Frequently asked
FAQ
Coverage, pricing, features, onboarding. Short answers, real specifics.
Coverage
Which leave laws does Sentel cover today?
Federal FMLA is the primary workflow. State leave routing covers California CFRA, California PDL (pregnancy disability), and New York Paid Family Leave (NY PFL). Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) accommodation triggers are detected and routed to the ADA interactive process when FMLA exhausts.
Which states are supported for state-specific leave?
California (CFRA + PDL), New York (PFL), and federal FMLA everywhere. Other state add-ons ship as the customer base warrants. If your workforce concentrates in another state with its own leave statute, name it on the demo call and we will tell you exactly where it sits in the queue.
What company sizes are a fit?
25 to 300 employees is the ideal fit — typically a single HR leader (or one of two) handling 2 to 10 leave cases a year across one site plus a few remote workers. Above 500 employees we recommend a custom-quoted enterprise contract rather than the per-employee tiers.
Does Sentel handle ADA?
Yes — when an FMLA case nears exhaustion or a doctor-noted return date exceeds the legal window, Sentel transitions the case into the ADA interactive process and generates the accompaniment letter that bridges the two. Standalone ADA cases (no FMLA) can be opened directly.
Pricing & contracts
How does pricing work?
Per employee per year. Standard is $54/employee/year. Decoy (FMLA-only tracker) is $18/employee/year. Founding Partner (first 10 customers) is $54/employee/year locked for the life of the account. See /pricing for the full breakdown.
Is there a monthly option?
No. Sentel is annual upfront — one charge a year, one year of access. Monthly billing trains customers to half-attend to renewals; annual is a clearer contract for both sides.
Is there a minimum term?
One year. No 6-month or 3-month options. The compliance value of the platform compounds across cases — a partial year does not give either side a fair read on whether it works.
Does it auto-renew?
No. We never charge a card without you saying yes again. Renewal reminders go out by email and SMS at 60, 14, 1 days before the term ends. If you do not opt in, the account closes and your data is archived per the retention policy below.
Are Founding Partner seats still available?
Check the live count on the pricing page. There are 10 total. When the tenth is taken, the rate closes permanently and existing Founding Partners keep $54/employee/year forever, including all future modules at no upcharge.
Is there an HRCI member discount?
Yes — 10% off list price for HRCI members. Visit /pricing?via=hrci to see member pricing. The discount applies to all current and future tiers.
What happens at renewal?
At 60 days out, you get an email and SMS with a renewal portal link. Same at 14 days. Final reminder at 1 day. You opt in by clicking through and confirming payment. Standard cohort customers see the then-current price (which may have moved if new modules have shipped); Founding Partners always see $54.
Features
What does Sentel actually do?
Runs the FMLA compliance workflow. You enter the employee and the qualifying event; the system determines eligibility, sets the right deadlines, generates WH-380/381/382 with dates pre-filled, fires alerts before each deadline, tracks the cure window when a certification comes back incomplete, and maintains a timestamped audit trail from open to close.
What is the AI email drafter?
Plain-English draft emails for each step of the case — leave acknowledgement, designation notice, certification request, cure notice, return-to-work confirmation. Each draft pulls the employee name, dates, and case context automatically and links to the controlling 29 CFR Part 825 citation. Every draft is reviewed by a human before sending.
What is the Devil's Advocate?
A risk review on every open case. It flags the exposure points a plaintiff\'s attorney would look for — incomplete cure cycles, missed designation deadlines, retaliation-window terminations, certification gaps — and suggests a next action with the controlling citation. Findings are visible inside the case file.
Does it generate the actual DOL forms?
Yes. WH-380-E, WH-380-F, WH-381, and WH-382 are generated with employee data and deadlines pre-filled. You review, sign (via DocuSign or paper), and send. The audit trail records when each form was generated, sent, returned, and acted on.
Is there an e-sign workflow?
DocuSign integration is built in. Envelopes are tracked from send through completion, with each webhook event written to the case audit log. Every signature lives in the document vault with chain-of-custody intact.
Where do documents live?
In the document vault, organized per employee and per case. Medical certifications, fitness-for-duty notes, accommodation letters, signed WH forms, and any uploaded supporting documents are all attached to the originating case for the life of the account.
Compliance & legal
Is Sentel legal advice?
No. Sentel is software-assisted compliance guidance — it helps an HR team administer leave correctly under federal and state regulations, but it is not a substitute for advice from a licensed attorney. Every AI-generated output carries a disclaimer to that effect, and the full language lives in the Terms of Service. For specific legal questions, consult qualified employment counsel.
Where is data stored?
Supabase, hosted in the US-East region. Postgres database with row-level security, plus object storage for uploaded documents. All data is encrypted at rest and in transit.
Who has access to our data?
Inside your account: only the users you invite, scoped to their role. From Sentel\'s side: a small named operations team for support and incident response. Access is logged. Sentel does not use customer data to train any model.
How long is data retained?
By default, 7 years — matching the FMLA records retention requirement under 29 CFR 825.500. The hard floor is 3 years (the FMLA minimum). After the account closes, data moves to archival storage for the remainder of the retention window and is then permanently deleted.
Can we export our data?
Yes. Case files, audit trails, and document vault contents export to Excel and PDF. A full DOL audit export packages every case with its timestamped action log into a single ready-to-submit workbook.
Onboarding & support
How long does setup take?
Most teams are running their first active case in under 60 minutes on the onboarding call. Employee roster upload, company-handbook configuration, and first-case setup happen together. Founding Partners do this with the founder personally; Standard customers do it with the onboarding team.
Is there training included?
Yes. The onboarding call walks you through the workflow with your own first case as the example. After that, every screen has inline help text and the model card explains how the AI features work. We also publish a series of breakdowns on the blog covering the trickier FMLA edge cases.
How do we get support?
Email support for all paid accounts. Founding Partners also get a direct Slack channel with the founder for the first 90 days and a standing monthly check-in for the life of the account. All support requests are tracked and logged.
What if we need to cancel?
Inside the 30-day satisfaction window (Standard tier, with the four conditions met), full refund. After that, the term runs to its end and we do not charge again unless you opt in. Your data exports follow you out — you keep your audit trail regardless of whether you renew.
Plain answers to FMLA questions
Cited, plain-English answers to the questions HR managers actually ask — keyed to the underlying regulation.
Can an HR manager be personally sued for an FMLA mistake?
Diagnostic, cited answers to the real questions HR managers ask about FMLA personal liability — the 5-day clock, certification rules, the 12-week/ADA hand-off, supervisor liability, EPLI coverage, and individual liability under 29 U.S.C. § 2611(4)(A)(ii)(I).
When does the FMLA designation clock start, and what if I miss it?
The FMLA notice clocks — which notices are due and by when (29 CFR 825.300), what a missed 5-business-day designation deadline actually costs (Ragsdale v. Wolverine World Wide; harm must be shown), retroactive designation (825.301(d)), and whether weekends count.
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