Page 1 Reed Group Westmoor Drive Westminster, CO Reed Group, Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Guardian Life Insurance Company

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1 Page 1 Reed Group Westmoor Drive Westminster, CO Reed Group, Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America. All Rights Reserved.

2 LeaveAdvisor User Guide Contents WHAT IS LEAVEADVISOR?... 1 HOW DO I ACCESS LEAVEADVISOR?... 1 LOGGING ON TO LEAVEADVISOR... 1 NAVIGATING LEAVEADVISOR... 3 USING THE HOME TAB... 3 USING THE FEDERAL & STATE TAB... 3 Viewing federal content... 4 Accessing and using printable forms... 4 Viewing multistate content... 5 Viewing state content... 6 CITATIONS: END NOTES AND CASE NOTES... 7 End Note References... 7 Case Note References... 8 USING THE TOOLBAR MENU... 9 USING THE SEARCH TAB USING THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT TAB USING THE PENDING LEGISLATION TAB USING THE GUIDE TAB CONTACT SUPPORT... 15

3 WHAT IS LEAVEADVISOR? LeaveAdvisor is Reed Group s online reference tool for leave laws and pending legislation regarding FMLA and other state and federal absence programs. The data included in LeaveAdvisor is easily accessible and subscribers can quickly locate specific laws by state and type of leave; view an easy-to-read summary of requirements, overviews and analyses; explore comparisons with other leaves, eligibility requirements, applicable legislation, length of coverage and more. HOW DO I ACCESS LEAVEADVISOR? Contact Reed Group at (or in Canada) or via at guidelines@reedgroup.com, to obtain a user name and password for a 30-day free trial. LOGGING ON TO LEAVEADVISOR After receiving your user name and password, visit the LeaveAdvisor home page at To log on, click the link in the top, right corner of the home page. Page 1

4 Enter your user name and password in the spaces provided. In addition, you may choose to check the Remember Me? box. The Remember me? function will keep you logged on to the LeaveAdvisor website until you either log out, or delete the cookies from your browser. After you have entered your user name and password, click the Log On button. Troubleshoot: If the log on function is not visible, you may need to scroll to the right, resize your browser window, or zoom out (click Ctrl plus the minus key Ctrl-). If you have trouble logging on, please contact Reed Group at (or if calling from Canada). Once you are logged on, the link at the top-right corner of the page will read Welcome Your Name! [Log Off]. Some information is available to non-subscribers, such as the beginning of the articles references on the home page, as well as the information in the About page. Page 2

5 NAVIGATING LEAVEADVISOR Once you are logged on, you may navigate to sections of the website by choosing from the tabs at the top of the page, or by using the search function. USING THE HOME TAB Click on the Home tab to view the welcome screen and access the four sub-tabs. Use the sub-tabs to find out more about LeaveAdvisor, including links to new and updated content, information about our team, and a free 30-day trial. USING THE FEDERAL & STATE TAB We recommend using the Federal & State tab for the most effective site navigation. Once you click on the Federal & State tab, you will find the site content organized into three topics: Federal (proprietary information, public statutes and regulations), You may expand each section by clicking on the text, or the small triangle next to the text. Each line of expanded text represents a link to the relevant content. You may use the Expand All or Collapse All functions to view content. If you close the browser window with sections expanded, those sections will remain expanded the next time you open your browser. Page 3

6 Multistate Topics and States (proprietary information, public statues and regulations). Please refer to the User Guide section Using the Toolbar Menu for tips on viewing, printing and ing LeaveAdvisor content. VIEWING FEDERAL CONTENT Content listed under the Federal section deals with federally mandated leaves, such as the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). You may access analyses, statutes and regulations, and articles regarding these leaves. In addition, you may view information regarding the Americans with Disability Act (ADA), and relevant articles for various federal leave topics. Once you have located your topic of interest, click on the link to access that content on LeaveAdvisor. ACCESSING AND USING PRINTABLE FORMS The Federal content section of LeaveAdvisor provides three downloadable/printable FMLA forms in PDF file format, for your use (Qualifying Exigency for Military Leave, Serious Health Condition, and Serious Injury of Illness for a Covered Servicemember for Military Caregiver Leave). These forms were created by Reed Group and may be used instead of the forms provided by the U.S. government. To access these forms, click on the desired form link. This will open the PDF file on your computer. You may save the form to your computer for later use, or print the form using your personal or office printer. Page 4

7 VIEWING MULTISTATE CONTENT Content listed under the Multistate section deals with laws are applicable in multiple states, as well as articles and other reference materials. Page 5

8 VIEWING STATE CONTENT Once you have clicked on a state selection, you will see that the corresponding topics are organized into Analyses and Statutes and Regulations. The first link in the Analyses section is an Overview of all applicable leaves for the state you have selected. The subsequent links contain more detailed analytical information on each leave. In some cases, states may not have any major laws requiring employers to provide job-protected leaves. This will be indicated in the Overview topic-link. Click on the individual leave topics for the Summary and Best Practices specific to each leave. Topics listed under Statutes and Regulations contain, when available, legal citations which pertain to the leaves for the state you have selected. Page 6

