The Cocoon blog

Though ADA and PWFA leave accommodation requests can be processed in Cocoon, that’s only part of the puzzle for employees and employers to navigate as there are also non-leave accommodations (think modified work schedules, installing a ramp or modifying a workspace, and more). What counts as a reasonable non-leave accommodation will differ across industries, companies, and employees based on jobs, departments, timing, and other operational circumstances. What doesn’t change is the need for People Ops and HR teams to have a fair and consistent way to evaluate these requests. That’s why we’ve created an ADA non-leave reasonable accommodations guide and checklist, defining common terms, answering FAQs, and giving you the foundation for your own internal evaluation process when an accommodation request arises. For ADA leave accommodations, check out our webinar and recap blog.

When and why must employers consider reasonable accommodations?

Not everyone can perform the full extent of their job’s duties for a multitude of reasons. But when this is the case due to a disability recognized by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or a pregnancy-related condition under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), businesses with more than 15 employees are legally required to consider and provide reasonable accommodations for qualified employees, unless doing so poses an undue hardship. Some state and local laws have even lower thresholds (e.g., they apply to employers with at least three employees and sometimes as low as just one employee). In other words: you don’t want to get this wrong because it likely applies to you.

Though this may entail making some changes or getting creative on the employer’s end, by supporting and enabling these employees to work with reasonable accommodations rather than excluding them, more employment opportunities exist and businesses experience less interruptions—ultimately benefiting workers and employers in the long run. The key is to find a reasonable solution for both parties.

What is a reasonable accommodation? 

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a reasonable accommodation is “a modification or adjustment to a job, the work environment, or the hiring process. These modifications enable an individual with a disability to have an equal opportunity to get a job, successfully perform their job tasks, and enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment to the same extent as people without disabilities.” Though there isn’t an official list of what a reasonable accommodation would be (each case is unique), below we offer an extensive list of examples based on regulations and guidance the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has provided under the ADA and PWFA. 

The EEOC takes the position that any accommodation is reasonable unless it poses undue hardship for the employer.

Reasonable accommodations examples

Modifying facilities and equipment

1. Changing the workspace layout (could be as simple as moving desks, avoiding stairs)
2. Installing a ramp or modifying a restroom 
3. Implementing accessible or assistive materials, technologies, etc. (e.g., screen readers, teleconferencing with live captioning, materials in Braille or large print, sign language interpreters, accessible software platforms)
4. Implementing or modifying equipment and uniforms (including equipment that assists with lifting or carrying)
5. Providing seating or allowing for standing, to work without increased pain or risk to health (e.g., providing a sit/stand desk)
6. Providing a reserved parking space

Modified work conditions, schedule, or location

1. Part-time or modified work schedules (e.g., scheduling around medical appointments)
2. Telework, remote work, or change of work site 
3. Policies allowing service animals at the facilities
4. Permitting the use of paid leave (whether accrued, as part of a short-term disability program, or any other employer benefit) or providing unpaid leave
5. Lactation, pumping, and breastfeeding accommodations including: some text
   1. Breaks and space for lactation near the workstation (as required under the PUMP Act).
   2. The pumping area is a regularly cleaned facility with electricity, seating, private, and not a bathroom. It should be in reasonable proximity to a sink, running water, and a refrigerator for storing milk.
   3. The ability to nurse during work hours (if the child is in close proximity.)

Changing the scope of the job

1. Job restructuring
2. Taking on a temporary role they are able to perform
3. Reassignment to a vacant position
4. (PWFA only) Temporary suspension of essential job function(s) until the pregnant worker is able to perform them again.

The hiring process

1. Make the application process accessible by following Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards.
2. Offer various application and interview formats (video conferencing with captions, phone interviews with sign language interpreters). 
3. Make each candidate feel safe and comfortable to request accommodations.

Providing equal privileges of employment to all

1. Offer inclusive benefits (e.g., commuter benefits that support wheelchair-accessible transit; gym or fitness course stipends are applicable, ensure all employees can fully participate in company offsites, etc.).
2. Offer accessible trainings and workshops even if they are optional (e.g., translate materials into Braille, provide an interpreter).

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)—who enforces the ADA and Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)—takes the position that any accommodation is reasonable unless it poses undue hardship for the employer. For more technical resources and examples of reasonable accommodations, we recommend checking out the Job Accommodation Network (JAN)—a very comprehensive resource that’s even cited in the ADA.

What is undue hardship?

An undue hardship is a significant difficulty or expense, meaning an accommodation is extremely difficult to provide, given a company’s resources. Keep in mind that proving economic hardship requires employers to readily demonstrate their financial situation and potentially disclose their financials and internal policies in litigation or court should it get to that point. In determining whether an accommodation would impose an undue hardship, employers can consider:

• The nature and net cost of the accommodation, the effect on expenses and resources
• The number of employees, the number, type, and location of its facilities
• The type of operations conducted and functions of the workforce
• The impact upon the operation of the facility, other employees’ ability to perform their duties, and the ability to conduct business

For example, after exhausting all paid and unpaid leave due to a spinal injury, a bus driver requested an additional six weeks of unpaid leave to recover from a surgery related to the injury. Their employer denied the accommodation on the basis that they could not leave the role vacant as it would negatively affect commuters on that route; hiring and training a new employee to cover only six weeks was not realistic; and asking other employees to cover the work would be too costly in overtime. The employer won the case.

