Never before have human resources professionals spent so much time addressing employees’ needs for leave from work and other workplace accommodations. This presentation will offer a dynamic walk through the realities of the FMLA, ADA, and PWFA in 2026 and beyond, from the surge of mental health-related issues, to potential fitness for duty concerns, to the increased requests from employees—often with the assistance of AI—about their need for time off work or other workplace adjustments. Attendees will leave armed to identify potential policy and practice gaps in their organizations based on increased litigation and federal agency (EEOC/DOL) enforcement in these areas, implement best practices for the management of leaves and accommodations (whether or not they use a third-party administrator), and minimize risk for the employers they represent.
Alexis C. Knapp worked in various capacities of human resources and higher education before transitioning to Littler, where she has spent more than 17 years practicing labor and employment law. Over the course of her career, Alexis’s practice has evolved into a deep focus on leave and accommodation issues (The Family Medical Leave Act, The Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act, workers’ compensation, return to work situations, fitness for duty, and more), from assisting employers with basic compliance questions, to navigating complex challenges in this arena. As part of that work, she regularly counsels and assists employers with policy and process issues, and drafting policies, forms, letters, and other documents in support of employers’ leave and accommodation efforts. She also develops and delivers customized in-person and virtual training for HR and legal teams, and supervisory/management employees, on FMLA, ADA, PWFA, and related topics.
Alexis also enjoys providing robust employment counseling and advice to clients on all other types of labor and employment issues as well, such as employee performance management, discipline, terminations, discrimination and harassment concerns, and more. She is also a regular speaker on a variety of labor and employment law topics for employer and industry groups.
Alexis is board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR®). She has appeared in court and before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Texas Workforce Commission and the Department of Labor, and has handled administrative and litigation matters against individual plaintiffs and federal government agencies.
Before beginning her legal career, Alexis served as an associate dean of the College of Business and Economics and assistant professor of management at Houston Christian University where she taught courses in human resources and employment law at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Prior to that, Alexis was a human resources professional in the public sector, where her focus was employee benefits, organizational policies and procedures and training.
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