Leave Administration Specialist

Employees in this class are responsible for overall leave administration activities for municipal employees, to include coordination of requests for accommodation, FMLA, and all leave types.  Under general supervision, employees perform assignments of considerable difficulty requiring the exercise of reasonable initiative and independent judgement in interpreting and implementing rules, regulations, policies and procedures.  Work is performed in accordance with state and federal guidelines, legislation, accepted practices, existing arrangements, and union contracts with which the municipal government must comply.  Requires working effectively and directly with all city employees, including departmental management and supervisory personnel to provide guidance and direction on all aspects of employee leave administration as well as coordinating and completing actions.  Work is reviewed while in progress and upon completion through conferences, written reports and results obtained.

Instructs employees and supervisory personnel on the various leave policies to ensure compliance with policies and completion of required documents within required deadlines. 

Monitors the processing of leave forms to ensure the completion and approval/disapproval as well as the communication with employees and supervisory personnel regarding those results; coordinates the employee election form for continuation of insurance benefits with the Employee Benefit Specialist.

Reviews and approves/disapproves requests for employee coverage by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), including compliance with federal requirements regarding notification, employer response forms; logs and reviews approved/disapproved FMLA documents; contacts physician offices when required but in compliance with the FMLA; completes reports as needed.

Monitors the Kronos/Telestaff attendance records of employees to ensure leave is accurately recorded and works with Personnel Assistants to ensure corrections and/or historical edits are made; maintains weekly report documenting employees’ status with regards to leave of absences, sick bank, long term disability applications and the pension disability process with notifications to the employees and supervisors for attention to those dates close to the expiration of the leave.

Works with supervisors and the Personnel Assistants to ensure Kronos Workforce Administration Management (WAM) entries are accurate; serves as the primary entry point for WAM entries at the direction of the supervisor.

Gathers information regarding workers’ compensation absences, light duty status, Workers’ Compensation Leave of Absence (or Light Duty in Lieu of Workers’ Compensation Leave of Absence) eligibility is maintained and enforced; notifications to employees as needed; verification with workers’ compensation third party administrator and Risk Management to verify Kronos/Telestaff attendance record accuracy.

Meets directly with employees to respond to leave administration questions (including pre-leave counseling and Parental Leave) and for processing return to work authorizations (post-leave counseling).

Testifies and participates in reviews of activity, issues, claims, litigation or other activity related to Leave of Absence, Workers’ Compensation, and Americans with Disabilities Act as appropriate.

Controls distribution and collection for employee requests for disability accommodation in accordance with the ADA, including the scheduling of interactive dialogue sessions, coordination with the city attorney's office. and rendering those decisions. 

Track trends and provide metrics related to leave activity; consider data to develop recommendations for absence management solutions and policy/procedure adjustments.

Coordinates information with the appropriate staff for purposes of tracking all aspects of the leave process and producing the Weekly Critical Leave Report with accuracy; coordinates the communication of information and provides timely and accurate information to the appropriate staff for purposes of monitoring leave usage and compliance with all City of Tampa policies and procedures.

Performs related work as required.

Knowledge of: labor law, federal and state guidelines, and accepted practices and procedures with particular knowledge of the Federal Medical Leave Act, Workers’ Compensation, American with Disabilities Act and other regulations/laws regarding absence management matters; modern public human resources administration, organization and management principles and practices; municipal organization, programs and activities, sources of related information and data; the city’s personnel processing system; statistics; accepted principles and practices of supervision.

Ability to: compile and analyze data, presenting data needed in a meaningful manner; prepare and submit clear, concise and timely oral and written reports, and present such material in a persuasive and convincing manner; conduct independent research, investigations and study for completing projects; conduct interviews, and analyze and evaluate data collected before and during the interview; establish and maintain effective working relationships with employees, officials, labor unions and the general public; accurately interpret and apply related policies/procedures.

Skill in: explaining policies and materials to employees, higher level officials, including testimony and presentations before investigators or other hearing officers or appeal boards; public speaking including training presentations; operation of computers and use of software to include Oracle, KRONOS, Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree in public or business administration, with emphasis on employee relations and three (3) years of professional human resources experience with accountability for employee relations programs, personnel and/or leave/accommodations administration management for a company or various department; or an equivalent combination of education (not less than possession of a high school diploma/GED), training and experience that would reasonably be expected to provide the job-related competencies noted above.

A master's degree in public or business administration, with emphasis on employee relations is preferred.

Possession of a valid Florida driver’s license required.

Evaluation of education and experience. Drug testing is included in all pre-employment processing.

Employees may be required to work rotating shifts, including nights, weekends, holidays and overtime as needed. During periods when the Mayor issues an emergency declaration for the City of Tampa, all employees may be required to work in preparation, response or recovery activities related to the stated emergency.

Mostly sedentary, indoors, requires extended use of computer, typing and viewing a monitor.

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