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2026 Tools & Tactics Webinar: The Section 45S Advantage – Optimize Your Leave Programs with the Premium-Based Tax Credit

Wednesday, Jan. 28
9:00 am PT | 12:00 pm ET

As your leave programs grow in complexity, are you confident you’re leveraging every financial advantage available?  Many organizations are overlooking how the IRS Section 45S employer credit can directly support their PFML and STDI strategies. With ongoing legislative momentum and widespread use of insured leave products, the premium-based path under 45S is becoming an increasingly important, and often misunderstood, opportunity for absence and disability management professionals.

Join DMEC for a practical session that demystifies how the premium-based path works, where it fits within modern leave program design, and what employers need to consider before claiming the credit. We’ll walk through how PFML or STDI products can align with Section 45S requirements, where caution is required (especially around state-mandated programs), and how to use clean, defensible allocation methods when your policies cover mixed employee populations.

Whether you’re an employer, consultant, or vendor partner, this session will equip you with the insights needed to optimize leave program operations while remaining fully compliant.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand how the premium-based path under Section 45S applies to PFML and STDI products, including statutory definitions, written-policy requirements, and common employer use cases.
  • Identify key guardrails and compliance considerations, such as avoiding double-counting wages and premiums, validating policy eligibility, and navigating limitations related to state-mandated leave programs.
  • Apply a practical, audit-defensible premium allocation method when policies cover both qualifying and non-qualifying employees, ensuring accurate and compliant credit calculations.

Presented by

Principal
Kanter Strategies

This session qualifies for the following CEUs:

1 ADMS, 1 CDMS, 1 CLMS, 1 PHR, 1 SHRM and 1 CPDM

TO QUALIFY FOR CEUs

  • You must attend the full duration of the webinar. Following the webinar and once attendance has been confirmed, you will receive an email with CEU reporting information.
  • You must register for and watch the webinar individually. Group participation does not qualify for CEU credit.

Exclusively offered by DMEC, the Certified Leave Management Specialist (CLMS) program is the only professional designation of its kind that provides interactive, hands-on training to ensure your programs effectively comply with state and federal leave laws. Learn more about the CLMS program.

Registration Fees

DMEC Members

Free

Non-Members

39.00

DMEC members receive free registration for webinars.

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Bryon Bass
Bryon Bass, CLMS
CEO
DMEC

Bryon joined DMEC in 2023. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the absence and disability management industry. He was previously Senior Vice President, Workforce Absence and Disability Practice Leader for Sedgwick where he oversaw disability and absence management product strategy, innovation, standards and compliance, and product line best practices. He also worked in a variety of absence and disability management roles for employers across a broad range of industries. Bryon assumed the role of CEO in 2024 and provides strategic executive leadership for the association and oversee all association activities.

Bryon holds a BS in Business Management from the University of Phoenix and is a Certified Leave Management Specialist (CLMS).

Jason Kanter
Principal
Kanter Strategies

Jason has nearly two decades of success across senior roles in both the public and private sectors, and more than a dozen major policy accomplishments.

Prior to founding Kanter Strategies, he served as an Executive in Government and Regulatory Affairs at IBM, where he advanced the company’s priorities with Congress—focusing on artificial intelligence in the workplace, labor and employment policy, and employee benefits such as paid leave, health care, and retirement programs.

Jason’s Hill experience spans 15 years, including serving on the House Ways and Means Committee’s Worker and Family Support Subcommittee. At Ways and Means, he played a key role in the effort to create a national paid leave program and in the passage of landmark COVID-19-era legislation that expanded unemployment insurance.

He also worked on the Joint Economic Committee, at the Congressional Affairs Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, and in the offices of U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT).

He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and government from Connecticut College and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago, where he was an Irving B. Harris Fellow.

Jason founded Kanter Strategies in 2025, a government affairs consulting firm focused on workforce, technology, and innovation policy. He lives in Alexandria, VA, with his wife and their two children.

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Lindsay Lueken

VP, Disability & Leave Operations

BROADSPIRE

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce quis arcu placerat, condimentum nisl vel, mollis metus. Etiam lobortis, libero eget blandit pretium, augue ipsum pellentesque lorem, scelerisque aliquet magna enim non ligula. Proin ac imperdiet augue, non auctor ex. Aliquam felis felis, ultricies venenatis dapibus quis, elementum eget magna. Aliquam erat volutpat. Phasellus felis ex, semper vitae erat a, consequat ullamcorper leo. Donec mattis lobortis tincidunt. Nulla pulvinar ac nisl eget ornare. Aliquam elementum elit sit amet dignissim tempus. Ut sed ante vitae eros ultrices porta.

Alice Cotti

VP, Government Segment Business Solutions

AFLAC

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce quis arcu placerat, condimentum nisl vel, mollis metus. Etiam lobortis, libero eget blandit pretium, augue ipsum pellentesque lorem, scelerisque aliquet magna enim non ligula. Proin ac imperdiet augue, non auctor ex. Aliquam felis felis, ultricies venenatis dapibus quis, elementum eget magna. Aliquam erat volutpat. Phasellus felis ex, semper vitae erat a, consequat ullamcorper leo. Donec mattis lobortis tincidunt. Nulla pulvinar ac nisl eget ornare. Aliquam elementum elit sit amet dignissim tempus. Ut sed ante vitae eros ultrices porta.

Seth Turner, Chief Strategy Officer
Seth Turner

Chief Strategy Officer

ABSENCESOFT

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce quis arcu placerat, condimentum nisl vel, mollis metus. Etiam lobortis, libero eget blandit pretium, augue ipsum pellentesque lorem, scelerisque aliquet magna enim non ligula. Proin ac imperdiet augue, non auctor ex. Aliquam felis felis, ultricies venenatis dapibus quis, elementum eget magna. Aliquam erat volutpat. Phasellus felis ex, semper vitae erat a, consequat ullamcorper leo. Donec mattis lobortis tincidunt. Nulla pulvinar ac nisl eget ornare. Aliquam elementum elit sit amet dignissim tempus. Ut sed ante vitae eros ultrices porta.

Bryon Bass
Bryon Bass, CLMS
CEO
DMEC

Bryon joined DMEC in 2023. He brings more than 20 years of experience in the absence and disability management industry. He was previously Senior Vice President, Workforce Absence and Disability Practice Leader for Sedgwick where he oversaw disability and absence management product strategy, innovation, standards and compliance, and product line best practices. He also worked in a variety of absence and disability management roles for employers across a broad range of industries. Bryon assumed the role of CEO in 2024 and provides strategic executive leadership for the association and oversee all association activities.

Bryon holds a BS in Business Management from the University of Phoenix and is a Certified Leave Management Specialist (CLMS).