The Massachusetts Bar Association welcomes back our Labor & Employment
members to the 44th Annual Labor & Employment Spring Conference. This year’s
conference will be an in-person event at Suffolk University Law School on
Wednesday, May 24. Faculty presenters include a number of judges and
accomplished attorneys who have provided significant thought leadership in the
areas of labor and employment law.
This year's keynote speaker will be Jocelyn Samuels, Vice Chair of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Samuels was designated as EEOC Vice
Chair by President Joe Biden on Jan. 20, 2021. She joined the EEOC as a
commissioner on Oct. 14, 2020, and on July 14, 2021, was confirmed for a second
term ending in 2026.
Immediately prior to joining the EEOC, Samuels served as the executive
director and Roberta A. Conroy Scholar of Law at the Williams Institute at the
UCLA School of Law, focusing on legal and social science research on issues
related to sexual and gender minorities.
From August 2014 through January 2017, she was the director of the Office for
Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, where she
oversaw civil rights enforcement with respect to hospitals, health care
providers, insurers and human services agencies. In that role, she spearheaded
development of regulations implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act
— the first broad-based federal law to prohibit sex discrimination in health
care. Among other advances, those groundbreaking regulations protected LGBTQ
persons from discrimination based on sex stereotyping and gender identity.
Conference Agenda
10:30- 10:35 a.m.: Welcome Remarks
10:35- 11:45 a.m.: Employment Law Update
11:50 a.m.- 1:00 p.m.: Labor Law Update
1:00-1:30 p.m.: Lunch & Networking
1:30- 2:40 p.m.: Keynote Speaker EEOC Vice Chair Jocelyn Samuels
2:45-3:45 p.m.: Pay Transparency Panel
3:45-4:00 p.m.: Networking Break
4:00-5:00 p.m.: Judicial Panel
5:10-5:15 p.m.: Closing Remarks
5:15-6:00 p.m.: Networking Reception
Registration for the conference
is required by 9 a.m. on Monday, May 22.
Faculty:
Dennis M. Coyne, Esq., Conference Co-chair
McDonald Lamond Canzoneri, Southborough
Michelle De Oliveira, Esq., Conference Co-chair
Kenney & Sams PC, Southborough
Emilie Grossman, Esq., Conference Co-chair
Rosen & Goyal PC, Andover
Richard S. Loftus, Esq., Conference Co-chair
Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP, Boston
Jocelyn Samuels, Keynote speaker
Vice Chair, Equal Emoployment Opportunity Commission, Washington D.C.
Hon. Rosemary Connolly, Panelist
Suffolk County Superior Court, Boston
Hon. Kenneth Salinger, Panelist
Business Litigation Session, Suffolk County Superior Court, Boston
Hon. Dalila Argaez Wendlandt, Panelist
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Boston
Kavita Goyal, Esq., Moderator
Rosen & Goyal PC, Andover
Alfred A. Gray, Esq., Moderator
Kristy Avino, Esq., Panelist
Analog Devices Inc., Wilmington
Shane Goodrich, Esq., Panelist
Morgan Brown & Joy LLP, Boston
Darshana Indira, Esq., Panelist
Laredo & Smith LLP, Boston
Kathleen Kearney-Berney, Esq., Panelist
Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP, Boston
Nina Kimball, Esq., Panelist
Kimball Brousseau LLP, Boston
Andrea Kramer, Esq., Panelist
Kramer Law LLC, Newton
Eric McKenna, Esq., Panelist
Valerio Dominello & Hillman, LLC, Westwood
Desiree Murphy, Esq., Panelist
CVS Health, Woonsocket
Hillary Schwab, Esq., Panelist
Fair Work PC, Boston
Laurie Houle, Esq., Panelist
Massachusetts Teachers Association, Quincy