Agenda
Agenda
Accommodation and leave management professionals are responsible for building compliant programs for federal laws, including the FMLA, ADA, as well as paid and unpaid state leave laws. Complex questions arise daily that require thoughtful solutions to support employees and mitigate risk. Get the information you need to ensure success during the 2026 DMEC Annual Conference, August 3-6, 2026, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, TN.
We will explore legal hot-topics and analyze various pregnancy/childbirth-related leave laws, how to ensure compliance with a compassionate approach, workplace accommodations, and more! Join us and untangle the complexities of compliance.
Sunday
August 2, 2026
1:00 – 5:00 pm
Preconference Workshop
Hot Topics of the ADA: Navigating Psychological Disabilities, Remote Work, and the Search for “Reasonable” Accommodations
Today’s ADA challenges rarely come in neat, straightforward requests. Instead, HR professionals are navigating complex situations involving psychological disabilities, remote work demands, and the often difficult task of determining what is truly “reasonable” under the law.
This practical, solutions-driven session explores how to approach three of the most nuanced areas of ADA compliance. From managing stress-related and psychological disability accommodations to evaluating work-from-home requests, attendees will learn how to shift the focus from requested solutions to underlying work restrictions. The session also highlights the reality that identifying a reasonable accommodation is rarely simple and often requires persistence, creativity, and a well-documented interactive process.
Through real-world scenarios and structured strategies, participants will strengthen their ability to engage in meaningful dialogue, explore multiple accommodation options, and work through challenging cases where the answer is not immediately clear. Attendees will leave better equipped to make fair, consistent, and legally defensible decisions in a rapidly evolving workplace.
Presented by: Alison Spalinger, Managing Consultant, Disability
3:30 – 4:30 pm
First-Time Attendee Orientation
5:00 – 7:00 pm
VIP hospitality reception
Monday
August 3, 2026
Breakfast On Your Own
9:15 – 9:30 am
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Bryon Bass, Chief Executive Officer, DMEC
9:30 – 10:30 am
Opening Keynote
Nobody Climbs a Mountain Alone
Speaker:
Chris Waddell – sponsored by Symetra
10:30 – 11:00 am
Coffee & Conversation Break – Meet and Greet with Chris Waddell
11:00 – 12:00 pm
General Session
USDOL ODEP Assistant Secretary, Julie Hocker
Speaker:
Julie Hocker
12:00 – 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 – 2:30 pm
Concurrent Sessions
Beyond the Summit: Supporting the Climb, Not Just the Request
HR has an opportunity to reframe the accommodations process—not as a series of requests to manage, but as a human experience to support. Consider the journey from the perspective of an employee navigating a life event or disability. What does the process feel like to them? Where might they feel uncertain, unseen, or unsupported?
By stepping into that perspective, HR can play a critical role in guiding employees toward a path that enables them to continue contributing in meaningful, positive ways. This isn’t just about compliance—it’s about connection, trust, and outcomes.
HR also has influence beyond the process itself. Coaching managers is key. Without guidance, accommodation conversations can be shaped by unconscious bias or fatigue—“another remote work request”—rather than empathy and understanding. HR can help managers pause, reframe, and engage with the individual behind the request.
At its best, the accommodations process ensures employees feel seen, heard, and valued—not defined solely by a life event or condition. When HR leads with this mindset, it builds trust and shapes a culture where people feel safe asking for what they need.
Ultimately, how HR approaches ADA and accommodations set the tone for the entire organization. It signals whether disabilities are viewed as obstacles to manage—or as part of a diverse workforce to support and empower.
Beyond Suspicion: Practical Strategies for Managing Leave Concerns
Concerns about employees improperly using disability or job-protected leave often surface in HR and leadership discussions. Yet confirmed intentional deception is uncommon. More frequently, frustration stems from leave use that appears inconsistent, unclear, or misaligned with operational expectations while still remaining legally protected under FMLA, ADA, and state laws.
This session helps employers recalibrate how they assess leave activity by distinguishing intentional wrongdoing, misuse, and lawful but inconvenient patterns. We’ll explore why intermittent absences, evolving medical standards, and incomplete certifications can trigger concern even when employees are acting within their rights. Attendees will also review compliant use of clarification, recertification, and second or third medical opinions without overstepping regulatory boundaries.
