Consultant Leave of Absence Checklist

Verify the consultant has worked 1,250 hours over the prior 12 months at a worksite with 50+ employees within 75 miles — the FMLA threshold. Layer in state law where stricter (CA CFRA, NY PFL, MA PFML, NJ FLA, WA PFML, CO FAMLI, CT PFMLA). Eligibility under one statute does not imply eligibility under another, and consultants who frequently bench between engagements often fall short of the hours test.

Classification drives downstream documentation, pay treatment, and benefit handling. Medical and FMLA leave require a certification of healthcare provider; military leave requires orders; sabbaticals follow firm policy rather than statute. Get this right at the front — re-classifying mid-leave creates pay corrections and disclosure problems.

Walk the consultant through paid versus unpaid components, accrual treatment of PTO during leave, benefit-premium responsibility, and reinstatement rights. Hand over the policy PDF in writing — verbal-only walkthroughs are a common source of dispute when the consultant returns.

The engagement partner is accountable to the client for staffing continuity; they sign off so coverage planning can begin. Email approval is sufficient if it names the leave dates and the backup consultant.

Use the firm's standard leave request form — most HRIS platforms (BambooHR, Rippling, Gusto) have this built in. Foreseeable leave requires 30 days' notice under FMLA; unforeseeable leave requires notice as soon as practicable.

Use DOL Form WH-380-E (employee's own condition) or WH-380-F (family member). Federal regulation gives the employee 15 calendar days to return the certification. Do not request a diagnosis — only the information the form asks for.

USERRA covers active-duty and training orders; FMLA military caregiver leave requires DOL Form WH-385. Confirm reinstatement rights and benefit continuation under USERRA — these are stronger than FMLA in several respects.

Lock dates in the HRIS so payroll, benefits, and engagement staffing all draw from the same source of truth. Intermittent leave needs a separate scheduling note rather than a single date range.

Pull the consultant's current allocations from the resourcing tool. For each engagement, note the workstreams owned, deliverable owners, client day-to-day contacts, and any single-threaded responsibilities (financial model owner, primary client contact) that need a specific backup.

Update the RACI for each workstream so the client sees one accountable owner. Avoid leaving a workstream with the leaving consultant as accountable and a vague "team" as responsible — the client will escalate to the partner the first time something slips.

Walk through risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies in the RAID log — particularly any client commitments the consultant made verbally that aren't captured in writing. Update the log so the backup can answer the client's questions without paging the consultant on leave.

Move drafts, models, and working files from the consultant's personal folders into the shared engagement workspace. Source-of-truth files left on the consultant's local laptop become inaccessible the moment SSO suspends.

Apply firm policy on PTO substitution, sick-bank use, and any company-paid parental or medical leave top-up. State PFML benefits (CA PFL, NY PFL, MA PFML) coordinate with employer pay — stacking rules differ by state, and double-paying is a common payroll error.

Initiate the STD claim with the firm's carrier (Unum, Lincoln, The Hartford, Guardian). Most policies have a 7-day elimination period before benefits start; coordinate the start date so STD picks up where PTO ends without a gap.

Health, dental, vision, and 401(k) match continue under FMLA at the same employee contribution. For unpaid leave the consultant must remit their share by check or direct debit — agree on the cadence in writing. Lapsed premiums during leave are a frequent reinstatement headache.

Keep the note concise: who is taking over which workstream, who the client should email for what, the consultant's last working day, and the planned return. Do not disclose the medical reason; HIPAA does not apply but firm confidentiality norms do.

Set the auto-responder to name the coverage contact and the expected return date. Update Slack profile and any client-shared channel. Mute non-urgent notifications so the consultant isn't pulled back in during leave.

Disable client VDI, client SSO, and any shared-vault credentials through Okta or Azure AD. Firm SSO can stay active for HR self-service. Several client BAAs and DPAs require access removal during extended absences — check the engagement contract before deciding what to leave on.

Cover any work restrictions from the fitness-for-duty certification, accommodation requests under the ADA, and the planned ramp-back schedule. Parental and medical returns frequently include a phased schedule — agree on it in writing before Day 1 back.

Extended leaves are a common moment for COI changes — a spouse's new job, a board seat, an investment. Re-attest before the consultant is staffed onto any engagement. For audit-adjacent advisory practices, run the independence check against the staffing plan, not just the prior assignment.

Reactivate the Okta or Azure AD account, re-enroll MFA (the prior token is typically expired after 60+ days), and reissue any client VDI credentials. Verify time-tracking and the expense tool are reachable before the consultant tries to log Day-1 hours.

Catch up the returning consultant on engagement wins and losses, methodology updates, new SaaS tooling, and any policy revisions (data handling, expense, travel) issued during the leave. Pair with a buddy for the first two weeks back to shorten the ramp.