Employment Law

Seminar: ID# 1282553

Agenda

• Laws, recent court decisions, basic requirements, and current parameters
• "Reasonable accommodations" and "hardships" as defined and dictated by courts
• The tricky terrain of stress-related and mental disabilities
• Policies that are legal in dealing with an employee who has a "managed" health condition or disease

• How to ensure your Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (BFOQ) for every job are legally compliant
• Title VII: who's covered, what's covered, and the surprising things that aren't
• Recent rulings and where the law's laser-focus is scrutinizing EEOC compliance today
• The #1 thing you can do to ensure your policies and procedures are EEOC compliant
• Must-know tips for dealing with a multi-cultural workforce and language barriers
• Retaliation and whistleblowers — what you can and can't do now
• Essential steps to take when investigating employee allegations

• Case Studies: the surprising recent violations with the Department of Labor
• New changes in wage and hour law to keep you current
• At last — clear-cut guidelines for classifying every employee as exempt or non-exempt
• Tips for avoiding costly mistakes in classifying employees
• The essential step you must take to ensure jobs are classified in a way you can justify
• Legally approved ways to deal with contract workers, telecommuters, and home-based workers
• How you must treat "special absences" such as religious holidays
• When you can — and can't — legally dock pay or otherwise penalize employees

• Understanding the Model Employment Termination Act (META)
• What you must know about "at-will" employment to sidestep legal landmines
• The single most important thing you can do to avoid wrongful termination suits
• How handbooks are impacting ability to terminate "at will" in court
• The most common ways employee handbooks expose you to legal risks
• Ways to ensure your employees are up to date on handbook and policy changes
• Essential techniques for following the court-accepted way to document performance and behavior issues
• The art and purpose of writing behavior expectations into job descriptions
• Your rights in dealing with acceptable performers with attitude problems — what you can't do
• Simple steps you can take to make your discipline and termination practices above legal question
• What you must never do when terminating an employee during probation

• A checklist to ensure you interview and hire legally
• Pre-employment and employment records you must keep — and how long to keep them
• What to cover, and also what not to mention, in employment contracts and offer letters
• Legal and illegal pre-employment testing: what you need to know
• The latest on background, credit, and reference checks that may surprise you
• Employers' rights with drug testing and substance abuse on the job — legal issues to avoid

• What organizations can do to protect employee privacy of information
• Employee behaviors that impact their health and company insurance rates — what you can and can't mandate
• Your rights and responsibilities when you know of an employee's medical issue, managed condition, or disease
• Guidelines for managing employee personal and medical information
• Employee rights regarding Internet, e-mail, voicemail, and video surveillance
• What you can monitor legally — and what is strictly out of bounds
• Immediate steps to follow if an employee says you've invaded his/her privacy
• How to build technology policies and procedures to use at work and from remote locations
• The legal way to deal with inappropriate Internet communications, including company bashing and employee gossip