ADA reasonable accommodation checklist

Step 1: Recognize the request

There are no magic words or special processes required under the law—an employee may simply say they need something to help them work because of a medical or pregnancy-related condition. Here are examples for pregnancy alone:

• An employee mentions that their morning sickness is making it hard to get to work at their scheduled starting time.
• An employee who gave birth 3 months ago requests an hour a week to attend treatments to help with a back problem that began during pregnancy.
• An employee goes to HR because they are concerned that continuing to lift heavy boxes will harm their pregnancy.
• An employee hasn’t filled out an accommodation form, but explains to her manager that her more frequent bathroom breaks are the result of her pregnancy.
• An employee tells a supervisor that she needs time off to recover from childbirth.

The request can be very informal, which is why it’s important to train managers to recognize when a request is on the table and the obligations that may ensue. 

Step 2: Begin the interactive process

The initial request triggers the “interactive process,” which is a documented series of communications that explore or brainstorm accommodations. This documented process is critical for compliance. If any legal disputes arise, the interactive process will be examined closely to determine liability. Having reasonable accommodations policies, forms, and processes (and implementing them in a leave management system like Cocoon that can streamline the process for both employees and employers) helps operationalize and document the process. It also helps employees understand what their rights are and help them follow a process they are unfamiliar with.

In some places like California, failure to engage in the interactive process is illegal, even if there is no reasonable accommodation. 

Step 3: Explore reasonable accommodation ideas, gather information

Start off by asking an employee themselves to suggest accommodations. If you need the employee to provide more information or documentation, you can also request that to help you understand the extent of their condition and solicit their healthcare provider for suggestions.

Meanwhile, start documenting things like the essential job functions and responsibilities of the employee’s role, a list of prior accommodations provided for the employee or others. Explain that the accommodation should help the employee successfully perform their essential job functions.

Step 4: Give your initial assessment and obtain additional feedback

Your response might be a simple yes or entail negotiating, making a compromise, or exploring an interim solution. At the end of the day, employers should give primary consideration to the accommodation desired by an employee (or recommended by their healthcare provider). Many times, the accommodations are affordable and reasonable. Focusing on accommodations that make continued work possible can prevent the need for leave or the employee leaving the workforce altogether. If you are denying the request, you should be prepared to demonstrate undue hardship. 

Step 5: Implement the accommodation

If you are able to make the reasonable accommodation and have completed your discussions with the employee, now you’re ready to implement it. Depending on the type of accommodation, this could mean purchasing new equipment, construction on or modification of a facility, or announcing schedule changes to the team. At this stage, you also need to work out how you will communicate with other employees who have a business need to know about the accommodation (while complying with confidentiality obligations) so they know how it might impact them or their work, or other changes that might be coming. Discuss this directly with the employee requesting an accommodation to ensure they understand the efforts you are taking to protect their privacy while also not springing a surprise on other employees who have a business need to be aware of the accommodation. 

The bottom line

This guide to reasonable non-leave accommodations for ADA and PWFA is just a start. When businesses and employees can reasonably explore, request, and provide reasonable accommodations, they strike the balance of support and empowerment, keeping businesses running, and employees employed—a win, win for all. 

Hello and welcome to Q3! It might be summertime, but Team Cocoon shows no signs of slowing down on evolving our product to better serve the needs of our community. This month’s updates bring more automation to help Admins save time on day-to-day leave management, and improve two key experiences in Cocoon based directly on employee feedback. Let’s dive in.

Easily manage your top to-do’s with our revamped Admin Dashboard

The Cocoon Admin Dashboard got a glow-up this month with the introduction of our new Tasks page. Nobody likes that feeling of “did I forget something really important?” or “I remember seeing an email reminder about something but now I have no idea what it was.” Our Admin Tasks page saves you the time and stress over staying on top of your leave management to-do’s by surfacing all of your tasks in one central place.

At login, Admins will now see a clear list of all high-priority tasks they need to action on: reviewing accommodation or personal leave requests, uploading new census files, or executing repayments to employees. You can filter by status, date, or category, with categories like “Blocking employee” to help you prioritize. And don’t worry—our good ol’ Leaves view is just a click away using our nifty new sidebar nav. Check out the walkthrough below for a preview.

Workday x Cocoon: a LOA match made in heaven 

You asked, we listened (and built the thing). Our two-way integration with Workday is here! Our newest API integration instantly syncs employees’ leave status and dates to Workday in real-time, giving Workday users the full picture of employee leave right in their HRIS. No more painstaking and error-prone manual work to input leave dates in Workday or update them any time an employee changes their plan—which, spoiler alert, happens a lot. Pair this with our integration to automatically sync census information from Workday to Cocoon and save yourself hours per week to do literally anything else.

Learn more →

Uploading paperwork, simplified 

Next up: we’ve made it even easier for employees to upload their medical and claim forms to their “Your tasks” Dashboard in Cocoon. We heard from employees that the previous experience of uploading one big PDF with all forms including (serious health condition, private disability claim, and state claim in some cases) made the next steps a little ambiguous. 

Our new experience breaks out the upload tasks for each unique document type and gives employees clearer guidance to avoid any confusion. And—we now give employees specific instructions and FAQs on how to complete each document type. A small step for the “Your tasks” Dashboard, but a big stride for clarity and ease throughout the leave journey.

Honorable mention: more granular leaves reporting

Last but not least, we’d be remiss not to mention that we’ve added three new columns to the Leaves report based on your feedback. When you download the report from the Leaves tab on your Admin Dashboard, it will now include columns to help you report in more detail about the state of your team’s leave: 

• Employee ID
• Remote ID 
• Employee Payroll ID

A few extra columns on a report might not sound like much, but we get pretty excited about anything that saves our partners time or hassle on manual leave management work. 

