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The Employment Law Workshop
Now Available
In-House

  • Civil Rights Acts Issues
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Defamation in the Workplace
  • Age Discrimination
  • Family and Medical Leave Issues
  • Independent Contractor Issues
  • Hiring and Firing
  • Privacy Issues in the Workplace
  • Plant Closing Rules
  • The Impact of Recent Court Decisions
  • e-Commerce Workplace Issues
  • e-Mail Issues

This course is designed for both new and experienced personnel and human resource managers and specialists. New human resource professionals will benefit from this comprehensive coverage of employment laws and their impact in the workplace. For experienced professionals, the course provides a review and update of the employment laws they work with daily.

The goal of this special program - our overriding priority - is to solidly deal with the facts and daily realities of the workplace in the new century. A few of the realities employers face:

  • The laws affecting personnel practices are far from settled. They are always changing, evolving - new Federal and State laws, court decisions, new regulations, new employee rights, new legally mandated procedures.
  • To maintain profits and productivity - and to keep business operations legal - a concise understanding of the workplace must be balanced with a sharp knowledge of the laws covering employment practices. It requires, in short, what this special program is all about.

The Employment Law Workshop offers thorough instruction on the laws, policies, procedures, and more, that affect your workplace. The course deals with the current, the emerging, the trending, as they relate to each key dimension of your activities:

  • New Civil Rights Issues
  • The Americans with Disabilities Act
  • Pending Civil Rights Legislation
  • Pregnancy Discrimination
  • Age Discrimination, Wrongful Discharge
  • Hiring & Firing
  • Downsizing
  • Privacy and Defamation Issues
  • Plant Closing Requirements
  • Wage and Hour Issues

The Course Curriculum

OVERVIEW
  1. Overall Employment and Personnel Concerns
    1. Hiring Procedures
    2. Wage Issues
    3. Performance Management
    4. Discipline
    5. Terms and Conditions of Employment
    6. Termination
  2. Overall Legal Issues Affecting Human Resource Work
    1. Discrimination Laws
    2. Wage and Hour Laws
    3. Negligent Hiring Issues
    4. Exceptions to the At-Will Doctrine
    5. Privacy Issues
    6. Defamation Issues
    7. Family and Medical Leave Issues

    HIRING

  3. The Hiring Process
    1. Employment at Will
    2. Advertising
    3. Application Forms
    4. Interviews
    5. Pre-employment Testing
    6. Retention Letters
    7. Screening
    8. Offers of Employment
    9. Recordkeeping
    10. Negligent Hiring
  4. Other Issues Related to Hiring
    1. Employment Contracts
    2. Covenants Not to Compete
    3. Discriminatory Impact Issues
    4. ADA Hiring Issues
    5. Workplace Violence Prevention
  5. Wage and Hour Laws
    1. Fair Labor Standards Act
    2. Overtime
    3. Minimum Wage Rates
    4. Employee Classifications and Exemptions

    THE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAWS

  6. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, as Amended
    1. Race, Gender and National Origin Discrimination
    2. Bona fide Occupational Qualification
    3. Sexual Harassment
      1. Theories of liability
      2. Defenses to liability
      3. Welcome vs. voluntary
      4. Policies and procedures
      5. Employer and individual liability
      6. Training
    4. Available Relief
    5. The Administrative Process
    6. Responding to Charges of Employment Discrimination
    7. Investigating Claims of Harassment
  7. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
    1. Theories of Liability
    2. Defenses to Liability
    3. Available Relief
  8. The Americans with Disabilities Act
    1. Basic Definitions and Requirements of the ADA
    2. Issues Relating to Reasonable Accommodation
    3. Issues Relating to Return to Work
    4. Interplay with FMLA, Workers' Compensation and COBRA

    DISCIPLINE AND DISCHARGE ISSUES

  9. Disciplining and Discharging Employees
    1. Job Evaluations
    2. Documentation
    3. Consistency
    4. Handling Terminations
  10. Privacy and Defamation
    1. Statutes and Cases Addressing Privacy Concerns
    2. Video and Other Surveillance
    3. E-mail and Internet Issues
    4. Common-law Theories of Liability
    5. Elements of Defamation Claims
    6. Employment References
    7. Qualified Privileges

    AFFIRMATIVE ACTION ISSUES

  11. Affirmative Action
    1. Executive Order 11246
    2. Affirmative Action Plans
    3. OFCCP Recordkeeping

    FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE

  12. The Family and Medical Leave Act
    1. Eligibility
    2. Regulations
    3. Interplay with ADA
    4. Interplay with State Laws

The Course Faculty

Richard H. Block is a partner in the New York City law offices of Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts, where he leads the firm's labor and employment practices group. He lectures regularly for a variety of professional organizations on a wide range of labor and employment matters. Mr. Block has served as a member of the Labor and Employment Law Committee of the American Arbitration Association, the Human Resources Committee of the New York Chamber of Commerce; the United States Turkish Business Council; and the Princeton University Advisory Council for Labor Relations. Mr. Block is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Mr. Block is a graduate of Princeton University and of the Hofstra University School of Law.

Andrew J. Bernstein is a partner in the New York City law offices of Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts. Mr. Bernstein's practice covers all facets of labor and employment law and he frequently gives presentations on sexual harassment, the implications of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and other current labor matters. He is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Mr. Bernstein is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Fordham University School of Law.