FMLA Self-Audit: An Employer’s Guide to Proactively Fixing FMLA Compliance Issues

Overview

FMLA problems often begin with small process gaps—a manager mishandling an absence, an outdated form, inconsistent intermittent-leave tracking, a missed recertification, or a return-to-work decision that was never properly documented.

Those gaps can become much more serious when an employee files a complaint or the Department of Labor reviews the employer’s FMLA practices. In fiscal year 2025, the DOL reported 301 FMLA compliance actions involving violations and more than $1 million in back wages, with issues including denial of leave, disciplinary action, failure to reinstate employees, and termination.

That raises an important question: If your company’s FMLA practices were reviewed today, would your policies, forms, notices, leave records, correspondence, and manager actions show a consistent and compliant process?

FMLA continues to create challenges for HR professionals, supervisors, in-house counsel, and business leaders—particularly when dealing with intermittent leave, chronic medical conditions, long-term absences, recertification, employee communications, and return-to-work situations.

A proactive self-audit can help identify weaknesses before they surface during an employee dispute or DOL investigation.

During this practical webinar, employment attorney Janette Levey Frisch will draw on her extensive experience advising employers on workplace and employment-law matters to help attendees review their organization’s FMLA policies, procedures, forms, recordkeeping, communications, training, and leave practices. She will also discuss what the DOL may look for during an investigation and where employers should focus their internal review to strengthen compliance and reduce avoidable FMLA problems.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to raise practical questions and clarify FMLA situations they may be dealing with in their own workplace, helping them better understand how the rules apply beyond the written policy.

Areas Covered:

• FMLA requirements, recent updates and why it’s important to know about them;
• WHY should you conduct a FMLA self-audit?
• WHAT should your audit include?
• COVID-19 and FMLA
• FMLA recordkeeping, training, leave procedures, and more
• What the DOL will look for during a FMLA investigation (i.e., trends in types of requests and leaves, approvals, etc., interviews, documents
• Why you should train employees in FMLA compliance and how to ensure that managers know the proper steps to take to respond to requests, returns to work, etc.
• Communicating your FMLA leave policy
• Ensure that you have current, compliant FMLA forms
• FMLA-related correspondence
• Recertification guidelines and time frames
• And more!

Handouts:

Attendees will gain access to exclusive handouts, including presentation materials provided by the speaker and additional resources developed by Amorit Education to aid your teams in post-session implementation.

Why Should You Attend?

FMLA issues often surface because everyday leave practices are handled inconsistently. A missed notice, outdated form, poorly documented recertification, or manager response can create problems long before HR realizes there is a compliance gap.

This webinar will help you look at your own FMLA process with a more critical eye. You will learn what to review in your policies, forms, recordkeeping, communications, training, and leave procedures, along with the areas the Department of Labor may examine during an investigation.

By conducting a proactive self-audit, you can identify weaknesses before they become employee disputes, enforcement concerns, or costly compliance problems—and build a more consistent process for managing FMLA leave across your organization.

Who Will Benefit?

This webinar is designed for professionals responsible for administering FMLA leave, reviewing leave-related compliance, advising managers, or responding to employee leave concerns and investigations.

Those who will benefit most include:

• Human Resources Directors
• Human Resources Managers
• HR Business Partners
• Employee Relations Managers
• Leave of Absence Managers
• Leave and Benefits Administrators
• Benefits Managers
• Benefits Specialists
• FMLA Administrators
• Absence Management Professionals
• Employee Relations Specialists
• HR Compliance Managers
• HR Compliance Specialists
• Employment Law Counsel
• In-House Employment Counsel
• Labor and Employment Attorneys
• Legal and Compliance Professionals
• Payroll Managers involved in leave administration
• HR Operations Managers
• HR Policy and Procedure Managers
• HR Generalists
• Workplace Compliance Manager
• Supervisors and People Managers responsible for handling employee leave requests