From automating admin workflows to take more off People teams’ plates to consistently iterating on the employee experience, our team remains committed to hearing your feedback and pushing the boundaries of what technology-powered leave can look like. Stay tuned for more Cocoon release notes like this one as we head into the second half of 2024.

What is the Americans with Disability Act (ADA)?

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law that passed in 1990 that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in many aspects of society—including employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications, and access to state and local government programs and services. To make it even more complex, most states and many municipalities have their own laws that are closely modeled after the ADA. 

If you don’t feel like reading the full text of the law, we can give you the SparkNotes: it’s illegal for covered entities (i.e. employers) to discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities. 

Still unclear? Understandable, so let’s break it down:

Covered entities under the ADA

The ADA applies to companies with 15 or more employees and prohibits discrimination in all aspects of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoffs, training, fringe benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment. 

Defining disability

The ADA protects employees and job seekers with disabilities. The ADA defines a person with a disability as someone who:

• Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities,
• Has a record of such an impairment (like cancer in remission), or
• Is perceived by others as having such an impairment (this could be severe burns or the loss of a limb)

Official ADA regulations do not list all disabilities—there are a wide variety and not all disabilities are visible. Here are some additional examples from the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division (this is not an exhaustive list!):

• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• HIV
• Autism
• Cerebral palsy
• Deafness or hearing loss
• Blindness or low vision
• Epilepsy
• Mobility disabilities such as those requiring the use of a wheelchair, walker, or cane
• Intellectual disabilities
• Major depressive disorder
• Traumatic brain injury

Qualified individuals

To be protected under the ADA, an employee or job seeker with a disability must also be qualified to perform the “essential functions of the job” with or without reasonable accommodations that do not pose undue hardship on the employer.

Essential job functions: 

These are often (unhelpfully) defined as the basic job duties. This phrase exists to ensure that anyone with a disability will not be deemed unqualified because of their inability to perform marginal job functions. If there is a written job description, that’s usually a good place to start to determine essential job functions.

With or without reasonable accommodation:

This can sometimes trip people up, but it just means that employees should be able to perform essential job duties on their own or with the help of a reasonable accommodation. 

Undue hardship

The agency that enforces the ADA, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), defines “undue hardship” as something that is significantly difficult or expensive. It focuses on the resources and circumstances of the specific employer related to the specific accommodation requested. 

ADA requests from employees and ADA discrimination

ADA discrimination can manifest in a number of ways, but two common methods are:

• Treating qualified employees or job seekers with disabilities differently based on their disabilities in the terms and conditions of employment
• Failing to provide reasonable accommodations to otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities (unless doing so poses an undue hardship)

Assessing ADA requests requires an individualized, case-by-case assessment. To do this, employers must engage in an interactive dialogue with employees (and their health care providers, if necessary). 

The interactive process

We have a whole guide to the interactive process here, but to summarize, employers must:

1. Recognize the request from the employee
2. Begin the interactive process
3. Explore reasonable accommodation ideas and gather information (in partnership with the employee)
4. Give an initial assessment
5. Implement the accommodation 

At Cocoon, we think of accommodations in two categories: leave accommodations, and non-leave accommodations. We’ll get into leave accommodations here, but check out our non-leave accommodation checklist for more information on that route.

Leave as an ADA accommodation

A reasonable accommodation can include modifying existing leave policies and providing leave even when it’s not covered by existing policies or state/federal leave laws (EEOC). But there is no rule that says an employer must always provide leave as an accommodation. It depends on the facts in each situation (hence the case-by-case assessment). How much time does the employee need? Is the leave sought for a definite or indefinite duration? Will the leave time be continuous or intermittent? Has the employee already taken leave? The list goes on… and on and on. To add another layer of complexity for employers, they must integrate ADA with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which was passed three years after the ADA in 1993, plus state family and medical leave laws.  

The FMLA covers employers with 50 or more employees and provides medical leave rights to employees who meet certain eligibility criteria such as tenure (12 months) and work hours (1,250 hours in the 12-month period immediately preceding leave). Because employers must provide leave under both the FMLA and ADA, the challenge is knowing when and how to do so. For example, if an employee can take FMLA leave, they don’t need ADA leave as a reasonable accommodation. But if employees need medical leave and they are not eligible for—or have exhausted—FMLA leave, the ADA suddenly becomes front and center, and employers must consider providing unpaid, job-protected leave as an ADA reasonable accommodation (if providing the leave doesn’t cause undue hardship).

Where to learn more about employer responsibilities under the ADA

Hopefully after reading this quick primer on the ADA, you have a better understanding of what it is and who is eligible. For a deeper dive into the topic, we recommend the following resources:

• US Dept of Justice, Civil Rights Division: Introduction to the Americans with Disabilities Act
• US Dept of Labor: Americans with Disabilities Act Overview
• Job Accommodation Network (JAN): Employers’ Practical Guide to Reasonable Accommodation under the ADA

Build a more inclusive workplace, stress less about compliance

Cocoon’s mission is to empower every working person to focus on the important things in life when it matters most—this is absolutely inclusive of workers with disabilities who have every right to the same opportunities as everyone else. Disability discrimination laws are not getting any easier to administer, and they aren’t going away. Workers deserve these rights, and People teams deserve solutions that help them streamline the process. We’re excited to usher in a new era of more inclusion and accessibility for Cocoon, especially as we continue to expand on this functionality.

