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Compliance Navigating Disability Leave Guidance is down, but numbers are up. Time to pay attention. By Martha J. Cardi and Megan G. Holstein Successful employers today strive to enhance the well-being of their employees. However, the relationship between employer and employee can face challenges when both parties attempt to understand and act on an employee���s need for a leave of absence due to a disabling condition. Employees may require a leave of absence for many reasons and in many scenarios and the company���s obligations differ greatly from situation to situation. This report comes at a time when many employers are unclear about their obligations under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). In particular, companies struggle to understand when a leave of absence is a necessary and reasonable accommodation vs. when other actions can or should be taken. In recent years the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been investigating employers who systematically [14] CR MAGAZINE | WINTER 2012 terminate employees in certain situations without consideration of a leave of absence as an accommodation under the ADA. In particular, the EEOC���s attention has been focused on policies that support the termination of employees who have exhausted leave or are not eligible for leave under state or federal laws or company policies but are still not able to perform their jobs because of medical issues. EEOC lawsuits have resulted in multi-million dollar consent decrees and onerous corrective administrative requirements. No employer aspires to get tangled up in that type of legal matter. The EEOC has not provided significant direction on leave as an accommodation since 2002, when it issued a broad ���Enforcement Guidance Regarding Reasonable Accommodation And Undue Hardship Under The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).��� Yet, the number of employees protected by the ADA has increased dramatically since 2009 when the ADA Amendments Act significantly expanded the definition of ���disability.���