Senior Employee Relations & Leaves Manager

Blank Rome is an Am Law 100 firm with 16 offices and 800 attorneys who provide comprehensive legal and advocacy services to clients operating in the United States and around the world. Our professionals have built a reputation for their leading knowledge and experience across a spectrum of industries and are recognized for their commitment to pro-bono work in their communities.

Since our inception in 1946, Blank Rome’s culture has been dedicated to providing top-level service to all of our clients and has been rooted in the strength of our diversity and inclusion initiatives. Our commitment to our core values and dedication to providing a supportive and inclusive work environment allows the firm to attract and retain the brightest in the industry.

The Senior Employee Relations & Leaves Manager plays a pivotal role in maintaining a high-integrity, high-performance workplace by managing complex employee relations matters as well as overseeing employee leave and accommodation requests from initiation to return-to-work. This role ensures consistent, fair, and compliant handling of workplace concerns—including performance issues, workplace conflict, conduct concerns, and sensitive investigations—while also ensuring clear communication, procedural consistency, and compliance with firm policies and applicable federal, state, and local leave and accommodation regulations.

Serving as a trusted advisor, this role works in collaboration with the Human Resources (HR) team and firm management to navigate challenging situations with clarity, communication, and consistency. The position serves as a primary liaison between the firm’s external leave management vendor, employees, managers, firm leadership, and the HR team, and owns the development and implementation of appropriate policies, practices, and processes that align with employment laws and regulations.

This role is a hybrid working arrangement. Potential candidates must live within commuting distance of our Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York, or Washington, DC office to be onsite three days per week.

• Manage the day-to-day intake, triage, investigation, documentation, and resolution of employee relations matters, escalating complex, high-risk, or highly sensitive cases to the Chief Human Resources Officer as appropriate.
• Conduct thorough, impartial investigations into allegations of misconduct, policy violations, workplace conflict, retaliation, and performance-related escalations.
• Support employees and managers through sensitive situations by providing clarity, empathy, and practical, actionable guidance in alignment with firm policy.
• Advise managers on performance management, conflict resolution, coaching strategies, and policy application, while identifying matters that require escalation.
• Proactively partner with managers to identify and address emerging behavioral or cultural concerns and guide timely, appropriate intervention early and efficiently.
• Maintain end‑to‑end ownership of firm policies, ensuring consistent application across the firm and leading updates based on evolving needs or policy gaps.
• Prepare clear, well-supported summaries, documentation, and recommendations to support decision-making on employee relations issues.
• Develop and refine employee relations tools, templates, and documentation standards to improve consistency, efficiency, and risk mitigation.
• Manage compliance training requirements related to workplace conduct and harassment prevention, including content alignment, delivery coordination, and completion oversight.
• Conduct exit interviews and analyze feedback to ensure positive employee experience.
• Ensure alignment with employment laws and regulations across applicable jurisdictions.
• Maintain precise, audit-ready documentation that meets legal, regulatory, and internal standards.
• Oversee various leave of absence programs (FMLA, ADA, STD/LTD, other medical, parental, personal, military, etc. leaves), serving as the primary contact for leave administration for all cases/claims and ensuring appropriate parties are made aware in a timely manner.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for employees,…