We have bad news and we have good news. The bad news—employers have to stay up to date with yet another leave law that recently went into effect. The good news—we’re here to help you understand it. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) has been in the works for a long time. It was signed into law in December of 2022, became effective in June of 2023, final regulations were released in April of 2024 and it finally went into effect on June 18, 2024.

tl;dr: What is the Pregnant Worker’s Fairness Act?

The PWFA requires that all employers with 15 or more employees provide reasonable accommodations for a qualified applicant’s or employee’s known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions unless the accommodation will cause the employer “undue hardship.” 

There’s a lot to unpack there, so keep reading for a deep dive into the PWFA ↓

“Qualified employees” under the PWFA and how it differs from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

As with most leave laws, employers must make decisions on a case-by-case basis and evaluate:

1. The impact on an employee’s ability to perform their essential job functions with or without reasonable accommodations and
2. If they are unable to do so, whether or not leave is a reasonable accommodation 

In general, the definition of “qualified” under the PWFA is a bit different and actually more protective of employees than under the ADA. Like the ADA, an employee is qualified if they can perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation that does not pose an undue hardship. “With or without” reasonable accommodation just means that employees can perform essential job duties on their own or with the help of a reasonable accommodation. Under the PWFA, “essential functions” of a position are… the fundamental duties of the job (vague, we know, but you’ll have to take that up with Congress).

Unlike the ADA, an employee is also qualified if they cannot perform the essential function of the job and if these three things are true:

1. The inability to perform the essential functions is “temporary” 
2. The employee can perform the functions “in the near future”
3. The employee’s inability to perform the essential functions can be reasonably accommodated

Reasonable accommodations under the PWFA

A “reasonable accommodation” is a broad concept—it’s any change in the work environment or the way things are usually done at work. We like to think of accommodations as two categories: leave accommodations (time away from work), and then everything else. The PWFA is very clear that employers should focus mostly on the second category (everything else) and leave accommodations should be the last resort.

Examples of non-leave accommodations:

• Additional, longer, or more flexible breaks to drink water, eat, rest, or use the restroom
• Changes to a work schedule, such as having shorter hours, part-time work, or a later start time
• Remote work
• Temporary reassignment or modified work duties 

This list is not exhaustive—there are many other reasonable accommodations that may make sense based on an employee’s situation. The accommodation process is dynamic, so an employee may need different accommodations at different times during pregnancy or after childbirth. Check out our non-leave accommodation checklist for more details

When employers might need to consider leave accommodations

Employers will usually need to consider leave as a reasonable accommodation if employees need time away from work to go to healthcare appointments or recover from childbirth or other medical conditions related to pregnancy and childbirth.

We recommend the following order of operations to kick off discussions with the employee:

1. Determine whether or not any leave is available under the FMLA or state leave laws 
2. Confirm whether or not leave is available under your company leave policies
3. If an employee has no leave available under laws or company policies, consider whether leave should be provided as a reasonable accommodation under the PWFA or ADA

How the PWFA interacts with FMLA and state leave laws

The PWFA runs concurrently with other leave laws and does not override any federal, state, or local laws. This means if there are overlapping legal obligations under multiple laws at the same time, employers must provide the most generous legal protection available to the employee.

If the employee qualifies for FMLA

If a pregnant employee qualifies for FMLA, the employer still must provide a reasonable accommodation under PWFA that would eliminate or reduce the pregnant employee’s need to take FMLA leave due to pregnancy-related limitations. 

If there is no reasonable accommodation

On the other hand, if there is no reasonable accommodation that will enable the pregnant employee to continue working in lieu of leave, the pregnant employee can still take FMLA leave if available. 

If the employee has exhausted FMLA and/or company leave policies

If FMLA is exhausted or unavailable, the pregnant employee may still be entitled to leave as a PWFA reasonable accommodation even if the employer does not offer leave as an employee benefit or the employee is not eligible for leave under the employer’s leave policy. Here are some (not all) of the situations where leave as a reasonable accommodation under the PWFA may be available:

• Prenatal appointments
• Recovery from childbirth
• Medical appointments

Where to learn more about the PWFA

The EEOC published a comprehensive summary of PWFA for employers that dives even deeper into the regulations: What You Should Know About the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

We’ve just scratched the surface here but it’s clear there’s a lot for employers to keep track of with PWFA, on top of managing run of the mill parental leaves. Chat with our team to see how you can seamlessly manage PWFA leave accommodations in Cocoon.

Challenge: A manual, in-house leave management process became unmanageable as ActiveCampaign rapidly expanded, causing administrative burdens for People Ops and a negative employee experience.

Solution: Implementing Cocoon's leave management platform streamlined the process, reducing administrative tasks and providing an intuitive, user-friendly experience for employees and managers.

Results:

• Significant reduction in time spent on leave admin work.
• Employees are empowered to plan their leave and understand pay, eligibility, and paperwork.
• Integrations and evolving software enhancements for continuous automation and scaling.
• Conversations about leave are more transparent and productive.
• Trusted partnership frees up time for strategic efforts like planning for open enrollment and global benefits expansion.

