Take It or Leave It

In a bittersweet 20th episode, we wish a fond farewell to cohost Meg Toth as she moves on from Seyfarth. We celebrate her part in getting Take It Or Leave It off the ground, revisit some of her favorite moments from the podcast, and get her predictions on upcoming paid leave hotspots. Take It or Leave It podcast will keep running, but please join Josh Seidman as we look ahead to what’s coming in paid leave and toast Meg and her new role.

Bereavement leave isn’t talked about as much as certain other types of paid leave, but it is equally important and gaining traction in several states. Bereavement leave laws have recently expanded in certain jurisdictions, offering time for employees to grieve losses and navigate personally tumultuous periods. Join cohosts Josh Seidman and Meg Toth as they examine the rise in bereavement leave laws, differences between current state requirements, areas of overlap between bereavement leave considerations and other leave laws, including sick leave and family leave laws, and high level thoughts for employers on how to structure a company-provided bereavement leave policy and the importance of such policies.

Illinois is about to become one of three states with a mandatory paid leave law, requiring employers to provide employees with paid leave that can be used for any reason -- joining the nationwide mosaic of leave laws and creating potential headaches for employers. One of Seyfarth’s resident paid leave experts Gillian Lepore joins hosts Joshua Seidman and Meg Toth to examine the details of the new Illinois paid leave law, how this new law will fit in with the current paid leave landscape and how it compares to other similar paid leave laws.

In this episode of “Take It or Leave It,” co-hosts Josh Seidman and Meg Toth are joined by special guest and FMLA-expert, Ellen McLaughlin to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The discussion examines the continuing impact of the FMLA and its nuances that employers are still grappling with. Highlights of the episode include how the law benefits employees and employers, the biggest issues resulting from the law – including the rise of social media – and some compliance tips for employers. Tune in for an in-depth discussion of the law that everyone's still talking about 30 years later.

With the New Year upon us comes a bevy of new leave laws and trends on the horizon, and the opportunity to reflect on all the happenings of 2022. Throughout 2022, we covered developments across the leave space and now it’s time to tie it all together. During this final 2022 episode of “Take It or Leave It,” Meg Toth and Josh Seidman are joined by their Seyfarth Labor & Employment colleague, Renate Walker, who takes us coast to coast to discuss 2022’s trends in leave laws, what these changes looked like in 2022 in a variety of leave topics, including paid sick, COVID emergency, public health emergency, paid and unpaid family medical, and bereavement leave, and what employers should be thinking about as we move into the new year.

With 2022 drawing to a rapid close, it is important to remember that California laws are unique and ever-changing, especially in the leave of absence management and accommodation world. Staying on trend, we saw many changes in California leave laws in 2022 and will likely see more in 2023. During this episode of “Take It or Leave It,” Meg Toth and Josh Seidman are joined by their California Seyfarth Labor & Employment partner, Ann Marie Zaletel, to discuss trends appearing in California leave laws, noteworthy developments in 2022, including on paid sick, COVID emergency, public health emergency, family medical, and bereavement leave, and what California employers can expect as we move into 2023.

With midterm elections in full force and voting to begin this week, it is important for employers to understand state and local voting leave laws that require time off to vote, including how much time must be provided, when the time must be provided, whether it must be paid, any notice and documentation requirements and possible approaches for nationwide compliance.

During this episode of “Take It or Leave It,” Meg Toth is joined by Seyfarth Labor & Employment partner, Sara Fowler, to discuss employers’ obligations for providing time off to employees for voting, how these requirement vary state-to-state, and what employers should be thinking about for this election and for elections to come.

Managing employee leaves of absence carries a plethora of legal and practical challenges, especially in light of the many types of paid and unpaid leave laws scattered around the country. Mix in the fact that each set of laws -- the FMLA (federal), the ADA (federal), paid family leave, unpaid family leave, statutory disability insurance, bereavement leave, family military leave, safe time, pregnancy disability leave, and several others -- contains unique substantive requirements, and compliance can become daunting, even for skilled legal, benefits, human resources, and payroll teams.

During this episode of “Take It or Leave It,” Lynne Sousa, Senior Absence Management and Compliance Counsel with Majesco, joins co-hosts, Josh Seidman and Meg Toth, to discuss how her company’s ClaimVantage Absence Management software allows employers to more easily navigate and manage their employees’ leaves of absence. Through Majesco’s software, employers, third party administrators and insurance carriers can automate employee eligibility checks under more than 150 federal and state leave of absence laws, as well as track actual employees absences, manage employee intermittent leave, notice and documentation, and coordinate statutory requirements with unique company-provided time off programs. Join us to learn more about Majesco’s ClaimVantage Absence Management software, including tracking leave law developments, how the software operates both from employer and employee perspectives, including when it approves or disapproves an employee’s leave application, and coordination of benefits.

During this episode of “Take It or Leave It,” co-hosts Josh Seidman and Meg Toth discuss important legal considerations and trends that they have been addressing first-hand with clients developing or revamping their parental leave policies. Specific topics include: important provisions that should be addressed in a parental leave policy or the “anatomy” of a parental leave policy, coordination of benefits for parental leave policies, including with the FMLA and other similar state laws, the interplay of voluntary paid parental leave policies and state/local paid family and medical leave mandates, and hot topics and predicted trends for 2023.

An employee’s visa status is not usually top of mind for employers when managing leaves of absence and accommodations, but for many important reasons, it should not be overlooked, as it may pose some significant risks both for the employee and the employer if not handled correctly.

During this episode of “Take It or Leave It,” co-hosts Josh Seidman and Meg Toth are joined by their colleague and expert guest, Angelo Paparelli, from Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s Los Angeles Office, to discuss how a leave of absence or accommodation could impact an employee’s visa status. Specific topics include: an overview of the visa application process and how an employee’s “visa status” is established, why it is important to consider an employee’s visa status when managing leaves of absence and accommodations, the impact a leave of absence or accommodation may have on an employee’s visa status, employers’ potential obligations to report a leave as a change in the terms and conditions of employment to the immigration authorities and how an employee’s reduced hour work schedule or remote work arrangement, even if provided as an accommodation, may impact their visa status, among others.