Finally, we’ll examine emerging technology tools such as identity verification and event-based monitoring alongside the cultural and compliance risks of mislabeling protected leave, with practical strategies to protect claim integrity while maintaining trust.
Mattering: A Fail-Safe Strategy for Bolstering Employee Engagement & Injury Recovery
As workplaces face growing uncertainty driven by AI, workforce disruption, and burnout, employee engagement has become a strategic imperative rather than an HR initiative. This session introduces Mattering as a fail-safe framework for strengthening engagement, retention, workplace safety, and injury recovery. Mattering is defined as the experience of knowing one’s presence and contributions genuinely make a difference. Using the NAN Framework—Noticed, Affirmed, and Needed—the session outlines how employees who feel seen, recognized for their unique strengths, and indispensable are more engaged, resilient, and committed. The program translates mattering from concept to practice, offering actionable management strategies that support mental health, facilitate recovery and return to work, and build long-term resilience.
Ultimately, mattering is positioned as a foundational leadership capability that drives employee well-being, productivity, and organizational success.
Beyond Compliance: Strengthening Job Protection in Employer Leave Programs
As federal and state leave laws continue to evolve, navigating overlapping requirements across FMLA, ADA, and an expanding patchwork of state paid family and medical leave programs has become increasingly complex. For large and multi‑state employers, keeping pace with frequent changes can be challenging—often increasing compliance risk while unintentionally impacting employees’ access to consistent job protection and benefits.
This session explores potential job protection gaps employers may be creating within their leave programs and outlines practical strategies to address them. Through real-world scenarios, speakers will highlight best‑practice considerations for evaluating existing leave policies and improving coordination of federal, state and company‑sponsored benefits.
Participants will leave better equipped to identify where gaps may exist, integrate overlapping leaves beyond minimum compliance requirements and strengthen job protection for employees during extended absences —supporting both regulatory confidence and a more positive, consistent employee experience.
Building competitive leave and disability benefits across state lines
Structuring a competitive leave policy is increasingly challenging for employers with teams spread across multiple states. As more states implement Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) programs, HR professionals are having to navigate through a mix of complex regulations and offer competitive employee benefits.
This session will explore how organizations can build a leave policy for multi-state employers and offer competitive benefits by leveraging company leave and voluntary disability benefits. Join us to discover how employers can build competitive leave and disability benefits across state lines.
2:30 – 3:00 pm
Coffee & Conversation Break
3:00 – 4:00 pm
General Session
PFML in Motion: Key Trends Shaping Tomorrow’s Leave Landscape
Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) programs continue to evolve at a rapid pace, with new states proposing legislation every year and existing programs refining their rules, contribution structures, and definitions. For employers—especially those with multi state workforces—understanding these trends is essential for building effective internal processes, planning for future obligations, and anticipating the operational impact of upcoming changes.
4:00 – 5:00 pm
General Session
Beyond the Claim: A Practical Playbook for Supporting Employees Back to Health—and Back to Work
When an employee goes out on leave, the claim application is just the beginning. The weeks that follow are often filled with complicated logistical and emotional hurdles, financial uncertainty, workplace image, childcare gaps, paperwork overload, and emotional strain: all of which can derail recovery and delay a successful return to work.
In this session, MetLife and Empathy share a first of its kind framework for supporting employees beyond the claim, implemented at scale for the first time through this unique partnership. Based on research, and combining human guidance and technology-enabled navigation, this intervention meets people where they are throughout leave and re-entry.
We’ll explore how a coordinated model across the carrier, employer, and partner ecosystem can extend personalized support to more claimants, while complementing clinical interventions and enabling earlier, stronger transitions back to work.
5:00 – 7:00 pm
Opening Welcome Reception
Tuesday
August 4, 2026
7:00 - 8:30 am
Breakfast with Exhibitors
8:30 – 8:45 am
Welcome/Announcements/Kaleta Carruthers Award
8:45 – 9:45 am
Featured General Session
Intelligent by Design, Human at Heart: Responsibly Preparing for Transformation
Absence and disability programs are facing a major transformation point, where intelligent automation and real-world data meet human-centered care. On the drawing board: how to blend technology and expertise to surface emerging risks earlier, forecast and reduce durations, manage complexity more accurately, and support quality throughout a claim.
