Leave and accommodation: the interaction small employers get wrong

The pieces, briefly

• FMLA and CFRA — job-protected leave, with different family definitions and different interaction rules
• PDL — pregnancy disability leave, which runs separately from CFRA in California
• SDI and PFL — wage replacement administered by the state, not leave rights from you
• ADA and FEHA — the obligation to consider reasonable accommodation, which can include leave beyond any entitlement
• Paid sick leave and any local ordinance that applies where the employee works

Where employers go wrong

The most common error is treating the expiry of a leave entitlement as the end of the analysis. When protected leave runs out and the employee still cannot return, the accommodation question begins — and terminating at that moment, without an interactive process, is one of the most expensive mistakes a small employer can make.

The second most common error is the informal arrangement. A supervisor agrees to a reduced schedule by text message, nothing is documented, and eight months later nobody can establish what was agreed, what was medically supported, or whether the employee was ever on protected leave at all.

What good practice looks like

• One person owns leave administration, and managers route every request to them
• Every leave and accommodation conversation is documented, in a file separate from the personnel file
• Medical information is limited to what is needed and kept confidential
• The interactive process is a genuine dialogue, held in writing, with alternatives considered
• Return-to-work, reinstatement and benefit continuation are handled on a written checklist

When to call

Before the decision, not after. The cost of a short advisory conversation is a rounding error against the cost of getting a leave termination wrong.