Navigating an employee’s return to work after a disability leave can be complex for your clients. There can be many unknowns, including what questions an employer can ask the employee about his or her condition, what needs to be put in place for a successful return, and, the No. 1 thing: when can an employee actually be expected to return to work.

Your clients might also not be aware of the proper course of action for determining when or how to help an employee return from a leave of absence. Making things even more complex are the multiple pieces of legislation that affect the way these situations need to be handled. Primarily, these include:

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires employers with more than 50 employees to grant an employee with a serious health condition up to 12 weeks of leave to deal with a medical issue.
Alternatively, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) requires an employer to provide accommodations, which may include extended medical leave, to an employee with a disability to help them in the workplace.

Although both laws need to be considered when navigating an employee’s return to work, it can still get tricky. When an employee who is on leave approaches 12 weeks of protected leave, the employer has to make some decisions: Do I approve an extended leave? How are reasonable accommodations established? Just how does the employer proceed?

As a broker, you can help put your clients on the right path to navigating an employee’s options for a return from a leave of absence by encouraging them to work with their disability carrier. Educating your clients on how a consultant from their disability insurance can help them determine a course of action to put the right solution in place for an employee’s successful return to work.

Here are a few ways disability carriers can help:

Open the lines of communication with employees

A consultant can communicate directly with the employee and his or her medical team to gather information about the employee’s condition— the type of information an employer is not typically privy to. With this information, the consultant can assess the employee’s return-to-work potential and timing and help determine what accommodations could be useful.

Lend a helping hand

Because coordinating with all parties involved while also operating within the bounds of multiple laws can be confusing and taxing for an HR manager, leveraging the expertise of a disability carrier’s consultants on these cases can eliminate a lot of stress and extra work for your client.

Assess equipment and schedule needs

On-site consultants can help employers realize an employee’s return-to-work needs. For example, they can find ergonomic equipment and worksite accommodations to meet an employee’s medical requirements, helping the employee return to work and focus on overall productivity. These consultants can also work with your client to establish temporary or modified schedules for an employee, whether it’s a shorter workday or longer breaks to help with an employee’s recovery.

Lower overall health care costs

Taking proactive measures to work with a disability carrier that offers return-to-work and accommodations assistance can help save your clients on health care costs in the long run. On-site consultants can help employees reach their return-to-work needs, keeping them healthy and productive.

Educating clients on how they can work closely with consultants from their disability carrier — including understanding the nuances involved with leave-related regulations — helps ensure that an employee can return to work the right way, at the right time.

Instant Insights /

Helping clients navigate ADAAA/FMLA leave regulations

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