Preparing for transformation is not a future exercise: it’s a present-day responsibility to redefine claims management. Using real-world case studies, this session will explore how AI’s predictive capabilities can support, not replace, human decision making, helping elevate outcomes and experience for employers and employees alike. Equally critical is balancing innovation with trust. As regulatory and legal requirements evolve, guidance on governance, transparency, and readiness is key. Learn how organizations are building the foundation for transformation with guardrails, remaining adaptable, compliant, and future-ready without losing the humanity at the heart of absence and disability care.
9:45 – 10:30 am
Coffee & Conversation Break with Exhibitors
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Workshops
DMEC Benchmarking Workshop
Burnout Is Not a Badge of Honor: Workforce Strategies to Strengthen Accommodation and Leave Outcomes
Accommodation and leave programs often focus on compliance while overlooking workplace performance factors that influence leave recurrence and return-to-work success. This session explores how cognitive fatigue, workplace stress patterns, and decision overload contribute to accommodation challenges and extended leave utilization. Participants will learn practical workforce strategies that improve employee stability, strengthen compliance outcomes, and support sustainable return-to-work success through early risk identification and proactive workforce planning.
Come on Down! Rewriting FMLA Strategies for a New Era
Come on down! The workplace has changed, and so must your FMLA strategy. In this fast-moving, game-show–themed session, we’ll walk through some of the most persistent sticky issues under the FMLA—intermittent bonding, pregnancy-related entitlements, rolling leave-year methods, concurrency challenges, the married-couple rule, and key employee protections—and explore how each becomes more complex when layered with state PFML programs.
Using a Price-Is-Right–style games, we’ll navigate real-world scenarios to uncover where employers often over- or under-estimate the “actual retail price” of compliance risks. We’ll then translate these games into practical, scalable approaches employers can use to build consistent policies even when federal and state rules don’t align. You’ll leave with clear frameworks for tackling multistate complexities, integrating employer-paid parental leave, and avoiding the most common traps that arise when outdated FMLA policies collide with new state leave mandates.
Beyond Policy: A Comprehensive Time Away From Work Gap Analysis Case Study
Strong time away from work plans can still fail employees when processes, systems, and ownership are misaligned. This session presents a real-world case study demonstrating how to conduct a comprehensive Time Away From Work gap analysis that moves beyond plan design to evaluate operations, technology, and experience.
Attendees will follow a structured methodology reviewing disability, FMLA, state leave, and employer-paid programs alongside HRIS and payroll integrations, data flows, and system-of-record decisions. The case study highlights common breakdowns such as payroll disruptions, manual workarounds, and confusing employee journeys, then shows how targeted design, automation, and governance improvements resolved them.
Participants will learn how to identify gaps, prioritize administrative efficiencies, and build an integrated program structure that supports compliance while delivering a clear, empathetic employee experience. The session concludes with practical takeaways, including sample metrics, integration considerations, and a phased roadmap attendees can apply to strengthen their time away from work programs.
Whole Person Disability Management: The Missing Link in Controlling Healthcare Costs
Whole Person Disability Management: The Missing Link in Controlling Healthcare Costs: A holistic framework for managing disability as a driver of healthcare spend
12:00 - 1:30 pm
Lunch with Exhibitors
1:30 – 2:30 pm
Concurrent Sessions
Harmonizing Your Global Time Away and Accommodations Programs: A Complete E2E Policy & Process Journey
Globally harmonizing time away benefits and policies can be challenging for multi-national organizations, regardless of size. In this session, we’ll explore how crafting a Global Framework can effectively guide overall program development, including benefit policy design conducted in close collaboration with process design and implementation.
Cloudflare is using a global approach to harmonize their leave, disability and accommodation programs in over 22 countries (across The Americas, EMEA, and APAC). We will provide a detailed roadmap for harmonizing pregnancy & parental leave benefits in multiple countries, highlighting the critical importance on how to align statutory and company-defined program elements with well-documented and communicated processes.
We’ll also share lessons learned, particularly with cross-functional stakeholder engagement, vendor partner implementation, change management communications, and managing “voice of the employee” response.
They’re Not “Difficult,” They’re Different: How Gen Z Is Changing Leave & Accommodations Management
Gen Z is entering the workforce with unprecedented access to information—and they are using it. From TikTok explainers to Reddit threads to AI tools, this generation actively researches their rights, accommodation options, and leave protections before ever contacting HR.