Keep reading for the whole story ↓

Meet Sarah Robillard, Senior Benefit Analyst @ ActiveCampaign

Though Sarah Robillard is just shy of rounding out her first year at ActiveCampaign—an intelligent marketing automation platform—it’s been a fast-paced year for her as a Senior Benefits Analyst. ActiveCampaign has grown to over 500 employees across the US alone, while also rapidly expanding their global operations—most recently in Krakow, Poland. To keep up with growth, Sarah and her team are always looking for ways to innovate and automate where they can. That way, they can focus on improving the employee experience and education around the full offering of benefits and total rewards. But before they had Cocoon, their in-house manual process for managing more leaves in more places was stopping them in their tracks.

ActiveCampaign’s in-house leave management becomes more complicated

“Before we had Cocoon, we actually administered leaves of absence entirely in-house,” explains Sarah. “And if you’re in the benefits space, you know how big of an undertaking that is.” With a small team tackling such a big endeavor for a rapidly-growing company, things became unmanageable. “On the People Ops side, we had colleagues tackling the day-to-day details of leave who really needed to be focused on larger, more strategic priorities. For employees, it wasn’t a great experience. There were a lot of confusing back and forth exchanges over FMLA paperwork. There was no straightforward way to plan, navigate, or get the right insights into managing a leave of absence.”

Why ActiveCampaign chose Cocoon for leave management

“Because we were used to handling leave administration from start to finish, even a small reduction in that would be a win for People Ops, so we really prioritized something that would offer a great experience for our employees, with an easy interface,” Sarah says. “One of our values is ‘Creating Wow’ and during the Cocoon demos, the team could really feel that. Sure, there are some ‘heavy hitters’ in the leave of absence vendor market, but Cocoon’s size and newness allow them to provide high-touch, excellent support for leave takers, and offer a fresh approach to managing leaves that bigger names simply aren’t. Onboarding Cocoon was the most seamless process I’ve seen with a leave management vendor.” 

“It’s not just about having Cocoon, it’s about really trusting Cocoon, its software and processes, to take care of our employees and give them more ownership over their leave. We’re still involved in the process, but in a much more meaningful way. Overall, the experience with Cocoon has been overwhelmingly positive across the business.”

The biggest benefits of using Cocoon

In their first six months with Cocoon, ActiveCampaign managed 20 leaves. “Every single leave taker has said it was so straightforward and intuitive. They love the support from Cocoon’s team, as well as their support guides that explain things like managing pay and what’s next,” Sarah says, smiling. “For managers, they love getting reminders about employee dates and plans so they can prepare accordingly.”

“For us on the internal Benefits team, there’s been a significant reduction in the administrative burden related to leave management. Cocoon can automatically calculate and display certain information that we simply couldn’t. It’s a relief to know that pay and entitlements are correct in the portal, and we don’t have to manually update that anywhere, because Cocoon also integrates with Workday.”

“We also used to spend a lot of time explaining how leave pay and eligibility requirements worked. These can be difficult and confusing conversations, but with the way Cocoon visualizes and explains the information to leave takers, we get these questions far less, and the conversations that we do have are much more productive. They don’t feel like HR is just telling them something—they can interact with the information these decisions are based on.”

Why ActiveCampaign plans on sticking with Cocoon to manage leaves

While a smooth implementation is important, experiencing true ROI requires active, ongoing partnership—and that’s exactly what ActiveCampaign has with Cocoon. Sarah raves that, “Cocoon is committed to meeting our evolving needs, with a responsive approach showing they listen to feedback, make continuous enhancements, and update us about it.”

For example, “this might seem small,” Sarah laughs, “but we had a fitness for duty form for anyone taking a leave over a certain number of days. Cocoon didn’t yet have a feature to manage it. I sat down with our account manager to see if there was a way we could add it, only to find out that this feature was already in development, based on feedback from other customers, too! A few weeks later, Cocoon launched it and showed us how it worked.”

This trust and responsiveness is key for ActiveCampaign during the busy push leading up to open enrollment and renewals. “It’s not just about having Cocoon, it’s about really trusting Cocoon, its software and processes, to take care of our employees and give them more ownership over their leave. We’re still involved in the process, but in a much more meaningful way. Overall, the experience with Cocoon has been overwhelmingly positive across the business.”

About ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign helps small teams power big businesses with the must-have platform for intelligent marketing automation. Customers from over 170 countries depend on ActiveCampaign’s mix of pre-built automations and integrations (including Facebook, Google, WordPress, Salesforce, Shopify, and Square) to power personalized marketing, transactional emails, and one-to-one CRM interactions throughout the customer lifecycle. Learn more and start your free trial at ActiveCampaign.com.

Our momentum shows no signs of slowing down in Q2 2024 as we release more updates that take work off the plates of People teams and leave-takers alike. We’re particularly excited about these recent launches because they represent several top requests we’ve gotten from partners and our broader community over the past year. First up: hot off the heels of ADA accommodation leaves, our long-awaited product experience to support personal leaves is here—further empowering leaders everywhere to create more compassionate workplaces.

Keep reading for details about personal leaves, revamped Pay Dashboards, our new seamless fitness for duty process, and even more granular Admin visibility into denied leaves and FMLA balances.

Beyond FMLA: Introducing personal leaves in Cocoon

Today, we're thrilled to announce that Cocoon is expanding beyond FMLA and ADA-covered leave types with our new product experience for planning and managing personal leaves. Many companies offer personal leave (or they take it a step further with compassionate leave) policies to encourage employees to take time away from work for a reason that doesn’t fit into “traditional'' leave types, whether it be bereavement, caregiving for someone that doesn't fall under FMLA’s caregiver definition, or any number of other reasons. 

