November 13th, 2025 • 1:00-5:00 p.m. Eastern
Master the FMLA:
Confidently Manage Complex Regulations and Avoid Legal Risks
Does dealing with Family and Medical Leave Act requests make YOU want to take leave?
It’s such a stressful and confusing part of your job as an HR professional that it just might.
That’s why you need the FMLA Master Class, the premier FMLA training crucial for understanding and complying with FMLA regulations.
Master the essentials and navigate the trickiest situations with ease
• What exactly counts as a qualifying serious health condition?
• When can you require medical certification?
• How many hours of FMLA leave does a part-time employee have?
• How do you manage those small “incremental” leaves?
• What’s the best way to handle certification?
• When can you talk to the employee’s doctor?
• How do you coordinate FMLA with all those state and local leave laws?
• What do you do when a pregnant worker qualifies for FMLA and PWFA leave?
• How can you fix a mistake without penalty?
These are just a few of the questions you may ask yourself in a given week regarding FMLA requests. Anniken Davenport, Esq., employment law expert and legal trainer, will answer these questions and more. In fact, past attendees say one of the most helpful parts of the training is the real-world scenarios that may come across your desk one day.
Avoid costly mistakes and comply with federal law
This is one area of your job that you must get right—because mistakes could be costly. Since 2012, employee lawsuits claiming FMLA violations have more than tripled. And many of those cases result in million-dollar verdicts or settlements—all because of a simple FMLA mistake at the HR or manager level. Plus, your employees have become experts at playing the FMLA game to their advantage. (It’s nicknamed the “Friday-Monday Leave Act” for a reason!)
On November 13, find out how to prevent and correct FMLA compliance problems and effectively manage every step of the FMLA process. This online course is the ideal compliance training for anyone who handles FMLA as part of their job.
COURSE SCHEDULE
FMLA Compliance Essentials
We’ll start at the very beginning with an overview of the law, common types of leave and how to determine eligibility and set your calendar year. We’ll fly through this part quickly to leave time to focus on the trickiest scenarios and pain points.
➤ Sick, pregnancy, child bonding, military-related leave and other criteria
➤ How to calculate employee eligibility based on years of service and hours worked
➤ Converting FMLA weeks to hours—trickier than you think
➤ Providing the right notices at the right time
➤ Managing unusual situations, such as unconventional family structures and relationships
➤ What happens when a holiday surrounds FMLA leave—there’s brand-new guidance
➤ Can you dock FMLA time when the PWFA allows time off as an accommodation?
➤ Understanding the DOL definition of “child” and “parent” … it's broader than you think!
➤ How do the PWFA and FMLA laws work together/differ in regards to childbirth and recovery
➤ How to use the PAID program to fix mistakes without penalty
Certifying & Controlling Intermittent Leave
The trickiest and most frequently abused aspect of FMLA is intermittent leave. You’ll master how it works, when it applies, how to manage it and what to do when it isn’t working or is being abused.
➤ Allowable reasons for intermittent leave
➤ How to document and track intermittent certification and when you can demand an immediate recertification
➤ When intermittent leave is a right—and when it isn’t
➤ When intermittent leave means a permanent reduced schedule
➤ Why you can and should hold those taking intermittent leave to your regular call-off and attendance rules
Managing Accommodations, Preventing Abuse
The FMLA has a lot of loopholes that can be abused and restrictions that can shut employees out from taking the time they need. Discover solutions to the complexity of managing leave so everyone benefits—including your organization.
➤ How to respond when employees need additional leave after using up their FMLA and PTO
➤ Coordinating the intersection of FMLA, ADA and PWFA reasonable accommodations leave
➤ Understanding where the PWFA fits in the FMLA context—including the possibility of extended postpartum leave
➤ How to spot FMLA leave abuse and what to do when you suspect it
Return to Work
You must return employees to the same or “equivalent” jobs after FMLA leave. In this final section, you’ll learn the details to create a successful return-to-work program, plus how to address the challenges that come with it, including discharge, ADA impacts and other reinstatement rules.
➤ Discovering poor performance, wrongdoing or even criminal conduct during FMLA absence
➤ How the ADA affects the employee’s return
➤ Documentation and certification necessary for reinstatement
➤ When you can fire a worker out on FMLA leave
MEET YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Anniken Davenport is a noted employment law attorney and the legal analyst and senior editor of HR Employment Law Advisor and HR Specialist: Employment Law. She has authored several books, including the FMLA Compliance Guide, Employer’s Practical Legal Guide and Bullet-Proof Your Employee Handbook. Anniken has served as a professor at Penn State University, where she taught business law and HR management, and she directed the Legal Studies Program at Wilson College. Her legal career includes representing government units in discrimination and other employment law cases and representing school districts in labor negotiations.
Everyone Who Orders Will Also Receive
Course Materials
In addition to the nearly 200 presentation slides, you will receive a PDF with everything you need to help you master the FMLA essentials, including certifying and controlling intermittent leave, managing accommodations, preventing abuse and handling returns to work.
Samples & Templates
Providing the proper forms is critical to administering FMLA correctly. These samples and templates cover your bases, and are easy to edit and customize for all of your FMLA needs.
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Business Management Daily is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDC) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.
This Program has been pre-approved for 3.50 HR (General) credit hours toward aPHR®, aPHRi™, PHR®, PHRca®, SPHR®, GPHR®, PHRi™ and SPHRi™ recertification through HR Certification Institute® (HRCI®).
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