What some employers perceive as “difficult” behavior is often informed, tech-enabled self-advocacy. This session explores how these shifts are impacting request volumes, documentation expectations, case complexity, and compliance risk.
Attendees will learn how technology, automation, and responsible AI can help organizations meet these new expectations while maintaining consistency, privacy, and defensibility in a multigenerational workforce.
Doing More with Less: Sustainable Leave Management When Caseloads Won't Stop Growing
For the third year in a row, the majority of HR leaders report an increase in leave requests, and many are managing double the caseload they had just three years ago with no additional headcount.
Accommodations requests are up just as sharply, with three out of four respondents in AbsenceSoft’s 2026 report seeing increases of more than 20%. Something has to give, but it doesn’t have to be compliance, employee experience, or your team’s wellbeing. This practical session helps HR and leave professionals examine where time is actually going, where risk hides in manual processes, and how workflow redesign, smarter use of technology, and access to data can make a lean team significantly more effective.
Attendees will leave with a clear framework for evaluating their program’s efficiency gaps and a realistic roadmap for closing them.
How are your company policies holding up with all these PFML programs?
14 states and the District of Columbia have enacted mandatory paid family and medical leave programs. Yet, many employers have not taken a step back to ensure that their company policies integrate and coordinate with these programs in a way that is not only compliant but best meets the company’s objectives and supports company culture.
Untangling the PFL and PFML Patchwork
Statutory paid family and paid family medical leave (PFL and PFML) mandates continue to evolve and proliferate. Since January 2026, three new PFML mandates have come online, existing mandates have undergone significant amendments, and state lawmakers have explored various bills that would make the paid leave patchwork even messier. Plaguing employers is the significant divergence of substantive requirements from one jurisdiction to the next, making one-size-fits-all policies impractical and ineffective.
2:30 - 3:15 pm
Dessert Break with Exhibitors
3:15 – 4:15 pm
Concurrent Sessions
Future of the Employee Leave Experience
Results of DMEC/Penguin Think Tank
Generational Expectations of Leave of Absence Programs: From Boomers to Gen Alpha
This presentation explores how different generations in the workforce—from Baby Boomers to Gen Z and the emerging Gen Alpha—perceive and prioritize leave of absence programs. It highlights the unique values, communication styles, and expectations each generation brings, and offers actionable strategies for designing inclusive, flexible, and future-ready leave policies. The goal is to help HR and benefits leaders align leave programs with evolving workforce needs to improve engagement, satisfaction, and retention.
Specialty Session
Member Focus Group
DMEC Member Focus Group session – Invitation Only
4:15 – 4:30 pm
Break
4:30 – 5:30 pm
Plenary
Unlocking the Full Value of Benefits: Connecting Programs to Maximize Support
Employees often underutilize the programs and resources available to them—especially during critical life moments like caregiving or personal health challenges. This session will explore strategies to increase engagement with these offerings, from Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) to health benefits, and demonstrate how communication plays a key role in connecting employees to the right resources at the right time. Featuring insights from Alight’s health team and Alight Partner Network representatives, we’ll showcase how collaboration and technology drives better outcomes for employees and organizations alike.
5:30 - 6:30 pm
Happy Hour with Exhibitors
Wednesday
August 5, 2026
7:00 – 8:00 am
Breakfast with Exhibitors
8:00 – 8:15 am
Welcome/Announcements
8:15 – 9:15 am
Legislative / Industry Panel
Fireside chat with Policymakers
As states expand paid family and medical leave (PFML), temporary disability insurance, and related programs, leave professionals are navigating a growing web of regulatory and compliance demands. In this fireside chat, state legislators from across the country will discuss the workplace leave policies and trends reshaping how organizations manage leave and absence. They’ll share where policy momentum is building, what changes are on the horizon, and how employers can stay ahead in an increasingly complex landscape. Legislators will also offer an inside look at how leave policies advance through the legislative process in their states, and what that means for DMEC members working to understand, prepare for, and respond to an ever-evolving policy environment.
