Tuesday - April 25

A small resort community received national attention when a police lieutenant was killed. Police personnel came from across the country to participate in the manhunt. Later, it was discovered that he staged the homicide after embezzling money from the Explorer Post. Now, his wife has been charged with conspiracy to defraud a charitable organization. How did this happen to a community of 10,000 residents?

This presentation will focus on how a newly appointed administrator managed through this crisis and investigations, maintaining services and personnel while under national media scrutiny.

1. How to deal in Crisis Management
2. How to navigate Public Relations and the National/Local Media
3. Ethics and Learning who to trust in volatile situations

While most of the ACA is in effect, many ACA related issues are still open or in flux. Several of those impact employee relations and bargaining, Moreover, the new President will have his or her own ideas about how to “fix” or “replace” or “improve” the ACA. In this session we will do a quick overview of the ACA and its insurance cost impact, address some of the percolating ACA-related issues that might arise in bargaining (contingent workers, Cadillac Tax, wellness, opt-outs, etc.), and discuss possible new legislation.

1. Current status of the ACA
2. ACA issues that might arise in bargaining
3. Current and anticipated ACA related legislation

In this workshop, participants will take part in an interactive and informative session that highlights the latest employment law trends, as well as the EEOC’s position regarding those trends.  Topics covered will include: Recent EEOC activity and court filings, how to identify and prevent retaliation claims,  how to respond to requests for accommodation due to an employee’s disability, pregnancy, or religious beliefs, how to determine whether your employer wellness program is compliant with the ADA and GINA; and how to respond to LGBT issues in the workplace.

1. Understand how to identify and prevent retaliation claims.
2. Understand how to respond to employees’ requests for accommodation
3. Understand how to respond to LGBT issues in the workplace.

In this session, newer practitioners will be exposed to the fundamentals of labor law, including union representation issues, unfair/improper practice cases, collective bargaining, dispute resolution and contract administration. The presenters will also review ideas for developing an effective management negotiating team as you approach your first or successor contract negotiations. Among other topics discussed will be: a bargaining teams composition, roles played by certain team members during negotiations, “What if” proposals, Employee rights and protections (Garrity, Weingarten, Loudermill, Skelly) and preparations that should be taken prior to the start of negotiations.

Understanding due process is critical to an employer’s best practices. Attendees will examine the due process obligation from the investigative process through the hearing process.  The analysis begins with a review of the basics of due process, including key definitions, eligibility, and the scope of due process during investigations and hearings. Thereafter, the session advances into the nuances of due process and the many unforeseen circumstances which may arise. Todd and Kyle will engage in hands-on activities to help the attendee apply knowledge and techniques in everyday application, including drafting due process letters and conducting the due process hearing.

1. Learning the difference between industrial and constitutional due process.
2. Understanding the when, what, and how of an employee’s eligibility for due process and the employer’s legal scope of obligation.
3. How to avoid common and unforeseen pitfalls in applying due process, including investigative practices, ineffective due process notices, performance evaluations and non-disciplinary terminations.

This session will feature sought-after agency negotiator Eddie Kreisberg (Principal, Meyers Nave) and a leading Union-side attorney and negotiator. They will share their unique perspectives on negotiating during these challenging financial times. Both have negotiated, advised, arbitrated and/or litigated pension and retiree health benefit issues, health changes, and implementation of layoffs and furloughs, and will discuss the realities in working out deals on these and other hot labor issues when money is tight. They also will discuss negotiation impasses, and help attendees come away with a more sophisticated understanding of how to balance the parties’ legal rights, the often differing perspectives of labor and management, and how to get to “yes” (or at least maintain good labor relations) when money is tight.

1. Better understand negotiating realities for the Union internally when negotiating in difficult times
2. Learn how to incorporate the possibility of impasse and fact-finding into your bargaining preparation and approach
3. Hear how off-the-record discussions are not always off-the-record and may or may not be helpful
4. Evaluate how bargaining and bargaining proposals may fit into an overall labor strategy for union and agency
5. Understand the legal constraints, ambiguities and considerations, including the vested rights doctrine, etc.)
6. Know how unions may use unfair labor practice, grievance or lawsuit threats to influence bargaining process

Ahoy! Sail away with the seafaring crowd on a voyage for sailors who want to improve their skills navigating the murky waters of Labor and Employment. We’ll be sailing familiar seas and visiting new horizons on our voyage. Designed for the intermediate sailor, we’ll update current labor and employment topics, discuss the latest topics in labor and employment and pay homage to our nautical roots all combined in a lively team-approach of the popular game show “Jeopardy”. Don’t forget matey,  your answer must be in the form of a question, come aboard!

1. Information regarding the latest developments of labor and employment law on a national level
2. Current trends in labor topics from around the US
3. Terms of Art for the Labor and Employment Professional

Learn about the challenges transgender people face in the workplace from equitable benefits, to dress codes, to identification.  Receive an up-to-the-minute update on employers’ obligations to transgender employees under both state and federal law as well as court trends and pending legislation. Explore how corporations across the country have adopted best practices that can be imported to a wide range of workplaces. Challenging questions are welcome and encouraged!

1. Participants will learn who transgender people are and what their needs are in the workplace
2. Participants will learn about the changing legal landscape with respect to employers obligations to transgender employees
3. Participants will lean about best practices adopted by corporations to proactively

This fast-paced, solutions-oriented presentation will provide you with the knowledge that you need to confidently tackle some of the most difficult workplace accommodation matters – the psychological disability. This session will focus on some of the most difficult psychological disability issues in the workplace and provide you with tools that you can immediately use to untangle what accommodations are reasonable to implement, and which are not. Rachel is known nationally as a speaker not to miss. Her session will fly by as she expertly takes you through tried and true examples of how to efficiently and effectively manage these difficult medical accommodation matters.

Interest arbitration creates a unique end-game for resolution of negotiation impasse in strike-prohibited units. Viewed more as an extension of bargaining than as an evidentiary hearing, to win at interest arbitration a party must convince the arbitrator that its proposal aligns with the public good. Such a broad (and vague) framework provides ample room for advocacy. In this session, labor relations professionals with 1-3 years’ experience negotiating will learn the nuts and bolts of interest arbitration as well as strategies for maximizing chances of success.

1. Explain and define Interest Arbitration
2. Discussion of Arbitration types and decision standards
3. Learn how to prepare for arbitration

The Department of Labor and federal courts are expanding employees’ rights on a daily basis, including in the areas of FMLA and ADA.  Given the similarity between these two laws and their relationship to state workers’ compensation laws, it’s easy to get lost when trying to figure out how to handle an employee’s need for leave.  This session will provide you with a compass, giving you direction through fact-based scenarios and a comparison of the three types of leave employees may request when they or a family member are sick or injured.

1. The ability to identify when to begin the ADA interactive accommodation process.
2. The tools necessary to consider the alternatives and requirements for employees who have exhausted their FMLA leave.
3. A head-start on analyzing fact-based scenarios to properly identify where employees’ FMLA and ADA entitlements begin and end.

Peter Brown is back again to present on the FLSA. He will discuss FLSA cases that are on the rise and your agency’s continued compliance with the FLSA, which is essential to avoid costly wage claims. Attendees will learn recent FLSA decisions and changes in the law, identify updates that may have an effect on their agencies, including off-the-clock work, travel time, and work schedules, and hear tips to avoid liability and problems.

1. How to negotiate for changes in the law
2. How to avoid liability from these changes in the law
3. Strategies for ensuring compliance with the changes in the law