable, well-documented belief and a fair process. An employer also may not have to hold a job open indefinitely when leave continues with no clear path back to work. In both situations, the outcome depends heavily on what the employer did before making the final decision.

That is exactly what this session is built to address. Janette Levey Frisch, an employment attorney with more than twenty years of legal experience and over a decade in employment law, has spent her career helping employers close the gap between those two records before anyone outside the company ever reads either one. In this focused session, she will explain what legally counts as leave abuse and what only looks suspicious, how to read red flags without overreaching, how to use certifications and recertifications properly, how long a job may need to be held open, and when investigation, discipline, or termination may be defensible.

This is not a basic FMLA refresher. It is for HR professionals, managers, leave administrators, and business owners who need to know what to do when leave turns suspicious, drags on, strains the operation, or raises hard questions about job protection, accommodation, Workers’ Compensation coordination, and discipline.

You may not control who reads the record later. But you can control what they find when they do.

By attending, you'll learn:

• 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, recertifications, 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

Handouts:

Attendees will gain access to exclusive handouts, including presentation materials provided by the speaker and additional resources developed by Amorit Education to aid your teams in post-session implementation.

Why should you attend?

Attend this session if you are responsible for making, reviewing, or defending leave decisions that cannot be handled by policy alone. This is not another walk-through of basic FMLA rules. It is about learning how to pressure-test a difficult leave decision before the organization acts.

You will learn how to ask the right questions when leave appears suspicious, prolonged, or poorly supported: Is the concern based on facts or assumptions? Is the documentation strong enough? Were the rules applied consistently? Has the employer considered ADA and Workers’ Compensation obligations along with FMLA? Is the next step defensible if challenged later?

This session will help you bring more structure to the moments that often create the greatest risk: suspected misuse, incomplete medical information, repeated intermittent absences, extended leave, return-to-work uncertainty, and manager pressure to “do something.” You will leave with a clearer way to evaluate the file, guide internal communication, and make decisions that are more consistent, better documented, and easier to support.

Who will benefit?

This webinar is designed for professionals responsible for managing employee leave, evaluating return-to-work issues, responding to suspected leave misuse, and reducing legal exposure when FMLA, ADA, and Workers’ Compensation obligations overlap. Those include:

• HR Managers
• HR Directors
• HR Generalists
• HR Business Partners
• Leave of Absence Managers
• Leave Administrators
• Benefits Administrators
• Employee Relations Managers
• Employee Relations Specialists
• Compliance Managers
• Employment Law Compliance Professionals
• Risk Managers
• Workers’ Compensation Coordinators
• Workers’ Compensation Managers
• Payroll Managers involved in leave coordination
• Payroll Compliance Professionals
• Operations Managers involved in staffing and absence decisions
• Department Managers responsible for employee attendance issues
• Supervisors who manage intermittent leave or return-to-work concerns
• Business Owners
• Small Business HR Administrators
• In-House Counsel
• Employment Counsel
• Labor and Employment Law Advisors