Who Needs Leave for What? How the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Reshaping Employer Leave & Accommodation Challenges

We said goodbye to 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic continues to march forward. Pressures on families and employers are unprecedented and flexible leave and work policies have never been more important. Employees need and want more leave and for different reasons than ever before. After experiencing an unanticipated expansion of federal, state, and local leave and accommodation obligations, employers are now faced with a new challenge. How do we return to full productivity while addressing these new employee expectations? The White House’s legislative and regulatory agenda — will national paid leave be passed, will the FFCRA be resurrected or expanded, etc. — may further complicate this challenge. During this session, we will discuss the evolving complexities of leaves and accommodations as employers move into a second “pandemic” year and suggest “lessons learned” that may help them return to “better” rather than “normal.”