Ever had that feeling? You know the one. The one where you’re somewhere between 71% and 84% confident that the way you’re managing your leaves of absence is compliant. The one that pokes out from your subconscious at 11:26 pm saying, “We’re probably following all the latest rules and regulations properly, right?”
The one that you know could be a major disaster for your organization’s bottom line and reputation if it’s not handled properly.
Compliance around leaves of absence is a complex affair with as many moving parts as it has ongoing updates to policy. Different states have different rules to follow and programs to participate in, leave laws that you’re required to abide by are changing on a regular basis, and ensuring your employees are supported and not being discriminated against also falls under your responsibilities.
It’s a lot, and getting it wrong can be costly. Tilt can help.
Why it’s important to be legally compliant when managing leaves of absence
Protecting your employees: Leave laws are in place to instruct employers on what their responsibilities are as it pertains to the rights of their employees taking a leave of absence. The fallout for not doing so, which we’ll get into shortly, can negatively impact the employer, but at its core the reason why it’s important to be legally compliant when managing leaves is that it’s for your employee’s protection.
Employees around the country face stigmas pertaining to leaves of absence every day, and manager actions that reinforce those stigmas can be interpreted as retaliation for wanting to take a leave of absence that they have a right as an employee to take. Managers aren’t leave experts, nor does anyone expect them to be, but they’re also one of the leading causes of employment violations so compliance in this area is critical to protecting your employees taking leave.
Protecting your organization: By ensuring you’re protecting your employees, you’re also protecting your organization. Organizations are responsible for effectively facilitating an employee’s leave of absence (including determining what types of leave they’re eligible for i.e. FMLA or ADA) and knowing the ins and outs of the latest leave laws and requirements. Failure to do so can result in wrongful terminations, employees being denied benefits, or private information being leaked out. When an organization emphasizes the value of managing leaves the right way, by providing an empathetic leave experience that empowers its employees, positive culture grows.
Protecting your bottom line: Getting leave wrong can have a significant impact on your organization financially. Whether you’re facing expensive legal fees because a manager intimidated an employee into not taking leave (or into coming back early), or your employee’s state benefits paperwork was rejected because it didn’t follow the latest guidelines, the financial costs associated with having a compliance breakdown could sink your organization.
How Tilt’s Legal & Compliance Team Saves
We’d love to say we eliminate all of your legal and compliance risk, but a) there was no way our legal and compliance team would allow us to say that in a blog because b) we all know there are managers out there who don’t like to follow rules. That said, our in-house legal and compliance team are living, breathing, leave law experts who geek out on all things leave to ensure you’re as protected and prepared as possible. Here’s how we support you:
Our platform is always up-to-date: Our experts are constantly monitoring the latest leave laws and ensuring our platform is up to date accordingly. This means that when your employee takes a leave of absence in San Francisco, for example, you can rest easy at night that our L&C team will ensure they are being supported empathetically and compliantly throughout their leave journey.
We educate managers: It’s one thing for your employees to know their rights and up-to-date actions that are required while being guided by Tilt through their leave of absence, but we also keep managers in the loop of their employee’s rights as well, and we give them guidance on what they legally can and can’t do when one of their employees takes a leave.
Our Leave Success Managers are attached at the hip (metaphorically): We know that People Ops pros like you are busy busy busy (that’s why they love Tilt), and the last thing you want to be responsible for is triaging a leave question with legal ramifications when an employee is confused or a leave goes sideways. Antiquated leave management solutions might send an employee trying to emotionally come to grips with a maternity leave turning into a bereavement to your insurance carrier’s 1-800 number for answers.
Tilt’s Leave Success Managers (AKA LSMs, AKA Empathy Warriors) are your employee’s 1-1 contact for all things leave. LSMs send reminders to your employees so you don’t have to, and they’ve got our in-house legal and compliance team at their disposal to ensure your employees get the support they need throughout their entire leave journey.
Save money. Stay compliant.
By avoiding potential lawsuits and ensuring your employees’ leaves are compliantly administered, our in-house legal and compliance team can put those uneasy feelings that are constantly floating to the surface to bed.
At Tilt, we’re hellbent on making leave not suck for employees, their employers, and the People Ops professionals who wake up every day to better serve their employees in the way that matters most to them.
About Tilt
Tilt is leading the charge in all things leave of absence management through easy-to-use tech and human touch. Since 2017, our proprietary platform and Empathy Warriors have been helping customers make leave not suck by eliminating administrative burdens, keeping companies compliant, and providing a truly positive and supportive leave of absence experience for their people.
