Leave and Disabilities Administration Specialist

Leaves and Disabilities Administration Specialists

6 month contract

3-4 days/week onsite in Cambridge, MA

As part of the Disabilities and Medical Leave Services, counsel and advise employees and managers on complex leave laws and policies, worker’s compensation, handling requests for accommodations under ADA and the interactive dialogue, and processing long-term disability claims for assigned departments, labs, centers, and institutes. Partner and collaborate with vendors, including Workpartners, Cannon, Cochrane Management Services Inc., and Prudential, to administer leaves, worker’s compensation, and long-term disability to ensure timely processing of claims.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities (Essential Functions*):

Leave Administration and Worker’s Compensation

Advises and assists employees going on or on leave about policies, including MA PFML and FMLA and Worker’s Compensation claims. Analyze and evaluate leave cases, ensuring appropriate application of policies and laws using multiple tools including SAP, Absence Tracker, Atlas Salaried Sick Tracker, and Timesheet data to determine resolution. Must be able to present conclusions and make recommendations as required to ensure appropriate pay and leave policy application.

Implements and processes worker’s compensation claims, Top-Off Requests, and Long-Term Disability claims, and terminated employee leaves. Understanding and communicating information about the different plans and policies to employees, managers, and department administrators.

Accommodations

Administer requests for accommodations under the ADA for employees to ensure reasonable accommodations, including job accommodations and return-to-work accommodations from leave, temporary parking accommodations, and ASL and CART service support, as necessary.

Engage in the interactive process with employees, managers, HR contacts, and HR personnel to review, assess, and make determinations on reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. Meet with employees about their request. Work with managers to understand the essential functions of the job and find reasonable accommodations.

Writes letters of determination/approval for accommodations resulting from the interactive dialogue. Review letters with the Director Disabilities and Medical Leave Services to finalize the accommodation.

Long Term Disability

Communicate with HR Officers when you are notified of approval to ensure termination letters are sent. Work with Payroll and Benefits to move employees from active employment to long-term disability.

Complete required communications and forms to send to the employee, Payroll and Benefits to create LTD records in SAP, update pay and administer LTD benefits.

Track LTD claims for compliance with applications for Social Security Disability. Update database with approvals, maximum duration, end of claim, and when deceased.

Reporting and Other Duties

Run reports from various systems to track leave and other data. This includes Workpartners OBI, CCMSI Ice system, Cognos, Smartsheet, Filemaker or other related systems to track leaves worker’s compensation accommodations and LTD claims.

Meet regularly with DLCIs to ensure excellent customer service.

Qualifications (Education, Experience and Skills):

Required Minimum Qualifications (Education, Experience and Skills):

• A bachelor’s degree and/or at least seven years of equivalent benefits, leave administration programs, accommodations or HR generalist experience are required.
• Experience administering policies and legal compliance, including in-depth understanding of FMLA, MA PFML, Worker’s Compensation, Long-Term Disability and ADA required.
• Ability to understand and analyze complex policies, procedures, and practices required.
• Strong problem-solving, analytical, and organizational skills required.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal. Must be able to relay complex information in understandable ways to those without an understanding of laws and policies.
• Proven experience and excellence in customer service and program administration
• Meticulous attention to detail and ability to prioritize competing demands and follow through on tasks despite interruptions required, meets critical deadlines relating to pay and other requirements.
• Working on a team, must demonstrate initiative, flexibility, and accountability providing support to and collaborating with colleagues.
• Advanced Excel skills, strong knowledge of Microsoft Office products, and the ability to learn software systems.
• Experience with SAP is desired.
• Experience with data gathering, data analysis, and data management is desired.