Day 1 - Tuesday, January 24, 2023

8:45
Co-Chairs’ Opening Remarks
9:00
The Return to Work: Addressing Evolving Risks Around Operations in a Multi-Generational, Employee-Powered Environment
10:00
EPLI Claims Trends Amid Remote/Hybrid Work and an Employee-Empowered Landscape: Accommodations, Retaliations, and New Categories of Employment Litigation
11:15
Extended Networking Break
11:45
Marijuana in the Workplace: Key Takeaways for Multi-Jurisdictional Marijuana Compliance
12:45
Networking Luncheon
2:00
INTERVIEW WITH THE EEOC
2:45
New Hurdles to Managing Whistleblower Claims in an Employee Empowered Environment: The Latest and Greatest in Defense Strategies for Public vs. Private Claims
3:30
Break
3:45
Cyber Security, IP and Proprietary Risks: Their Interplay with a Remote/Hybrid Work Workforce
4:45
The View from the Plaintiff’s Bar: The Latest Trends and Claims Coming Down the Pipeline
5:30
Cocktail Reception
Sponsored by

Day 2 - Wednesday, January 25, 2023

9:00
Co-Chairs’ Opening Remarks
9:05
General Counsel Panel: Perspectives on Pressing, High Stakes Issues at the Forefront
10:00
Political Speech in the Workplace: Critical Updates Around Dobbs vs. Jackson and Union/Non-Union Employee Posturing
11:00
Break
11:15
Remote Workforce Monitoring: Avoiding Micro-Surveillance and Knowing the Laws and Potential Pitfalls Surrounding Its Use
12:15
Special Interview with the NLRB
12:45
Lunch
1:15
Pay Equity and Transparency: Dissecting Recent Defense Wins/Losses and The Lesser-Known Lessons for Addressing Wage Disparities
2:15
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Return to Work through a DE&I lens
3:15
Close of Conference

Day 1 - Tuesday, January 24, 2023

8:45
Co-Chairs’ Opening Remarks

Mercedes Colwin
Partner
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP

John W. Hamlin, Esq.
Chief Counsel, Employment, Benefits and Governance
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

9:00
The Return to Work: Addressing Evolving Risks Around Operations in a Multi-Generational, Employee-Powered Environment

Magdalen Bickford
Member, Chair Labor and Employment Group
McGlinchey Stafford

Claudine R. English, Esq.
Vice President, Employment Practices Liability, Crime, and Fidelity Product Officer
Financial Lines-Technical Underwriting Zurich North America

Marjory Robertson
Assistant Vice President & Senior Counsel
Sun Life Financial

Alexander Wood
Legal Director, Employment Law
PepsiCo

Employers, insurance companies, underwriters & brokers are all continuing to reevaluate a return to work amid the new-normal of the post-COVID workplace and workforce. What are the vagaries of today’s return-to-office, hybrid, and fully remote workforce models and how are employers successfully updating employee protocols and reengaging with a more employee-empowered workforce?

  • The new normal of the hybrid/remote workforce
    • The importance of addressing mental health of the workforce post-pandemic: Policies and protocols for managers
    • Navigating the pros and cons of remote supervision
      • Piloting increased cyber risks
    • Managing tax implications for cross-border remote workers
    • The new world of remote work etiquette and harassment claims how to tackle them quickly
      • Dress
      • Harassment: Defining “inappropriate actions” in a remote world
      • Manager training programs
    • Keeping remote workers feeling invested and valued in an employee-empowered environment
  • Creating clear return to the office programs: Who’s required to be in the office and why
    • How do you restrict remote work without losing employee engagement/motivation?
    • Managing and mitigating ADA claims for those employees who wish to remain remote
  • The future of vaccination policies, ensuring health and safety while meeting accommodation requirements

10:00
EPLI Claims Trends Amid Remote/Hybrid Work and an Employee-Empowered Landscape: Accommodations, Retaliations, and New Categories of Employment Litigation

Harry Coleman, FLMI
Director, Head of Structured Settlements Product
MetLife

Thomas Hams
Managing Director, National EPLI Practice Leader
Aon

Joni F. Mason
Partner, Senior Vice President, National Practice Leader-Claims
USI Insurance Services

Rhonda Prussack
Senior Vice President and Head of Fiduciary and Employment Practices Liability
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance

Two years in, has the pandemic spurred any novel employment-related litigation tools? How is the EPLI market evolving around the latest claims and trends? Are companies asking the right questions around their policies?