Employees can now easily request a personal leave and track their progress right in Cocoon. We streamline communications and collect information from employees so that Admins can review each leave request, and track it alongside all others in one place. We talk a lot about how Cocoon differs from the traditional rep-based leave solution, and this launch is no different: we believe no one knows your employees and policy nuances like you do, so we give you control over the highly subjective and sensitive approval decision, while automating the little pieces of the puzzle to take as much off your plate as possible.

Fitness for duty form collection, simplified

Facilitating medical leaves is notoriously complex (that’s why we had a whole webinar on the topic), so we’re using software to take even more off your plate. Our new product experience makes collecting fitness for duty (FFD) forms easy: 

Step 1: Cocoon automatically reminds employees to complete their certifications

Step 2: Employees upload the forms right in Cocoon

Step 3: Admins stay looped in every step of the way, automatically

No more juggling clunky PDF attachments or missing key information.

Track time balances and denied leaves with a couple clicks

At Cocoon, we’re all about giving People teams easy access to leave details that help them support employees quickly and with confidence. This time we’re adding visibility into leave balances and denied leaves because employees often want to know how much leave time they have left at any given moment. On the Eligibility details tab, you can now view each employee’s latest balances for FMLA and any applicable state laws to give them immediate answers. You can see:

• Total days
• Used days
• Remaining days

Cocoon Admins can also now view any planned medical leaves that were denied for missing or incomplete serious health condition forms right in their Dashboards. Medical leaves are not just complicated to administer—they are complicated for employees to navigate, too. This latest update will ensure you have full context to help employees get the right documentation to take the time they need to recover. 

Meet your new leave pay education hub

Last quarter we told you about our new in-depth Pay Trackers for both employees and Cocoon Admins. Today, we’re excited to share even more updates to our Pay Dashboards with the addition of new tooltips, explainers, and extensive resource libraries (with videos like this one) to help answer the most common pay questions—before they come up. Admins and employees can navigate to their dedicated resource libraries right in their Dashboards.

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From giving more peace of mind around pay to to expanding the traditional meaning of a reason for leave, our team is laser-focused on building solutions that truly make life with leave easier. Stay tuned for more Cocoon release notes like this one as the year continues!

We’re thrilled to announce that ADP, a global leader in human capital management, has named Cocoon as a strategic partner in leave management. ADP continues to lead the evolution of the workplace with the employee experience at the center. Back in October, ADP announced an investment in Cocoon through their new investment arm, ADP Ventures. Today marks another big stride toward shaping the future of work with Cocoon available to ADP customers right on ADP Marketplace.

“Cocoon empowers our mid-market clients with the tools they need to navigate the complexities of leave and absence management with ease and confidence.”

Leading the way for leave innovation 

ADP Ventures is committed to shaping a future where work is more enriching for People teams and their employees alike. Sound familiar? That’s because the best partnerships are built on a shared vision. 

Cocoon is building the future of work by re-imagining leave with software that automates some of the most complex parts of the leave puzzle for People teams, all while giving employees a modern, seamless experience through user-friendly tools and always-on support. Our partnership with ADP sets the stage not only to bring those tools to many more mid-market ADP customers, but also to work with the expert ADP Ventures team as we evolve our solution with more powerful automation, new leave types, and beyond. 

“ADP is committed to the future of the HCM [human capital management] industry…ADP Ventures invests in technology that enhances the human experience in ways that empower businesses to grow and their employees to succeed at work and life, says Usman Khan, SVP of ADP Ventures. “Cocoon empowers our mid-market clients with the tools they need to navigate the complexities of leave and absence management with ease and confidence.”  

An easy choice for growing companies to navigate leave

Cocoon is now available on the ADP Marketplace, making it quick and easy for ADP customers to implement Cocoon and log in via SSO with their ADP credentials. And, our API integration with ADP Workforce Now® automatically syncs census data to Cocoon in real-time to ensure your employee information is always accurate, up-to-date, and secure. This saves People teams hours each month otherwise spent creating and manually uploading census files to a leave provider—one major benefit of this partnership, and of a software-powered leave platform like Cocoon. Existing mutual customers can immediately take advantage of the integration, too, via the Cocoon Data Connector for ADP Workforce Now®. 

As workplaces become increasingly distributed, the future of work will require digital-first solutions that empower People teams to deliver premium employee experiences without operational complexity. Today's announcement marks a huge step in that direction. As Mahima, my co-founder and CEO of Cocoon, shared: "We couldn't be prouder to partner with ADP, one of the most trusted names in HR and people technology. Their employee-centric approach perfectly aligns with our vision of using technology to simplify leave for People leaders and expand access for individuals.”

ADP customers can learn more or schedule a demo through ADP Marketplace today. We hope you’ll join us in ushering in this new chapter for workplaces everywhere—onwards!

It seems like just a few weeks ago we shared our 5 newest launches—probably because it was just a few weeks ago. And yet, here we are again, with another big update. Today, we’re excited to announce our new product experience that initiates and streamlines the process of considering leave as an accommodation under the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) or Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)—it takes the guesswork out of a notoriously complex process for employees and People teams alike. 

This new functionality enables employees to request an ADA or PWFA leave accommodation right from their Cocoon Dashboard and drives the interactions with their employers from there, who review and ultimately approve or deny the request. These workflows save People teams time and stress by providing employees easy and reliable access to a legally required interactive process to request leave as an ADA or PWFA accommodation.