9:15 - 10:15 am
General Session
From Policy to Practice: How Employers Are Turning Workplace Mental Health Strategies into Real Solutions
Mental health conditions are now one of the fastest-growing drivers of workplace disability leave, accommodation requests, and return-to-/stay-at-work challenges. Yet many organizations struggle to translate workplace mental health commitments into policies and practices that effectively support employees while maintaining operational sustainability.
This session will present new insights from the Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability (EARN) based on a three-pronged research initiative examining employer mental health policies, workplace practices, and implementation challenges. The findings reveal how organizations are addressing mental health across accommodation processes, disability management programs, workplace culture, and stay-at-work/return-to-work strategies.
Facilitated by Julie Hocker, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Office of Disability Employment Policy, the discussion will bring together employer representatives and an industry expert to examine how these findings are translating into real workplace solutions. Panelists will share case examples of how their organizations are addressing mental-health-related absences, supporting employees through accommodations and leave programs, and integrating mental health into broader workforce strategies.
Through a combination of research insights, employer perspectives, and interactive discussion, participants will gain practical strategies to strengthen workplace mental health policies and programs. Attendees will leave with actionable ideas for improving outcomes for employees experiencing mental health conditions while supporting effective disability and absence management practices.
10:15 – 11:00 am
Coffee & Conversation Break with Exhibitors
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Concurrent Sessions
Why employers also benefit from Statutory Paid Leave programs
Data clearly supports that employees benefit from a statutory paid leave program but as an employer, are you worried about the impact of mandated Paid Leave on your business? Are you concerned about hidden costs associated with implementing a Paid Leave law introduced by your state? Do you fret over how you are expected to run a profitable business with the increased turnover and absenteeism rumored to accompany State Paid Leaves?
Join us as we review the statistics of a successful paid leave program and dispel the rumors! You’ll learn that not only is a Statutory Paid Leave program a great benefit for your employees, but there are also some real advantages to employers – including cost savings, turnover reduction, productivity improvement and even, revenue growth!
Predictive Absence: Using AI & Behavioral Data to Prevent Long-Term Disability Before It Starts
Traditional disability management is reactive — organizations respond after an employee has already left the workforce. But emerging analytics and AI capabilities are shifting the field toward early risk detection and prevention.
This session explores how absence patterns, workload signals, and benefits utilization data can be used to identify employees at increased risk for long-term disability and prolonged leave. Attendees will examine how predictive insights can support earlier interventions, smarter resource allocation, and more coordinated care strategies; without crossing ethical or compliance boundaries. Rather than focusing solely on claim duration and cost containment, this session reframes disability management as a workforce sustainability strategy, helping organizations reduce preventable disability while improving employee outcomes and trust.
Advancing the Conversation Around Neurodivergent Education-Employment Transitions
When students in higher education transition to the corporate workforce, they often leave behind academic accommodations and must restart the request for supports via the company’s workplace accommodations process, despite already having defined and successful supports in place. This session introduces the Neurodiversity Engagement Framework—a practical tool designed to bridge the transition and create more successful employment outcomes. Grounded in research from higher education, industry, and organizational leadership, the framework highlights the supports neurodivergent individuals need to navigate both academic and professional environments.
We’ll explore common challenges within current policies and practices and offer guidance for building more inclusive systems where neurodivergent people can thrive. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of how neurodiversity shapes learning and work experiences, as well as a roadmap for proactive, meaningful support across institutions and industries.
Centering Employees with Disabilities: The Disability Experience Survey
This session walks participants through Multnomah County’s Office of Diversity and Equity partnering with disabled employees and employee resource groups to deepen trust, elevate lived expertise, and embed disability equity into organizational systems. Anchoring this process was a benchmark recommended by a disability workgroup: the creation and bi-annual dissemination of a Disability Experience Survey (DES). The Survey Advisory Group—composed of employees with lived disability experience and interest in data equity—co-designed the survey from the ground up.
The DES received more than 400 responses from employees who identified as having a disability. This session will share how the survey was designed, what questions were asked, themes emerging from the data, and what organizational lessons were learned. Participants will gain insight into how intentional collaboration between data collectors and the population being studied produces richer, more authentic, and more actionable results.
Quick Dives
- 11:00 – 11:25 am
Doing the Hard Thing: Navigating High-Risk Leave and Accommodation Conversations Without Creating Legal Exposure
Leave and accommodation conversations are where small missteps become big risk. Employees may go quiet due to stigma or fear of job impact, while supervisors and HR may avoid direct dialogue out of uncertainty about ADA and FMLA boundaries. The result is predictable: incomplete information, weak documentation, delayed return-to-work, and preventable escalation.