9 CITATIONS: END NOTES AND CASE NOTES LeaveAdvisor uses superscript numbers to direct the readers to end note citations or case note citations. END NOTE REFERENCES If you see superscript numbers in the LeaveAdvisor text, you may click on the number to access the citation. Citations that are linked to source documents appear in purple and are underlined. Occasionally references will appear in black, indicating a citation without providing a link. When you click on one of the citation links, a larger window will open, with the cited section of the statute or regulation. The citation window may be resized by clicking on the corners and dragging to expand or contract the box. The size you choose for the citation box will be stored in LeaveAdvisor, until it is modified. Page 7

10 CASE NOTE REFERENCES When a superscript number indicates a citation that contains a case history, the superscript appears with the word case. If you click on this superscription, a window opens which give the name, and at times a discussion, of that case: Page 8

11 USING THE TOOLBAR MENU Each linked content page contains a toolbar menu along the left side of the page, which allows access to a table of contents for that section and several other functions, such as modifications for viewing preferences; printing or ing content; and return to the top of the page. Clicking the top button will open a table of contents for your selected topic. You will see an outline of the chapter, including subsection. Use the table of contents to quickly locate relevant sections of the chapter by clicking on the numbered topic. You can pin the table of contents open by clicking on the pushpin icon in the top right corner. Once you click the pushpin, the table of contents remains open and the menu bar shifts to the top of the section. Use the triangles to expand the table of contents to display subheadings. Click on any text to display that part of the chapter. Clicking on one of the three letter A buttons will adjust the font size for easier viewing. The size of text in the content area will increase or decrease, depending on which button you click. The size selected is outlined in purple. Clicking on one of the three margin width buttons will help you adjust the width of the content to fit your monitor. The width of the margins in the content area will increase or decrease, depending on which button you select. Table size will remain the same, regardless of the margin you select. Clicking the printer button will allow you to send topic content to your personal or office printer. This will lead you to a print dialogue box, where you can select the correct printer and other options depending on the printer, such as color or black and white. Follow the prompts on the print dialogue box, as you would with other print jobs, and the section or chapter you have displayed in your browser will be printed. Page 9

12 Clicking the envelope button will allow you to attach and send content via . To use this function, click on the envelope and fill in the recipient s address and add a personal note (optional). The section or chapter you have displayed in your browser will be ed. You may more than one recipient by placing a semi-colon between addresses. The resulting will appear like the example below. You can verify the content and appearance by sending an initial to your own address. Notes: may look different depending on your system Graphs embedded in the LeaveAdvisor content are not included in the Recipients may need to mark s from the sender (donotreply@reedgroup.com) as not spam. Click on the bottom arrow button to return to the top of the chapter page at any time. Page 10

13 USING THE SEARCH TAB You may also browse the LeaveAdvisor content by using the Search box at the top of the page. Enter your keywords or phrases in the Search field. If you click specific states below the search box, a window will appear that allows you to select states. This setting will be retained until you change it. Once you have entered your keywords or phrase, such as Pregnancy, click the Search button or the magnifying glass to view the relevant content. The resulting list is a compilation of LeaveAdvisor topics that contain one or more instances of your keyword or phrase. Your results will look something like this: Refine your search by using the Filter Your Results menu. You may view information sorted by state or federal laws, and further refine your results by selecting a Type of information. Once you have refined your search, click on the desired link to view the content. Your results will appear in the same format as any content located by using the Federal & State tab, please refer to the User Guide Section Using the Toolbar Menu for tip on viewing, printing and ing LeaveAdvisor content. Page 11

14 USING THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT TAB As part of our municipal sick leave module, Reed Group tracks, summarizes, and reports on certain enacted municipal and county paid sick and safe leave, and family and medical leave ordinances. Topics are arranged alphabetically by state. Click on the link in each section to view the details about each leave. Page 12

15 USING THE PENDING LEGISLATION TAB If your subscription to LeaveAdvisor includes "Pending Legislation," you will have access to the Pending Legislation tab. Reed Group tracks, summarizes, and reports on introduced and pending leave of absence legislation in all 50 states, D.C., and the federal government. This feature offers: Summaries. Key information for each proposed leave law or regulation is summarized. Additional information is available by clicking on each bill s expanded view. Please read the entire bill or proposed regulation for full details. Filtering. Information can be filtered (selectively sorted) by state, leave type, date introduced, and date of latest activity. Updates. The pending legislation module is updated monthly. Passed legislation. If proposed legislation is passed, new laws will be added to LeaveAdvisor as a new leave law analysis, while existing analyses will be updated with amended laws. Failed legislation. The module will retain for at least one year all proposed legislation that does not pass or dies in the legislative process. On the Pending Legislation page, you may filter your results by selecting a state, leave type and status (pending, dead or passed). Once you have made your selections, click on the Apply button on the top right. Page 13

16 Once you have selected the filters you want, click on the link to view the content. You will find a summary of the legislation, comments and history. You may also choose to subscribe to the pending legislation RSS feed. Your RSS reader (such as Microsoft Outlook) will notify you of changes made in Pending Legislation. Click the text near the top right corner of the Pending Legislation page and follow the instructions for adding the RSS feed. Page 14

17 USING THE GUIDE TAB Use the Guide Tab to access a PDF version of this document, which may be viewed online or printed on your home or office printer. CONTACT SUPPORT If you have questions about any of the material presented in this guide, or issues with the use of, or subscription to, LeaveAdvisor please contact our support department at guidelines@reedgroup.com. Page 15