Streamline leave accommodation requests in Cocoon

Although ADA and PWFA leave accommodation requests may not be frequent, when they do come up, they are often confusing and time consuming. Not to mention, there’s a lot of risk involved. The EEOC keeps statistics on the number and types of discrimination charges it receives and their most recent data shows that after retaliation, disability discrimination is the most frequently filed form of employment discrimination. Last year more than 25,000 charges were filed, making up 34% of all EEOC discrimination charges (!!) 

Here’s the good news: Cocoon’s got you covered. Our new leave accommodation experience saves People teams time and streamlines the interactive process by pulling some of the most disjointed pieces of the process together in product:

Employee leave accommodation request experience 

Employees can request leave as an accommodation in Cocoon when either they 1) have exhausted all available time under FMLA, state laws, and company policy, or 2) they are not eligible for FMLA, state laws, or company policies to begin with. Cocoon will then collect sufficient information and documentation from the employee regarding the nature of the request. 

People team leave accommodation request experience 

After the employee submits the leave accommodation request and requested information, Cocoon will surface this information in the Employer Admin Dashboard. Once an Employer Admin has reviewed the request, they can approve it, deny it, or request additional information directly in Cocoon.

By automating the request, review, and approval workflows for ADA and PWFA requests, People teams don’t have to worry about missing key steps and opening themselves up to risk.

“When it comes to the ADA, the interactive process is equally if not more important than the result employers reach.”
^{- Frank Alvarez, Cocoon founding legal counsel}

"When it comes to the ADA, the interactive process is equally if not more important than the result employers reach. We expect this new tool will substantially improve both employee and employer leave accommodation experiences," says Frank Alvarez of Cocoon. "Our software identifies the instances when employees have no sources of medical leave under the FMLA, state law or company policies, and then initiates workflows that allow employees to easily request leave as an ADA accommodation. Employers immediately view and approve or deny employee requests, or ask for more information or supporting medical documentation. Our team has been interested in tackling this issue for a while and we are super excited about this launch.”   

Build a more inclusive workplace, stress less about compliance

Cocoon’s mission is to empower every working person to focus on the important things in life when it matters most—this is absolutely inclusive of workers with disabilities who have every right to the same opportunities as everyone else. Disability discrimination laws are not getting any easier to administer, and they aren’t going away. Workers deserve these rights, and People teams deserve solutions that help them streamline the process. We’re excited to usher in a new era of more inclusion and accessibility for Cocoon, especially as we continue to expand on this functionality.

Sequoia, the leading compensation and benefits partner for VC-backed companies and pioneer in total people investment, has selected Cocoon as its preferred vendor for leave management solutions. We’re excited to share that Cocoon is now available to all Sequoia clients through Sequoia’s Marketplace with exclusive pricing. As part of the launch, we’re also offering special limited-time rates for any Sequoia client that signs with Cocoon before July 1.

"Taking care of employees during the significant moments in their life that require a leave of absence is a deeply important responsibility for an HR team. We're thrilled to partner with Cocoon to help connect employers and employees to thoughtfully coordinate leave management."
_{—Sequoia Chief Client Officer Christina Sullivan}

A huge step forward for awareness and access to leave

With over 50 mutual clients and more than two years as a Cocoon customer, Sequoia knows firsthand how Cocoon is bringing leave management into the modern era for People teams and employees alike. 

One of those employees is Sequoia’s own Stacey Lim, Senior Wellbeing Solutions Program Manager, who took two parental leaves in two different states—one without Cocoon, one with. “Having one central place for all parties with accurate and detailed information is critical,” Stacey says. “You aren’t relying on email threads or random meetings from three months ago to piece it together yourself.”

This partnership marks one step further toward Cocoon’s vision of seamless access to leave for even more employees like Stacey. It’s no secret that People teams are strapped for bandwidth, and that budgets are tight. Our partnership with Sequoia will save HR leaders the time-consuming task of vetting various leave management solutions, and make our software even more accessible through discounted pricing for Sequoia clients. 

"Taking care of employees during the significant moments in their life that require a leave of absence is a deeply important responsibility for an HR team," said Christina Sullivan, Chief Client Officer at Sequoia. "We're thrilled to partner with Cocoon to help connect employers and employees to thoughtfully coordinate leave management."

Cocoon uses first-of-its-kind technology to take the work out of employee leave. Companies like Sequoia customers Khan Academy, Miro, and Lacework rely on Cocoon to save countless hours each week, mitigate risk, and alleviate stress for employees during life's pivotal moments. Unlike traditional leave providers, Cocoon's technology automates the most complex aspects of compliance, claims, and pay, ensuring a more efficient and reliable leave experience, empowering People teams with real-time data to inform their leave program. For employees, Cocoon's unique software-first approach, coupled with unlimited support from our CLMS-certified Support Team, ensures a seamless, modern, and private leave experience.

Making if official

While we have partnered informally for years on events and to support mutual customers, becoming Sequoia’s official preferred leave management solution is a big milestone for Cocoon. 

“Sequoia is one of the most trusted names in people tech and the future of work,” says Cocoon Co-founder and COO Lauren Dai. “We are thrilled to have their vote of confidence, and together, to clear the path for more People teams to create the modern leave experience People teams and their employees deserve.” 

“Sequoia is one of the most trusted names in people tech and the future of work. We are thrilled to have their vote of confidence, and together, to clear the path for more People teams to create the modern leave experience People teams and their employees deserve.” 
_{—Cocoon Co-founder and COO Lauren Dai}

To learn more about accessing Cocoon through the Sequoia, visit the Sequoia People Platform Marketplace or talk with a Sequoia advisor. The future of leave is here, and we hope you’ll join us.