This employer-focused session shows where communication most often breaks down in the interactive process—and how to respond before issues turn into complaints, conflict, or legal exposure. Using high-risk case scenarios, participants will practice spotting early warning signs and applying documentation-aligned conversation techniques that balance empathy with compliance.
Attendees will leave with practical frameworks, language tools, and a repeatable checklist to strengthen clarity, reduce escalation, and improve resolution outcomes.
- 11:35 am – 12:00 pm
Beyond the Numbers: Leave and Accommodation Data Insights
Organizations often track FMLA leave and ADA accommodations separately, but when these data sets are reviewed together, new insights can emerge about employee needs, program complexity, and operational strain. This session explores what organizations can learn by examining leave and accommodation data side by side rather than in isolation. Using examples from real organizational trends, this session will highlight patterns in accommodation requests, shifts in mental health–related cases, return-to-work challenges, and the growing resource demands placed on absence management teams.
The discussion will focus on how these data points can reveal workforce trends that may not be visible when programs are analyzed independently. Participants will leave with practical ideas for identifying meaningful metrics, spotting emerging trends in their own organizations, and using integrated data to inform leadership discussions, program planning, and resource decisions.
12:00 - 1:30 pm
Lunch with Exhibitors
1:30 – 2:30 pm
Concurrent Sessions
The Aftershock: Trauma’s Impact on Mental Health Leave
When disaster strikes, the immediate impact is visible. From traumatic weather events to workplace violence or community crisis, handling trauma in the workplace is a critical part of rebuilding. ComPsych recently analyzed absence data from employers in communities affected by significant traumatic events, particularly major weather disasters, comparing mental health leave patterns in these regions against the overall book of business. Six months after a major weather disaster, employers in affected areas see mental health leaves spike by 37% to 59%. Eighteen months later those numbers climb reach 77% in some cases.
While operational recovery happens quickly, the psychological impact unfolds over time. Employees initially focus on logistics and immediate survival. As months pass, delayed stress responses, anxiety, burnout, and cumulative strain surface, driving sustained increases in mental health-related absences. We will explore leave patterns the data uncovered and how employers handle the impact from immediate aftermath to ongoing management.
Putting the “Paid” in Paid Leave – A Rate of Pay Examination
For many leave, benefits, and HR practitioners, proper payment of paid leave and time off benefits might seem like a topic for Payroll. Too many numbers. Too technical. You’re not wrong. However, with the threat of class action litigation and rate of pay nuances existing under both paid sick and paid time off laws and paid family and paid family medical leave laws, having a basic understanding of statutory leave law rate of pay requirements is valuable and necessary for anyone who plays a role in the absence process. We will examine and simplify different pay requirements that exist under state and local PSL and PFML laws, identify areas of particular nuance, and assess pay considerations when statutory PFML and PSL overlap. We also will provide practical tools and considerations for employer teams to leverage when thinking through a potential audit of their paid leave and time off pay practices.
Menopause and the Intersection with Best-in-Class Absence Programs
How employers can address the silent cost of menopause and improve workforce well-being. In this session, we will discuss how employers can support women experiencing menopausal and peri‑menopausal symptoms, including innovative strategies ranging from targeted education and enhanced well-being resources to practical absence management approaches. Attendees will learn about real‑world examples, best practices, and actionable steps for implementing effective wellness offerings and absence practices to better support menopausal and peri‑menopausal employees, in turn, helping to attract and retain talent and foster a thriving workforce. We will discuss how employers can support women experiencing menopausal and peri‑menopausal symptoms, including innovative strategies ranging from targeted education and enhanced well-being resources to practical absence management approaches. Attendees will learn about real‑world examples, best practices, and actionable steps for implementing effective wellness offerings and absence practices to better support menopausal and peri‑menopausal employees, helping to attract and retain talent and foster a thriving workforce.
From One-Hit Wonders to Greatest Hits: Building Leave Programs That Last
We’re in Nashville, the capital of iconic hits. But even here, artists who last are not the ones with just one great song.
