Inside Athena: Athena’s FMLA and Leave Specialist
FARMINGTON, C.T. — Kathryn McAdoo is both learning how to be a first-time mom and learning a new role with Athena Health Care Systems.
She joined the company in January 2022 as the H.R. Manager at Litchfield Woods Health Care Center in Torrington, Connecticut. In February, after returning from maternity leave, she took on the newly created role of FMLA and Leave Specialist, receiving and processing leave requests for team members across Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
Her goal in the position is to bring consistency to the process and streamline it so people can get the needed information in a timely manner.
“When they offered me this, I’ve been doing FMLAs for so long, so it just felt like a no-brainer,” she said.
She is always looking to grow. Before joining Athena, she was working in HR for a home care agency but felt there was no more room to grow.
Litchfield Woods was her next move and she loved it.
“I have to say that I really loved my building,” she said. “I think it’s the employees and the people there that kept me.”
As the FMLA and Leave Specialist, she can help the HR teams at the centers focus on other important tasks such as employment relations, onboarding new hires, and payroll.
With support from Athena’s Senior HR Generalists, Sandy Wood and Sandy Ortiz, McAdoo is confident the position will better help team members through the process.
McAdoo is learning the policies and protocols across the three states as it is frequently changing along with federal guidelines. While it’s an adjustment, she understands the important impact it has on team members.
“You need to make sure that not only are you advocating for the company but you’re advocating for the employees and also being sentimental to the fact that we are all human,” she said.
In addition to being a new mom, she is also a dog mom of three and has two horses in her family as well.
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