Challenge: Employees taking more complex leaves across dozens of new states outgrew Khan Academy’s manual leave management process consisting of spreadsheets and an external consultant.

Solution: Dedicated leave of absence software with a user-friendly interface that could handle dynamic leave modeling, paperwork submission, payroll calculations, and reporting—across dozens of US states.

Results: 

• People Ops saves time by eliminating complex state leave laws research and scaling time spent per leave.
• Payroll team eliminates manual work with Cocoon’s payroll calculations, summaries, and supplement pay breakdowns.
• Leave-takers feel confident in the paperwork they’re submitting and their overall leave plan.
• Improved team function and company perception of People Ops as a polished and organized team.

Keep reading for the whole story ↓

Meet Crystal Kung @ Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational platform offering personalized learning resources for all ages in order to provide a free, world‑class education for anyone, anywhere. In a similar vein, Khan Academy’s People Operations team strives to provide an excellent employee experience for their employees all across the US. This is where Crystal Kung, Head of Total Rewards, comes in. She’s worked across the tech sector and was intrigued by Khan Academy's purpose and impact as a nonprofit ed-tech organization. And as you might expect, Khan Academy employees are quite tech savvy, which influences the tools they use and company culture—things that were put to the test during the global pandemic. This prompted Crystal to search for a new leave management system to give employees a better leave experience, no matter where they were.

Enacting a competitive leave policy… suddenly across dozens of new states

“Before the pandemic,” Crystal explains, “leaves were easier to manage due to them mostly being basic parental and medical leaves based in California. We could manage them in a Google Sheet, working with an external leave consultant to help People Ops and Finance with leave administration.” Each basic leave took about 40 hours of work to manually model the leave, work through a plan with leave takers and managers, and follow through on paperwork from start to finish. But this system started to break down during the pandemic. 

“Suddenly everybody started moving across the country, including states where we didn’t operate yet, we saw a mini baby boom, and there were more medical and caregiver leaves that came with complexities we hadn’t yet encountered.” It also didn’t help that some people had moved from states with generous paid leave laws to states that did not. With the increased demand for leaves, this left Crystal, her team, and their external leave consultant struggling to keep up with each leave and subsequent requests, while also keeping track of constantly changing state laws. “I wanted to find a solution that worked for People Ops while delivering a great employee experience that made sense for Khan Academy’s size and operations.”

What Khan Academy looked for in a leave management system

“I knew we couldn’t afford a dedicated headcount to just leaves… but I also wanted a personalized service that could handle the most common types of leave, offering hands-on help for employees’ paperwork,” Crystal says. “It was also important that the system offered dynamic reporting and leave modeling for the People team and employees to understand what was going on for each leave.” Other important factors were training for managers and HR admins, easy manual census uploads or  integration with their HRIS, an understanding of Khan Academy’s industry, and being minority-owned as “a nice bonus.” Naturally this made Cocoon a top contender.

“Cocoon ultimately won me over because of its support style, the user-friendly UI, and general ease of use. The fact that they can help leave takers fill out government forms that are confusing for (even me as an HR pro who has led a few leave of absence programs!) was huge."

“Cocoon ultimately won me over because of its support style, the user-friendly UI, and general ease of use. The fact that they can help leave takers fill out government forms that are confusing for (even me as an HR pro who has led a few leave of absence programs!) was huge. I even vetted the backgrounds of the customer support team to make sure they had real experience on this topic—and they do.” 

Cocoon is a win-win-win for People Ops, Payroll, managers, and leave takers

Upon implementing Cocoon, it was a huge relief for the People Ops and Payroll team, saving them hours of manual tasks and high-pressure work managing the forms and pay calculations for each unique case. “We don’t have to do last minute, and frankly difficult, research for each leave in each state just in case a new obscure leave law comes out under our radar,” Crystal says, relieved. “Plus, the Payroll team loves the payroll summaries, supplement pay breakdowns, and how Cocoon is able to factor in state, disability, and supplemental pay.” 

Crystal also says Cocoon has saved the People team time and money. “As more people go on leave, it’s like a snowball effect of savings because redundant administrative work is automated. Plus when you think about some of the stressful and mundane tasks Cocoon eliminates, you know that it boosts team energy and how they feel about their day-to-day work.”

For leave takers, they loved that Cocoon handled complex paperwork, and that they could dynamically model their leaves privately before sharing with their manager and People Ops. “Now, employees can show up to a conversation with their manager with a plan and understanding how their leave will work more or less, and managers get help and suggestions to prepare their team and report for the leave. It’s a lot less pressure and fear for everybody.” 

How Cocoon bolsters Khan Academy company culture

Overall, Crystal says that Cocoon has helped refine the image of People Ops coming out of the pandemic as a more organized and polished team. “One of our company values is ‘working responsibly and sustainably’ and Cocoon definitely supports that value.  Another one is ‘bringing out the joy’ which you can feel with Cocoon’s UI. You know, someone might be going through a really difficult time on their leave, and you can tell that Cocoon puts effort into giving them the best experience possible whether it’s through features or the graphic design to bring out the joy. So it’s a joyful process to use it.”

“Being in HR navigating through the pandemic and societal changes in the past three years has been very hard,” Crystal admits, “but there’s help out there! And we’re glad we found it with Cocoon.”