They are the ones who build depth, consistency, and staying power. Leave programs are no different. The best programs, like the best music, are not flashy, they are well-blended, balanced, and built to endure.
Using the framework of one-hit wonders and greatest hits, we’ll walk through leave of absence best practices and common missteps. We’ll talk about leave “one-hit wonders” that may have worked when case volume was low or regulations were simpler or undefined, but became problematic as the space evolved. The best programs build a full catalog: clear policies, consistent processes, strong compliance oversight, and thoughtful employee communication. Today we’ll explore what separates a single good idea from a program with lasting impact and how to turn isolated wins into a collection of “greatest hits.”
Reducing the Frequency, Duration, and Impact of Stress-Related Leave Through Resilience Upskilling
Learn practical, evidence-based steps organizations can take to reduce both the frequency and cost of stress-related leaves of absence. Drawing on new data and real-world outcomes, our experts show how building resilience before, during, and after leave helps employees return to work sooner, and reintegrate with their teams faster.
The session explores how individual thinking patterns, team dynamics, and organizational culture all influence leave outcomes—and what leaders can do at each level to create psychologically safe, high-performing environments.
Attendees will leave with a clear, actionable framework for boosting resilience across the workforce to lower disability incidence, reduce healthcare spend, curb absenteeism and presenteeism, and improve retention—turning leave from a cost burden into an opportunity for long-term workforce strength.
2:30 – 3:15 pm
Dessert Break with Exhibitors/Prize Giveaways
3:15 – 4:15 pm
Featured Sessions
From Fragmented Leave to Connected Experience: How AI Enables the Next Generation of Absence Management
In this joint session, Stephanie Brazil, former Director of Benefits at The Aspen Group, and Romy Malviya, CEO of Pulpstream, will explore how AI is enabling a broader transformation of leave and accommodations management. Rather than positioning AI as a standalone tool, this session reframes it as the catalyst for moving from fragmented leave, disability, and ADA processes to a connected, compliant ecosystem. Attendees will see how a single intake experience reduces duplicate medical documentation, improves coordination with carriers, and integrates HRIS, payroll, and disability workflows.
Through real-world examples, the presentation will demonstrate how AI-powered intake, triage, and workflow automation streamline eligibility, standardize ADA interactive processes, and scale oversight without requiring technical expertise. Much like the shift to smartphones nearly two decades ago, AI adoption becomes intuitive when the platform is designed to guide the user.
Mind-Gut Connection: Supporting Employees’ Digestive and Mental Health at Work
Digestive and mental health issues are a growing concern for employers, contributing to increased healthcare costs and significant productivity loss. With up to 70 million Americans living with chronic gastrointestinal disorders and employees with digestive health issues missing up to 17 workdays per year, the workplace impact is substantial. This session explores the mind-gut connection—how digestive and mental health are closely linked and often overlooked in the workplace and will include recent disability claim trends. Attendees will discover practical considerations for addressing these challenges, including designing effective benefits, reducing stigma, and tailoring programs to the unique needs of diverse workforces. Gain a roadmap to insights on incorporating the mind-gut connection into your workforce health and absence management strategy to bridge care gaps, support employee well-being, and manage absence costs more effectively.
The Caregiving Crisis at Work: Supporting the Sandwich Generation in Today’s Workforce
Caregiving is rapidly becoming one of the most disruptive—and least visible—drivers of employee absence. By 2030, more Americans will require care than there are workers to provide it. With 10,000 people turning 65 every day, caregiving-related absences continue to rise—growing from an average of 12 days in 2020 to 50 days in 2025.
Today’s workforce increasingly consists of the “sandwich generation”—employees balancing careers while caring for aging parents, children, or other dependents. Yet most employer leave and disability programs remain designed for short-term medical events, not the complex, ongoing realities of caregiving.
In this panel, leaders from an employer, brokerage, and leave administrator (Sparrow) will explore how caregiving is reshaping workforce stability and absence trends. Attendees will gain actionable insights and emerging strategies to design more supportive, sustainable programs for working caregivers in today’s evolving workplace.
Roundtables
Policymaker Roundtable
4:15 – 4:30 pm
Break
4:30 – 5:30 pm
Concurrent Sessions
Treated But Not Recovered: Why Behavior Determines Return-to-Work Outcomes in Cancer
This session explores the role patient behavior plays in recovery and workforce participation, using cancer as a case study. Cancer is one of the leading causes of extended workplace absence, with up to 38% of survivors never returning to employment. At the same time, up to 30% of the total economic burden of cancer occurs outside direct medical care, driven by lost productivity, disability, and caregiving demands.
