Leave of Absence Specialist

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The Leave of Absence Specialist provides Leave of Absence (LOA) support and case management services to employees and key stakeholders. This role serves as the main contact and subject matter expert for the Harvard Longwood Campus employees on LOA resources available, as well as University policies and guidelines interpretation regarding any type of Leave of Absence, including Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Short Term Disability (STD), Long Term Disability (LTD), Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave (MA PFML), Worker’s Compensation, Military leaves, and paid/unpaid personal leaves.

• Responsible for responding to inquiries from employees who have a need for a leave; ensuring that employees have eligibility information and know how to request leave and/or file a claim with the respective vendor for the type of leave they are seeking.
• Provides end-to end case management and consultative support to employees and managers throughout the leave process.
• Provides information and guidance to the employee, manager, disability payroll, local payroll, and HR during the claims process, including communicating changes regarding leave status, return to work arrangements and collaborating on reasonable accommodation processes.
• Works closely with disability payroll, local unit payroll and administrators to ensure accurate payroll processing and information is up to date for all employees on leave and returning from leave.
• Responsible for developing leave related communications and sending to employees within appropriate time frames based on policy guidelines.
• Serves as liaison with STD/LTD and Worker’s Compensation vendors for timely follow up and proactive conflict resolution.
• Partners closely with key stakeholders (HR, Legal, UDR) on sensitive and/or multilayered cases while adhering to strict privacy and confidentiality requirements. Collaborates with HR on trend identification and risk mitigation.
• As subject matter expert applies knowledge of FMLA, MA PFML, Workers Compensation, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Harvard Policy to reach appropriate decisions; refers to appropriate resources and coordinates ADA accommodation meetings
• Interprets University guidelines and policies and determines how they apply to specific situations;
• Discerns which cases require input/action by HR Consultants, OGC and/or OLER, or other partner and works as team lead to ensure a seamless and positive experience for employees and managers during the Leaves process.
• Maintain LOA data and creates periodic and year end reports and trends.
• Responsible for the inputting and maintenance of worker’s compensation claims into the third-party vendor database.
• Proactively runs status reports and checks for case updates on vendor’s systems. Develops tracking and reporting framework; produces regular, timely reporting and analysis to key stakeholders
• Collaborate with University Disability Resources, HR Consultant and manager to lead the processing and implementation of formal reasonable accommodation requests.
• Reports on employee’s protected leave time taken, when requested.
• Pro…