The Johnson County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Oct. 2 to amend a contract with Lincoln Financial Group to add administration of Family and Medical Leave Act claims, adding $110,000 annually and revising the contract authority to a total not to exceed $394,365 under RFP 2024-009.

County staff and commissioners said the change is intended to reduce administrative burden, improve regulatory compliance and shorten processing time for employees requesting leave. Commissioner Mike Hanslick said, “I think it’s, frankly, long overdue that we’ve outsourced our FMLA.”

Why it matters: County leaders said handling roughly 4,500 FMLA cases per year has fragmented workload across several departments, consuming staff time and creating legal complexity. An outside consultant’s benchmark cited in the briefing suggested the county’s rate of requests exceeds norms; a public commenter urged caution, saying the county should first explain why requests were “5 times what CBIZ considers reasonable.”

Staff and public comment: Brent Christianson, Financial Management Administration, told the board the county is tracking two primary performance measures after implementation: the number of requests and the time to process and certify leaves. “Requests will be one that we’re watching carefully, as well as how long it takes us to process and certify those leaves,” Christianson said. He and Human Resources staff said the contractor will work with internal teams during an implementation period so the vendor has staff eligibility and employment-history information needed to determine FMLA eligibility.

Ben Hobert, speaking during the public-comment period, urged the board to resolve why the county’s FMLA request rate appeared high before outsourcing. “Until you address why you have had requests at 5 times what CBIZ considers reasonable, it is not prudent to outsource,” Hobert told the board.

Board action and next steps: Commissioner Allen Brand moved to authorize the amendment; Commissioner Brewer seconded. The motion passed on a 7–0 roll call. The board approved the amendment to add FMLA leave administration services with Lincoln Financial Group for an additional $110,000 annually, producing a revised annual contract authority not to exceed $394,365 under RFP 2024-009. Staff said implementation will include an onboarding period in which employee eligibility files and other documentation will be shared with the vendor.

What the board did not decide: The board did not eliminate internal HR responsibilities; commissioners and staff emphasized the vendor will handle case administration while county HR remains engaged for related ADA, return-to-work restrictions and other personnel issues that may not be entirely outsourced. No changes to employee benefits were made in the motion.

A look ahead: Staff said they expect to monitor whether the county’s FMLA metrics move toward industry benchmarks within one to two years, and they plan to report KPIs to the board about request volumes and processing times.