I am honored to serve as the Chair of the Employment Law Committee this year. Our committee includes members who devote some or all of their practice to representing companies in employment-related disputes in state and federal courts and in the EEOC and other Fair Employment Practices Agencies throughout the U.S. and internationally.
Because so many laws that govern the employment relationship are federal, our Committee members have experience working with the same substantive laws and issues. In addition, because companies rely upon our members for day-to-day counseling, keeping up with legal updates and trends is especially important to our Committee members. For these reasons, we typically have engaging discussions during our monthly conference calls, which occur on the second Tuesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. EST. We devote time during each meeting for introductions of first time callers. We also usually have a “Point of Law” segment on a hot new case or legislation or other trending topic.
During the past year, our Committee has presented one Webinar program, and we have another one scheduled this spring. On October 25, 2017, Karen Glickstein and Larry Smith presented a Webinar titled “Defending EEOC Subpoena Enforcement Actions: Nuts and Bolts,” which is available on the IADC’s website. On April 4, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. EST, Bonnie Mayfield and I will present a Webinar titled “Sex Harassment: The Cause of Action, Investigation, and Confidential Settlement.” If you would like to present a Webinar this year, please contact our Vice Chair of Webinars, Bonnie Mayfield, at bmayfield@dykema.com.
Our Vice Chair of Publications, Johner T. Wilson, III, has been active in recruiting members to publish monthly newsletter articles. Our two most recent articles include the following:
If you have an idea for a newsletter article on an employment law-related topic, please reach out to J.T. at Johner.Wilson@lewisbrisbois.com.
Our Vice Chair of International this year is Cecelia Lehaye. Cecilia and our Vice Chair of Programming, Robert Luskin, have worked together on a proposal for an internal Committee program at the 2018 Annual Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal on the new European Union (EU) General Data Privacy Regulations. The new regulations will take effect in May 2018 and simplify the regulatory environment for international businesses by unifying data privacy regulations within the EU. If you are an international lawyer who would like to get involved with our committee, please reach out to Cecelia at clahaye18@gmail.com.
Our Vice Chair of Communications, Cheryl Sabnis, has been active in generating content through the IADC email listserv and social media. Our Committee’s special project for the year will be a guide to the top employment laws/pitfalls/traps for the unwary in each jurisdiction. If you would like to contribute to the project for your state, please email Cheryl at CSabnis@kslaw.com.
Finally, our Committee met its goal for nominating new members last year thanks to the work of our Vice Chair of Membership, Henry Werhmann. We welcome new employment law practitioners to our Committee. If you know of an excellent candidate for membership in the IADC, please contact Henry at Henry@fghlaw.com.