Overview
The latest and best practical information about workplace laws you must know!
- Confidently apply the latest thinking on the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Avoid the most common and costly Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) breaches — including new federal focal points!
- Learn about the recent changes in Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) wage and hour laws
- Discover new legal thinking on employment-at-will, hiring, disciplining and firing
- Identify hiring do's and don'ts that keep you out of the courtroom
- Stay current on the newest legal hot spots, such as high-tech privacy and records retention
Agenda
Americans with Disabilities Act & Family and Medical Leave Act
- 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
Essential EEOC Documentation & BFOQ Standards
- 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
FLSA Wage and Hour Law Compliance
- 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
Employment-at-Will, Hiring, Disciplining and Firing
- 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
Updates on Interviewing, Hiring and Records Retention
- 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
Employee Privacy "Hot Spots"
- 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