2012 HR Law Consultants Conference Schedule

Presented by Jane Kow, Principal and Founder of HR Law Consultants & Roberta Etcheverry, CEO, Diversified Management Group (DMG)

September 27, 2012 – 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Bar Association of San Francisco Conference Center, Bently Reserve Building, 301 Battery Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA

Click here to download the registration form.

The 2012 HR Law Consultants Conference will feature leading experts in the human resources and legal fields, who will address the following topics:

Schedule
8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.Registration and continental breakfast
8:30 a.m. – 8:45a.m.Welcome and Introduction
8:45 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. The Workplace Of The Future: Forecasting Trends That Will Shape Human Resources, presented by Kevin Wheeler, President & Founder of Global Learning Resources, Inc., internationally renowned speaker on human resources topics

Kevin Wheeler, an internationally renowned consultant and speaker on workplace issues, will identify future workplace trends that will challenge our view of the workplace and transform the role of human resources. These include: 1) Social business trends that will place more emphasis on trust, transparency and collaborative discussion and idea generation; 2) Social leadership in the workplace will be more concurrent, collaborative, compassionate and collective, and emphasize sharing of responsibility and decision making because of the increasing complexity of problems and the impossibility of one person understanding all the variables; 3) Transparency, analytics, and privacy issues will emerge as social structures and shared methods will redefine notions of employer confidentiality and employee privacy and the internet continues to collect, aggregate, maintain and open up information stored in the past and present; 4) The concept of an “employee” will be redefined in an era of open relationships and social business when contingent and part-time workers are rapidly approaching the majority of all workers; and 5) Working smarter and weaving together knowledge from data, people, and life will transform workplaces, which will become hubs of discourse and sharing and where people can accumulate experience, get information, and experiment collectively to redefine what we now call learning, training and development. Wheeler provides his vision of how each of these concepts will impact the workplace of tomorrow and the role of human resources in the future.
9:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.Q&A – Break
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Wage & Hour Violations: No Small Change For Employers,* presented by Miles Locker, California’s leading expert on wage & hour law, founding partner of Locker Folberg LLP, former Chief Counsel to the CA Labor Commissioner, and amicus curiae counsel in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court

Spurred by record unemployment and high profile cases netting huge settlements and damage awards in recent years, the number of lawsuits brought by employees who are misclassified as exempt (or salaried) have sky rocketed. Mr. Locker will examine recent cases brought by employees who claimed they were misclassified and demanded unpaid wages for overtime, missed meal periods, missed rest periods, on-call time and reporting time, etc. Mr. Locker will provide a set of criteria to help employers determine which employees are exempt or non-exempt under federal and state wage and hour laws. He will provide practical guidance on employee time tracking for overtime pay, missed meal and rest periods, time spent “on-call,” reporting to work, making up work for personal reasons, training and travel, as well as employer recordkeeping, pay obligations and allowable paycheck deductions for sick and vacation time off. Mr. Locker will discuss how employers’ recordkeeping practices will be impacted by the California Supreme Court’s recent decision in Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court, which held that employers are not liable if the employee chooses to perform work during meal periods, so long as they are relieved of all duty. He will also discuss requirements under the new Wage Theft Protection Act and misclassifying employees as independent contractors.
11:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.Q&A – Break
11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Coaching As A Tool For Managing Employees, presented by Maria Ramos-Chertok, attorney, organizational consultant and coach

Maria Ramos-Chertok draws from over 20 years of experience with helping organizations improve employee performance, strengthen management skills and mediate workplace conflicts through effective communication and coaching. In this interactive session, Ms. Ramos-Chertok will provide an overview of the role of effective feedback and coaching as essential components of the foundation for a successful supervisorial relationship. Attendees will be given an opportunity to practice these two skills to encourage them to think about how feedback and a coaching paradigm can be incorporated into organizational practices to help promote a cultural shift.
12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.Catered Lunch
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. DFEH Game Show: “Civil Rights Challenge!”* presented by Phyllis Cheng, Director of the California Department of Fair Employment & Housing (DFEH)

