The 31st
Annual Labor & Employment Law Spring Conference, sponsored by the Labor
& Employment Law Section Council, includes panel discussions on the
following topics:
DISCRIMINATION: SURVEY
AND HOT TOPICS
This opening panel will cover
developments in employment discrimination law both in Massachusetts and on the
federal front. Hear about changes in legislation that impact your practice and
the way in which you advise and represent clients in employment discrimination
claims. From issues as fundamental as who is “disabled”, to changes in the
interpretation of when certain damages may be available to the successful
litigant, to the viability of mandatory arbitration of employment discrimination
disputes, hear about these important developments and how they impact you and
your clients.
DISCRIMINATION: PRACTICE
TIPS AND TECHNOLOGY ISSUES
This panel will provide practice
tips and review technology-related issues in the area of discrimination law,
with an emphasis on practice before the MCAD and EEOC. Topics include:
- Practicing
before the EEOC — what the agency expects of you and what you can expect from
the EEOC;
- Practicing
Before the MCAD — what the agency expects from you and what you can expect
from the agency;
- Practice
tips from intake to public hearing; and
- Workplace
harassment — policies, preventative measures and investigations in the age of
electronic and social media.
WAGE
AND HOUR UPDATE AND PRACTICE TIPS ON COLLECTIVE
ACTIONS
Massachusetts is a jurisdiction in which has
seen tremendous growth in wage and hour lawsuits. This is due in part to
decisions of the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court involving Walmart, the Attorney General's Advisory
on Independent Contractors, the continuing saga of adjusting to the
Department of Labor’s white-collar regulations, decisions by the
DOL to file amicus briefs on important issues before the Circuit Courts and
an increase in "hybrid class actions." Massachusetts employment law
practitioners should take great care when answering wage and hour inquiries and
initiating or responding to causes of action. This panel will present the
latest updates in this area of the law and provide you with practice tips
on bringing and responding to collective and class actions.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER STUART J.
ISHIMARU, ACTING CHAIRMAN, U.S. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
COMMISSION
ARBITRATION OF STATUTORY
CLAIMS IN A UNION ENVIRONMENT
2009 saw two significant
judicial decisions addressing an employer’s ability to compel arbitration of
statutory claims. Emphasizing the unionized environment, our panel will explore
some of the many questions that lie ahead for practitioners, such
as:
- What
guidance is available in drafting and enforcing such provisions in union
contracts?
- What
standards apply to the interpretation of these provisions?
- Once
an individual claim arises, how do attorneys representing the employee
interact with union counsel?
- Who
decides who prosecutes and tries to settle the discrimination claim - the
employee or the union? Does management have anything to say on the subject?
- What
changes might lie ahead for deferral policy given the NLRB general counsel's
recent statement (Memorandum OM 10-13 11/3/2009) that "a new approach to cases
involving arbitral deference may be warranted?"
PRACTICE ISSUES
EMPLOYMENT LAWYERS FACE
This panel will focus on
two key practice issues impacting employment lawyers — malpractice avoidance and
data security compliance. The panel will begin with a presentation by the
president of the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Insurance Agency on risk
management tips, what to look for when buying malpractice insurance, common
mistakes made by attorneys when they buy malpractice insurance, statistics on
where claims are happening and the reasons claims are being filed, and
information on claims related to referrals and referral fees. The panel will
then focus on your legal obligations with respect to data security. If you have
personal information about your clients and employees — and virtually all
employment lawyers do — you should have developed a written information security
plan, named a compliance officer, conducted employee training and prepared
yourself to report any breaches of personal information. This session will also
cover the new Massachusetts law that requires notification
of security breaches and a practical discussion of things you can do to protect
your employees and clients from identify theft.
SUMMARY JUDGMENT: THE
REAL WORLD featuring the Hon. William G. Young, U.S. District Court for the
District of Massachusetts
The panel will address the
shifting burdens and presumptions that frame summary judgment argument in
discrimination cases. The group will discuss how defense lawyers can counsel
employers before a termination takes place, to give their clients effective
advantages under Rul 56 scrutiny. Also, the panel will discuss how
plaintiff-side lawyers, in real world situations, can build an effective summary
judgment record, even if evidence directly contradicting the employers'
statements is unavailable.
Click here to
view the full conference schedule.
Faculty:David E. Belfort, Esq., conference co-chair
Bennett & Belfort PC, Cambridge
Catherine E. Reuben, Esq., conference co-chair
Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP, Boston
Stuart J. Ishimaru, Esq.
Acting Chairman, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Washington D.C.
Hon. William G. Young
United States District Court, Boston
David C. Casey, Esq.
Littler Mendelson PC, Boston
David M. Conforto, Esq.
Conforto Law Group PC, Boston
Sharon Henderson Ellis, Esq.
Professor, Boston College Law School, Chestnut Hill
Sunila Thomas George, Esq.
Commissioner, Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, Boston
Philip J. Gordon, Esq.
Gordon Law Group LLP, Boston
Marc D. Greenbaum, Esq.
Professor, Suffolk University Law School, Boston
Katherine A. Hesse, Esq.
Murphy, Hesse, Toomey, & Lehane LLP, Boston
Ellen C. Kearns, Esq.
Constangy Brooks & Smith LLP, Boston
Jaclyn L. Kugell, Esq.
Morgan, Brown & Joy LLP, Boston
Robert S. Mantell, Esq.
Rodgers Powers & Schwartz LLP, Boston
Julie A. Moore, Esq.
Employment Practices Group, North Andover
Robert L. Sanders, Esq.
Director, U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission, Boston
James A.W. Shaw, Esq.
Segal Roitman LLP, Boston
Terence J. Welsh, CPCU, AIS
President, MBA Insurance Agency, Boston/Springfield
David B. Wilson, Esq.
Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP, Boston
Sponsoring Sections: Labor & Employment Section
Related Practice Areas: Arbitration/Mediation, Employment Law, Government & Administrative Law, Labor Law