Yet return-to-work outcomes are influenced by far more than medical treatment alone. Employees navigating cancer often face fatigue, cognitive changes, anxiety, and other treatment-related challenges affecting function at work.
Most employer health programs focus on clinical care and claims management, leaving a critical gap between treatment and functional recovery. Drawing on a real-world study of an employee returning to work after treatment, we’ll examine how structured support for symptom self-management, behavioral coaching, and structured planning improves functional outcomes enabling earlier, sustainable return-to-work.
The 90-Day Retention Trap: Make Managers Your Leave Strategy
The paperwork was perfect, the leave was compliant, and the employee returned on schedule. Then, three months later, they resigned.
This is the 90-Day Retention Trap, and it happens because HR cannot be in the room for the hundreds of micro-transitions that occur across the three phases of leave: Preparing, During, and Returning. But managers are already there and need to know what to do.
Religious Accommodations: An EEOC Enforcement Priority and Employer Retooling Imperative
Requests for religious accommodations are rising sharply, and the EEOC has made religion in the workplace a clear enforcement priority. This program will break down the latest legal developments, outline what we are learning from the EEOC, and provide practical strategies to help employers navigate accommodation requests, prevent workplace conflict, and maintain a respectful, compliant work environment.
Employer Considerations for Modern Leave Planning Tools
As leave management evolves, new planning tools – some AI driven, others rules based – are reshaping how employees plan time away and how employers use that visibility to support workforce needs. But adopting these tools requires more than curiosity; it demands thoughtful employer decision making. Beyond accurate, compliant outputs, organizations must determine whether a tool fits broader operational needs, from technical integration to cultural alignment and governance expectations.
This session outlines key questions employers should address before selecting or deploying a leave planning tool: What problem are you solving? How will the tool’s fit and flexibility align with existing systems? What data, governance, security, and privacy requirements must be in place for success?
Attendees will also be introduced to the LEAVE framework, a structured method for evaluating potential solutions. Participants will leave with clear decision points to guide the adoption of tools that deliver value and strengthen employee experience.
5:45 - 6:30 pm
Buses depart for closing event
7:00 - 10:00 pm
DMEC Closing Event Offsite - Friends in Low Places
Thursday
August 6, 2026
7:30 – 8:15 am
Breakfast
8:15 – 8:30 am
Welcome/Announcements
8:30 – 9:30 am
General Session
The leave impact framework: Designing leave programs that deliver
Leave is no longer just a compliance requirement — it’s a critical driver of employee experience, productivity and workforce resiliency. New research conducted by Unum and DMEC revealed a critical insight: the impact of leave depends less on individual policies and more on how an entire leave program syncs together.
In this session, leaders from Unum and DMEC will unveil a research-backed, practical framework to help attendees assess and strengthen their leave programs across six dimensions: benefit design, cost, compliance, communication, culture and measurement.
Through exclusive access to Leave Impact Think Tank findings and employee survey research and illustrated with peer examples and applied scenarios, participants will see how leave leaders turn research into results. Attendees will leave with actionable insights to evaluate policies and design leave programs that employees understand, trust and value.
9:30 – 10:30 am
General Session
Navigating the New Frontier of Emerging Leave Trends
As employee expectations and workplace laws continue to evolve, employers are facing a growing wave of non‑traditional leave requests—from bereavement and domestic violence leave to organ donation, reproductive loss, menopause, and NICU leave. This session explores these emerging leave trends, why they matter, and how employers can respond thoughtfully and compliantly. Attendees will gain practical guidance on policy design, administration challenges, and risk management, while learning how to balance legal compliance, consistency, and employee experience in today’s complex leave landscape.
10:45 - 11:45 am
Closing General Session
Ask The Experts Panel - moderated by Bryon
Our closing “Ask the Experts” session allows attendees to submit their most challenging, uncensored questions to our panel of distinguished Family and Medical Leave Act/Americans with Disabilities Act legal experts who will provide unfiltered answers. Come prepared with your toughest questions and the most perplexing challenges faced by your company.
