Leave Specialist

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary point of contact for employees navigating leaves of absence, providing timely, compassionate, and knowledgeable guidance.
• Manage the full lifecycle of employee leaves from intake through return to work, including medical, parental, family care, personal, military, and other protected leaves.
• Partner closely with our third party leave administrator (Sparrow) to ensure accurate case management, documentation, and employee support.
• Review leave documentation and coordinate next steps while ensuring compliance with applicable federal, state, and local regulations.
• Coordinate accommodations and return to work processes in partnership with Employee Relations and People Business Partners, including fitness for duty documentation and workplace accommodations where applicable.
• Partner with Payroll and People Operations to ensure accurate pay, benefits, and employment status throughout each leave.
• Maintain accurate records and documentation within Rippling and other internal systems.
• Respond to employee and manager questions regarding leave policies, eligibility, timelines, and processes.
• Monitor active leave cases and proactively manage key milestones, deadlines, and required communications.
• Identify opportunities to improve workflows, documentation, templates, and automations that increase efficiency and enhance the employee experience.
• Support reporting, audits, and compliance activities related to leave administration.

Requirements

• 5+ years of dedicated leave administration experience supporting U.S. employees.
• Experience independently managing end to end leave administration for a multi state employer.
• Strong working knowledge of FMLA, ADA, CFRA, PWFA, USERRA, state paid family and medical leave programs, and other applicable leave laws.
• Experience partnering with third party leave administrators such as Sparrow, Sedgwick, Lincoln Financial, The Hartford, or similar vendors.
• Strong understanding of the intersection between leave administration, payroll, benefits, and HR operations.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail with the ability to manage multiple concurrent leave cases.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with a high degree of empathy and professionalism.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment while handling confidential and sensitive employee information.
• Comfortable working independently in a fast paced, high growth environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting organizations with 500+ employees.
• Experience using Rippling or a similar HRIS.
• Experience improving leave processes, documentation, or operational workflows.
• Experience partnering closely with Employee Relations teams on complex leave and accommodation cases.

Compensation

• $50 to $70 per hour, depending on experience.
• Approximately 25 to 40 hours per week, with flexibility based on leave volume.
• Initial 3 to 6 month engagement, with potential for extension.
• 1099 Contractor position (no benefits).