Description

With employment laws shifting rapidly, staying informed has never been more important. Join legal experts and fellow professionals for a timely conversation on today’s most impactful legal updates. You’ll gain clarity, practical guidance, and take away tools to confidently support your organization in a changing legal landscape.

Agenda

8:30 AM – 9:00 AM                  
Registration & Light Breakfast

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Practical Solutions to the Very Impractical FLSA: Applying the 95% Rule to Your Wage-and-Hour Headaches
Todd Stanton, Stanton Law

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is notorious for being rigid, outdated, and unforgiving—especially when it comes to pay practices and exempt classifications. Even small payroll mistakes can quickly turn into a costly wage-and-hour problem.

This session cuts through the complexity by focusing on practical, proactive, and defensible solutions, with special attention how Todd Stanton’s 95% Rule can make this less bewildering. Participants will learn how to apply these strategies in real-world situations involving salary deductions, payroll errors, bonus practices, and disciplinary actions—without jeopardizing their payroll (or legal) budget.

Using clear explanations, real-life scenarios, and compliance-focused tips, this session is designed to help HR and payroll professionals reduce risk, correct mistakes confidently, and build pay practices that stand up to scrutiny.

10:15 AM – 11:15 AM    
Multi-Jurisdiction Employment Law Management
Greg Hare, Ogletree Deakins

Managing employees across multiple states creates complex compliance challenges. Wage and hour rules, paid leave mandates, pay transparency laws, and restrictive covenant standards can vary widely, increasing the risk of inconsistent practices. This session provides HR professionals with a practical framework for identifying where laws differ, determining when to apply the most employee-protective standard, and building policies that balance compliance with operational consistency. Participants will also gain strategies for monitoring legal changes and reducing risk in remote and distributed work environments.

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Benefits Risk: Costs, Compliance, and Change
Robert Friedman, Hall Benefits

Rising benefit costs and ongoing regulatory developments are creating heightened oversight and compliance challenges for those responsible for benefit plan governance. This session examines key issues affecting health, welfare, and retirement plans, including the drivers of escalating costs, fiduciary considerations, and recent legislative and regulatory actions such as the OBBBA and the Executive Order on alternative investments for retirement plans. Mergers and acquisitions are addressed as one of several contexts in which these challenges may arise. Participants will gain a practical, high-level understanding of how to navigate benefits decision making in a rapidly evolving environment.

12:30 PM – 1:15 PM
Lunch

1:15 PM – 2:15 PM
Workers’ Comp Meets FMLA, ADA, & Leave Management
Graham Newsome, Chartwell Law 

When an employee is injured or facing a serious health condition, HR is often navigating more than just one law. Workers’ compensation, FMLA, the ADA, and internal leave policies frequently overlap, creating compliance challenges and significant legal risk when mismanaged.

This session will break down how these laws intersect, where employer obligations differ, and the most common missteps that lead to costly claims. Participants will gain practical guidance on coordinating leave, managing accommodations, avoiding retaliation pitfalls, and ensuring consistent documentation across programs.

Through real-world scenarios and actionable strategies, HR professionals will learn how to streamline processes, reduce confusion, and confidently manage complex leave situations while protecting both employees and the organization.

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Performance Management for Maximum Legal Risk Management
Jeffrey Wilson & Keely Collins, Jackson Lewis

This session focuses on practical strategies to manage performance issues confidently and defensibly, especially when employees have engaged in legally protected activity or taken protected leave. We will break down the core legal issues, highlight common traps for the unwary, and provide real‑world guidance for administering discipline, strengthening documentation, and reducing risk at every stage of the process.

Includes 5 HRCI CEU/SHRM PDC

Sponsors