Corporate HQ - Leave of Absence & Workers’ Compensation Partner

Wismettac Asian Foods•Santa Fe Springs, CA

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Leave of Absence (LOA) & Workers’ Compensation Partner is responsible for overseeing, designing, and evaluating the company’s leaves of absence and workers’ compensation programs to ensure a consistent, employee-focused experience. This role manages compliance with federal, state, and local regulations and serves as a primary point of contact for employees, managers, vendors, and internal HR partners throughout the entire leave lifecycle—from intake through return to work. In this role, they will collaborate closely with the Benefits team and partner with a fellow LOA administrator to drive timely, accurate, and highly coordinated leave administration in a high-volume, detail-driven environment. Success in this role requires independent judgment, exceptional follow-through, and a strong sense of urgency, particularly where leave processes intersect with payroll, benefits, vendor systems, and operational workforce needs.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Human Resources Management, Business Administration, or a closely related field.
3 to 6 years of LOA administration and/or workers’ compensation experience.
Experience managing complex, multi-step LOA processes involving payroll, benefits, third-party administrators, and outsourced LOA vendors.
Deep understanding of FMLA, ADA, state/local leave laws, personal leave, and disability regulations.
Comprehension of workers' compensation claim processing, incident review protocols, and risk mitigation strategies.
Understanding of benefit deductions, premium payments, arrears, and the coordination of PTO or sick pay during a leave cycle.
Functional knowledge of tracking, reporting, and data maintenance within an HRIS, with a specific preference for the Dayforce platform.
Proven capability to design, structure, and improve operational workflows, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and templates.
Ability to validate, reconcile, and analyze data across multiple platforms (HRIS, payroll, and vendor reports) to identify trends and track metrics.
Skill in coordinating with third-party administrators, carriers, healthcare providers, and legal teams to ensure Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are successfully met.
Ability to interpret non-standard scenarios and apply consistent decision-making frameworks across payroll and benefits departments.
Ability to deliver compassionate, customer-service-oriented guidance to employees experiencing complex leave scenarios, while maintaining professional clarity.
Ability to work closely within a shared-function environment alongside an LOA partner, Payroll, Benefits, and Operations teams to ensure seamless administrative handoffs.
Ability to support a fast-paced, high-volume environment tailored to an hourly, logistics-driven workforce.
Ability to demonstrate strong judgment, strict organizational follow-through, and a proactive sense of urgency regarding downstream payroll or compliance impacts.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a logistics, distribution, or operations-heavy environment preferred.

Responsibilities

Oversee the full end-to-end lifecycle of all leave of absence programs, including FMLA, ADA, state/local, personal, and disability, ensuring absolute compliance with the changing regulatory framework.
Manages complex interactive processes for accommodations, evaluating medical documentation and advising operational leadership on return-to-work timelines, restrictions, and business impact.
Collaborates strategically with the Benefits team and fellow LOA administrator to ensure seamless, uniform application of leave policies across the organization.
Directs the fiscal and structural alignment of leave impact with payroll, active benefits billing, and paid time off (PTO)/ sick leave accrual integration.
Directs and manages all workers’ compensation claims from intake through final closure, serving as the Company’s key representative to insurance carriers, medical providers, and legal counsel.
Evaluates workplace incident reports to determine liability risks, coordinates detailed claim investigations, and independently authorizes formal organizational submissions.
Designs and executes modified-duty and return-to-work programs, partnering with operational leadership to accommodate restrictions while minimizing organizational downtime and indemnity costs.
Analyzes historical claims data to identify injury trends, presenting strategic risk mitigation and safety recommendations to leadership.
Partner as subject matter expert with Payroll, Benefits, and Operations teams to engineer seamless data handoffs, aligned communication, and swift resolution of leave-related impacts.
Proactively advises department/ site leaders on impending leave changes, regulatory adjustments, and workforce impacts to prevent downstream payroll or compliance issues.
Consults directly with operational leaders to analyze, forecast, and manage workforce coverage in a logistics-driven environment.
Manage and resolve complex leave and non-standard leave scenarios involving intricate benefit deductions, premium payments, arrears, and coordination of PTO or sick pay and multi-tiered integrations of state disability.
Establishes and applies consistent decision-making frameworks for non-standard scenarios and ensures alignment across Payroll and Benefits.
Counsel employees clearly understand their benefits obligations, options, and corporate policy expectations while on leave.
Serves as the principal liaison for third-party administrators to ensure vendor execution remains strictly aligned with contractual service level agreements, regulatory standards, and corporate compliance.
Audits and identifies gaps in vendor workflows, driving continuous process improvements to optimize employee experience.
Evaluates vendor performance, negotiates operational processes, and recommends the selection or termination of third-party administrators.
Refines and owns the standard operating procedures, digital workflow, and communication templates for the entire LOA and workers’ compensation function.
Translate real-world scenarios and exceptions into standardized processes and guidance.
Identify operational gaps, inconsistencies, and compliance risks and implement improvements.
Ensure clear ownership and accountability across internal teams and vendors.
Provide consultative, high-touch guidance to managers and employees through sensitive milestones, resolve escalated grievances, and mitigate litigation risks.
Educates and trains managers on formal leave processes and protocols, corporate liability risk, scheduling constraints, and return-to-work expectations and boundaries.
Designs, tracks, and reports on key metrics (leave volume, duration, return-to-work, WC trends).
Manages data integrity within the HRIS (Dayforce preferred), ensuring systemic architecture accurately reflects complex employee movements, job tracking, and pay variables.
Reconcile and audits, high volume, cross system leave reporting datasets to identify and correct discrepancies before they impact financial ledgers.
Provide actionable business intelligence to HR leadership to empower them to make data-driven decisions for corporate strategy and operational improvements.