DFEH Director Phyllis Cheng will host and present this interactive and entertaining DFEH Game Show styled presentation on “Civil Rights Challenge!” that will test the audience on everything anyone ever wanted to know about the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and everyone’s favorite statute, the California Fair Employment & Housing Act (FEHA). Topics to be covered will include little known facts and historical tidbits about the Department and the FEHA, how cases are investigated and prosecuted by the agency, spell binding statistics and hot trends on workplace discrimination claims, significant CA discrimination cases, and the very latest and greatest developments that are on the horizon.
2:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.Q&A – Break
2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Investigating Employee Disability Discrimination And Failure To Accommodate Complaints,* presented by Jane Kow, Founder of HR Law Consultants, leading California disability law expert and workplace investigator

Disability discrimination claims are the most prevalent of all EEO complaints filed with the EEOC, with a record breaking 75% spike in the past decade, so the stakes are high for employers who fail to address employees’ requests for accommodations or to properly investigate complaints of disability discrimination. Jane Kow, a disability law expert, will draw from her wealth of experience as an employment advisor to companies and workplace investigator to provide guidance on how to address and investigate employee complaints of disability discrimination, which present unique challenges for the workplace investigator. Ms. Kow will provide a set of best practices on how to avoid common employer mistakes like failing to recognize a “request” for an accommodation, not engaging in an “interactive dialogue” with an employee with a disability, and treating the employee “just like everyone else” to avoid the appearance of favoritism. She will also show how to properly investigate complaints of denial of reasonable accommodations, without invading employee medical privacy rights, while obtaining critical information about the employee’s work limitations and determine whether the employer engaged in an “interactive process” in good faith. Learn how to detangle employees’ attendance, performance and misconduct issues from disability related limitations, and understand how to document these issues to withstand scrutiny by an investigator, and ultimately, a judge or jury at trial.
3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.Q&A – Break
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Job Descriptions As A Tool For Determining Employees’ Qualifications, Exempt Status & Workplace Accommodations, presented by Roberta Etcheverry, CEO of Diversified Management Group (DMG), a renowned workplace consultant and expert on how to prepare effective job descriptions

Roberta Etcheverry will draw from over 20 years of experience as a workplace consultant to provide a step-by-step approach to developing accurate and detailed job descriptions that can be used to: 1) effectively recruit, hire and evaluate employees; 2) determine essential job functions as part of the reasonable accommodations process for employees with disabilities and medical conditions; and 3) determine whether an employee should be classified as exempt or non-exempt from overtime and other pay obligations. Ms. Etcheverry will provide guidance on how to succinctly describe employees’ essential job functions and the degree of independent judgment and discretion exercised in order to determine proper classification of workers. She will present examples of which job duties would and would not qualify under each exempt category, which will enable legal counsel to make critical decisions about employees’ exempt status and avoid common misclassification mistakes. A well crafted job description containing clearly written essential job functions will also help an employer determine whether an employee with a disability can be provided with a reasonable accommodation once they can no longer perform their job functions.
5:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.Conference Closing Remarks
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.Networking Reception with Sponsors, Exhibitors, Speakers, Attendees, Guests and Raffle

*MCLE Credit for CA Lawyers: Approved by the State Bar of California for a total of 3 hours of MCLE.

HRCI Credit for HR Professionals: Approved by the HR Certification Institute for 6 hours of HRCI general credit.

Who Should Attend:
Human resources professionals, EEO and labor relations managers, compensation analysts, organizational developers, workforce planning specialists, job developers, coaches, mediators, workplace investigators and employment lawyers

Registration & Fee:
Early Bird Discount Rate – register by August 1, 2012: $300
Registration received August 2, 2012 and later: $350
Networking and cocktail reception ONLY: $25

Limited Seating – Register By Wednesday, August 1, 2012 To Save $50!

10% Discounts:

  • For registration of 2 or more participants from one company.
  • For attendees of past events sponsored by Jane Kow, Jane Kow & Associates or Roberta Etcheverry, DMG.

On-Site Registration:

On-site registration or walk-ins are subject to availability.

Cancellation Policy:

  • Full refund if written cancellation request is received by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 1, 2012.
  • An alternate may attend in place of the original registrant, but must register in order to receive HRCI or MCLE credit.

Contact us for additional information about the program, sponsorship and vendor opportunities.

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