Leave Management Terminology

Leave Management is the policies, processes, and systems an employer uses to track, approve, and administer employee time away from work.

Below is a glossary of Leave Management terms, as well as a list of recommended training courses to help with your compliance requirements.

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• Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)

  
  A civil rights law developed due to the concern that individuals with disabilities were being discriminated against in areas of employment and public accommodations. The ADA impacts employment, public accommodations, state and local governments, telecommunications, and other aspects of American industry and government.

• Benefits Continuation

  
  The maintenance of benefits (such as health insurance) while an employee is on leave.

• Cafeteria Plan

  
  A written plan maintained by the sponsoring employer that allows employees to pay for qualified benefits on a pre-tax basis.

• Calendar Leave Year

  
  A leave calculation method based on a fixed January–December period.

• COBRA

  
  See Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)

• Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)

  
  Act requiring the continuation of group health insurance coverage for certain individuals.

• Concurrent Leave

  
  When multiple leave types (e.g., FMLA and state PFML) run at the same time.

• Continuous Leave

  
  Leave taken in one uninterrupted block of time.

• Department of Labor (DOL)

  
  Enforces the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

• Direct threat

  
  The situation whereby an individual may cause a threat to the health and safety of others because of a disability. The employer must show a significant current risk of substantial harm; the specific risk must be identified; the risk must be documented by objective medical or other factual evidence regarding the particular individual; and, the employer must consider whether it can be eliminated or reduced below the level of a "direct threat" by reasonable accommodation.

• Disability

  
  As defined under the ADA: a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities; a record of such impairment, or; being regarded as having such impairment.

• Documentation / Certification

  
  Medical or legal paperwork supporting the need for leave.

• DOL

  
  Department of Labor

• EEOC

  
  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

  
  Enforces Title I (nondiscrimination in employment provisions) of the ADA.

• Equivalent position

  
  As used in the FMLA this term means essential the same position. It must include the same or substantially similar duties and responsibilities as the original position.

• Essential job functions

  
  The fundamental job duties of the position an individual holds or desires. This does not include marginal job functions.

• Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

  
  Applies to employers with 50 or more employees and provides up to 12-weeks of unpaid job-protected leave for employees that qualify for the leave.

• Fitness-for-Duty Certification

  
  Medical documentation confirming an employee can safely return to work.

• Interactive process

  
  The employer and the individual with a disability engaging in an informal process to clarify what the individual needs and identify the appropriate reasonable accommodation.

• Intermittent leave

  
  Under the FMLA this is leave taken in separate intervals, rather than all at once.

• Job restructuring

  
  The process of reallocating or redistributing the marginal, or non-essential, functions of the job that the employee is unable to do because of his disability.

• Leave of Absence (LOA)

  
  An approved period of time during which an employee is away from work. Leaves may be paid, unpaid, or partially paid.

• Leave Administrator

  
  The employer, HR team, or third-party vendor responsible for managing leave requests and compliance.

• Leave Exhaustion

  
  The point at which an employee has used all available leave under a specific policy or law.

• Light-duty

  
  A job provided to an employee who is unable to perform his or her regular job functions due to a mental or physical impairment and generally entails duties that are less mentally or physically taxing than the employee’s normal duties. Light-duty is typically intended to be temporary and is a means used to ease an employee back into his or her original position.

• Long-Term Disability (LTD)

  
  An insurance benefit that provides income replacement for extended periods of disability.

• Major life activities

  
  Those basic activities that the average person in the general population can perform with little or no difficulty. Major life activities include functions such as caring for oneself, walking, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and working.

• Medical examination

  
  A procedure or test that seeks information about an individual's physical or mental impairments or health.

• Mental impairment

  
  Any mental or psychological disorder, such as: mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, specific learning disabilities, emotional or mental illness.

• Paid Leave

  
  Time away from work for which the employee continues to receive pay (e.g., PTO, paid sick leave, paid parental leave).

• Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML)

  
  State-run insurance programs that provide partial wage replacement during qualifying family or medical leaves.

• Permanent Partial Disability

  
  A condition whereby an individual has permanently lost partial use of a limb, joint, on of the senses or other part of the body due to a physical or mental injury or illness.

• Permanent Total Disability

  
  A condition whereby an individual is permanently unable to work due to a mental or physical injury or illness.

• Physical impairment

  
  Any physiological disorder, or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological systems, musculoskeletal systems, special sense organs, respiratory systems, speech organs, cardiovascular systems, reproductive systems, digestive systems, genito-urinary systems, hemic and lymphatic systems, skin and endocrine systems.

• Protected Leave

  
  Leave that provides job protection, meaning the employee is entitled to return to the same or an equivalent position.

• Qualifying Event

  
  An occurrence that makes an employee eligible for leave (e.g., serious health condition, birth or adoption, military deployment).

• Qualified individual with a disability

  
  An individual with a disability who satisfies the requisite skill, experience, education and other job-related requirements of the employment position such individual holds or desires, and who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of such position.

• Reason for Leave

  
  The qualifying purpose for a leave, such as medical care, bonding, caregiving, military service, or personal reasons.

• Reasonable accommodation

  
  Any change in the work environment or in the way things are done that enables a qualified individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities that does not cause an undue hardship for the employer.

• Reduced Schedule Leave

  
  A temporary reduction in an employee’s regular work schedule due to a qualifying condition.

• Reinstatement

  
  Returning an employee to their position (or an equivalent one) after protected leave.

• Retaliation

  
  Any adverse action taken against an employee for requesting, using, or supporting a leave request.

• Return-to-Work (RTW)

  
  The process of reintegrating an employee after a leave, which may include restrictions or accommodations.

• Serious Health Condition

  
  An illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that meets legal criteria under laws like FMLA.

• Short-Term Disability (STD)

  
  An insurance benefit that replaces a portion of income during a temporary non-work-related medical condition.

• State Leave Laws

  
  State-mandated leave programs that may provide paid or unpaid leave and often run concurrently with FMLA.

• Substantially limiting

  
  Either the individual is unable to perform a major life activity that the average person in the general population can perform, or the individual is significantly restricted as to the condition, manner or duration under which an individual can perform a particular major life activity as compared to the condition, manner or duration under which the average person in the general population can perform the same major activity.

• Temporary Partial Disability

  
  A condition whereby an individual has temporarily lost partial use of a limb, joint, on of the senses or other part of the body due to a physical or mental injury or illness.

• Temporary Total Disability

  
  A condition whereby an individual is temporarily unable to work due to a mental or physical injury or illness.

• Title I of the ADA

  
  Prohibits employment discrimination based upon an individual’s disability.

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

  
  Prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin when they provide a medical leave.

• Unpaid Leave

  
  Time away from work that is not compensated, though benefits may continue depending on policy or law.

• Undue hardship

  
  Significant difficulty or expense incurred implementing an accommodation focusing on the resources and circumstances of the particular employer in relationship to the cost or difficulty of providing a specific accommodation. An employer is not required to implement an accommodation if it would cause an undue hardship.

• Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act

  
  A law that guarantees workers who enter the military or guard or reserve members that are called to active duty to certain job, health care, and retirement plan protections.

• Unprotected Leave

  
  Leave that does not guarantee job restoration and is subject to employer policy.

• USERRA

  
  See Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.

• Wage Replacement

  
  Income paid during leave through employer policy, state programs, or insurance plans.

• Workers' Compensation

  
  A state law that requires employers to provide income replacement and medical coverage for injuries or illness arising out of and in the course of employment. Workers? compensation statutes are generally considered "no-fault" and are typically the exclusive remedy for injured or ill workers.

For More Information About Leave Management:

For details and suggested training courses about Leave Management, go to https://hrtrainingcenter.com/disability-leave-management.

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