How to Become a Best Workplace Starting Today!
Best employers stay current on trends in employment law to avoid disruptive and expensive audits, charges and lawsuits. Please join us for our Anchorage Labor and Employment Seminar on Thursday, April 2, to learn more about current employment trends.
This seminar, geared toward employers, managers, human resource professionals and corporate counsel, is part of our ongoing Employment Law School For Managers® series.
Agenda:
7:30 – 8 a.m. Registration and Breakfast
8 – 8:05 a.m. Welcome and Introductions
8:05 – 9:05 a.m. Annual Labor and Employment Law Update: Lessons for Best Employers
Peter C. Partnow
It can be hard to keep up with all the changes in employment law this year. From the U.S. Supreme Court to the Alaska Supreme Court and everywhere in between, employers are facing a litany of new rights and obligations. We will cover changes in state law, including important Alaska Supreme Court decisions impacting employers, Alaska’s new minimum wage law, as well as developments under federal laws, including proposed Fair Labor Standards Act regulations that could substantially change who is considered exempt from overtime compensation laws, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) new guidance on pregnancy and much more.
9:05 – 9:15 a.m. Break
9:15 – 10 a.m. How to Handle Mental Disabilities in the Workplace Without Losing Your Mind
Katheryn Bradley
We will address how to comply with laws governing mental disabilities in the workplace, including what triggers the interactive process and what may be considered reasonable accommodations for mental disabilities. We will also address when an employer can demonstrate an undue hardship or direct threat and when an employer may terminate an employee with a mental disability.
10 – 10:45 a.m. Revenge Is Sweet, but Has a Bitter Aftertaste: The Explosion of Retaliation and Whistleblowing Claims
Retaliation and whistleblowing claims are the fastest growing legal claims facing employers today. Retaliation claims alone account for over 40 percent of EEOC charges. Alaska has long recognized whistleblower claims under a wide variety of legal theories. We will address the developments that have led to the dramatic expansion of such claims and the steps employers can take to reduce their risks.
10:45 – 11 a.m. Break
11 – 11:45 a.m. Weed at Work: Will Your Drug-free Workplace Policy Go Up in Smoke?
Michael B. Baylous and Katheryn Bradley
Alaska has recently joined several other Western states in legalizing marijuana use. However, employees shouldn’t break out the Doritos® just yet; federal law still says that marijuana is illegal. What does this mean for your drug-free workplace and testing policies? How do you make sure that your employees are at the top of their game when they are at work? We will provide an update on Alaska’s marijuana law, along with trends and court decisions in other states. You will leave with a checklist to make sure that your workplace is equipped to resolve these challenges.
11:45 a.m. – 12 p.m. Questions and Answers