CLE Programs

Featuring keynote speaker Bob Ryan, Boston Globe sports columnist

• 9 a.m.: Introductory Remarks
  Conference co-chairs: Thomas J. Flannagan, Esq., MacLean, Holloway, Doherty, Ardiff & Morse and Margaret H. Paget, Esq., Sherin and Lodgen LLP
• 9:10–10:15 a.m.: Employment Law Update -- An Overview of Significant Developments and Notable Cases
  This session is designed to highlight the most important issues, developments, and notable cases that have emerged in the past year.
• 10:15–10:30 a.m.: Networking Break
• 10:30–11 a.m.: An Act Relative to Gender Identity -- What Employment Lawyers Need to Know
  An Act Relative to Transgender Equal Rights,” effective  July 1, 2012, prohibits discrimination on the basis of “gender identity” in employment, education, housing, credit, and lending and makes violence against transgender individuals a hate crime. This presentation educates practitioners about the employment aspects of the new law, from both a compliance and advocacy standpoint.
• 11 a.m.–noon: Employee Misclassification and Current State and Federal Government Enforcement
  Representatives from both the Fair Labor Division of the state Attorney General’s Office and the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor will discuss current enforcement of  wage and hour laws. The DOL has recently embarked on a new strategy, known as the Strategic Enforcement Approach to Compliance (SEAC), intended  to increase compliance not only on the part of individual employers but for entire business sectors and industries in which non-compliance has been identified as particularly acute. The panel will discuss the SEAC and other emerging trends and issues in the areas of wage and hour enforcement and worker misclassification.
• Noon: Lunch and keynote address by Bob Ryan, columnist, Boston Globe
• 1:15–2:15 p.m.: NLRA Issues for Non-Union Workforce
  It is a common misconception that the National Labor Relations Act affects relationships only between unions and employers. In fact, the NLRA has important implications for employees and employers in the non-union sector as well. The panel will explore many of these implications, including employees’ use of social media, class-action arbitration agreements, and the legality of employee handbooks.
• 2:15-2:30 p.m.: Networking Break
• 2:30–3:30 p.m.: Practicum on Courtroom Advocacy -- Tips For Improving Your Courtroom Skills
  Seasoned employment litigators and a member of the Superior Court bench will present this session to offer employment litigators practical tools and tips for improving their courtroom advocacy skills. This session is designed to assist trial lawyers at every level of experience, from beginners to more experienced trial attorneys.
• 3:30–4:15 p.m.: News and Developments from the MCAD
  The commissioners of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (“MCAD”), Chairman Julian Tynes, Jamie Williamson and Sunila Thomas-George, will join us for a panel discussion about current trends in employment discrimination law, and recent and planned regulatory and procedural changes at the MCAD.
• 4:15 p.m.: Reception

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