Leave of Absence Advisor

Job Description:

The Leave of Absence (LOA) Advisor will be part of the Human Resources Department and administers the end-to-end process of all leave of absence programs ensuring a positive employee experience and maintains compliance with leave of absence and employment laws including administration of all State and Federal Leaves of Absences (including but not limited to FMLA, ADA, worker’s compensation) within the organization. This includes making timely decisions on approvals, compliance communication and working with the employee and their manager through the interactive process.  In addition to the LOA responsibilities this team member will proactively communicate and ensure employee benefits and wellness programming.

Business Unit Support

Benefits:

• Proactively analyze employee participation in benefit offerings for the employee populations they support and create communication and education campaigns to increase participation in employee benefits for the business units assigned
• Act as the Subject Matter Expert (SME) on employee benefit eligibility and navigating the employee benefit service providers.
• Process site specific benefit plan invoices.  Participate in resolution of all funding and payment discrepancies with vendors. 
• Audit benefit enrollments to ensure entire population is properly offered and enrolled in benefits and deductions.
• Assist with annual 401(k) plan audit.
• Approve and administer the Educational Assistance Program.

Leave of Absence: 

• Acts as the first point of contact for incoming leave of absence inquiries conduct intake and assesses the needs of the caller; understanding explicit and implied needs as well as responding to emergency situations.
• Analyzes LOA case information to determine eligibility by asking targeted questions to gather relevant information in alignment with local state and federal regulations. Identifies appropriate leave type for the situation.
• Act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to consult on leave inquiries reviews paperwork and educates the employees on what is needed to support their leave of absence. Educates the employee on employee and employer responsibilities respectively.
• Work with employee and manager on accommodation requests.  Make decisions regarding accommodation requests.  Inform employees of any impacts to pay and/or benefits, their leave options, and refers employees to the appropriate resources/self-service tools to answer their questions or resolve issues.
• Utilizes both internal and external resources to find answers and provide accurate up-to-date information to employees on a timely basis.
• Accurately drafts LOA correspondence for all employee LOA notifications, approvals, and requests for medical certifications.
• Make timely case decisions based on compliance requirements. Communicates the decisions and on-going expectations with appropriate parties.
• Partners with the Managers and HR Business Partners on next steps on leaves that have exhausted state, federal and company leave entitlements; recognizes when there is a need to escalate to upper management.
• Manages all administrative aspects of leaves to include tracking hours used/taken and working closely with Payroll to ensure that pay is accurate and correct
• Organizes files and tracks all Leave of Absence (LOA) documentation separate from other personnel records.
• Tracks baby births for the purposes of ordering Baby Welcome gifts.
• Ensures employee returns to work, partners with the manager to engage in the interactive process
• Run basic reports to identify upcoming leaves and returns to work as well as Ad-hoc reports when needed

Wellness:

• Coordinate on-site wellness activities: including but not limited to: sourcing wellness vendors, surveying population on interests, researching trends.

The TOOLS you’ll bring with you:

• You have a minimum of 3 years HR experience.  Requires experience in leave of absence administration. 
• Education equivalent to bachelor’s degree in Human Resources.
• Thorough understanding of FMLA, LOA policy and procedures, worker’s compensation, and ADA/accommodation policies/procedures.
• Previous experience in benefits communication and/or education campaigns.
• Previous work experience supporting a manufacturing workforce. 
• Strong verbal and written communication, interpersonal and customer service skills are required.
• The ability to maintain confidentiality, exercise good judgment and diplomacy.

We provide these great perks and benefits: 

• Robust health, dental and vision insurance plans 

• Generous 401 (K) savings plan 

• Tuition reimbursement 

• On-site wellness and fitness center 

• And many more, check out our benefits site HERE. 

Milwaukee Tool is an equal opportunity employer.