  • Litigation around pay compensation for onsite health screenings
    • US DOL guidelines
    • Fair Labor Standards Act guidelines
    • Case studies out of CA
  • Reimbursing employees for costs of equipment and utilities used while working from home: State litigation trends
  • Disability discrimination and leave-related cases
    • EEOC’s assessment of the continued viability of remote work
    • ADA claims around website accessibility
    • Mental health
  • Claims surfacing around inadequate office pandemic prevention protocols
  • The latest in religion and race-related retaliation
  • Politically-related claims trends
  • Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) and state equivalents: 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision
  • Effective early case assessments:
    • Predicting value of claim if litigated
    • Defining costs of claim
    • Resolving claims early: What do you need to know within the first 60 days
  • Lump sum versus periodic payment settlements
    • Strong negotiation tool that can help save time and money
    • Avoid potential large verdict and accompanying publicity
  • Due to increased risks, are carriers exiting certain classes of business? Are there any new carriers in the market?

CASE STUDY

Efficient Strategies for Your Settlements: Periodic Payments Versus Lump Sum
The payout from a settlement can have vastly different tax consequences for the claimant depending on how it is structured. A periodic payment solution to pay out over time can lower the cost of claims while deferring and spreading the tax liability for the claimant. In this presentation, we will discuss the advantages of periodic payments versus a cash release and highlight a case example.

11:15
Extended Networking Break
11:45
Marijuana in the Workplace: Key Takeaways for Multi-Jurisdictional Marijuana Compliance

Lyndsay M. Ganz
Senior Claims Specialist, Counsel, Management Liability Claims
Markel

Heidi Urness
Partner
McGlinchey Stafford PLLC

Where do employers currently stand around marijuana testing and compliance risk management? This session will scan a patchwork of US marijuana legalization developments as well as how some employers are creating more relaxed marijuana in the workplace policies amid such a piecemeal regulatory environment.

  • Medical marijuana expands across the Southeast and Midwest
    • Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act
  • California mulls lawful off-duty use: Indirect employment protections
  • New York: Uncertainty surrounding how Section 201-d protections interact with the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA)
  • Washington D.C. B24-0109
  • To what extent are claims on the rise: Setting the record straight on the present and future of liability risks

12:45
Networking Luncheon
2:00
INTERVIEW WITH THE EEOC

Keith E. Sonderling
Commissioner
EEOC

Moderator:

Bradford Newman
Partner
Baker McKenzie

2:45
New Hurdles to Managing Whistleblower Claims in an Employee Empowered Environment: The Latest and Greatest in Defense Strategies for Public vs. Private Claims

Steven Pearlman
Partner, Co-Head, Whistleblowing & Retaliation Group
Proskauer Rose LLP

Jason Zuckerman
Principal
Zuckerman Law

  • Developments in Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower retaliation law
    • The constantly evolving standard for protected activity
    • How courts are applying causation standards
  • Trends in state whistleblower laws
    • CA relaxes its standard for proving whistleblower retaliation
    • NY expands whistleblower protections in Section 740
  • The SEC’s renewed focus on preventing employers from impeding whistleblowing through confidentiality agreements
  • The new normal of the workplace: Risk and compliance, training and policy management
    • Updating investigative strategies and internal policies for whistleblower claims
    • Defending claims based on complicated fact patterns that implicate various legal disciplines
  • Recent court opinions on whistleblower retaliation claims and variation among jurisdictions

3:30
Break
3:45
Cyber Security, IP and Proprietary Risks: Their Interplay with a Remote/Hybrid Work Workforce

Timothy K. Smit, CIPP/C/E/US, CISSP, FIP
Global Privacy and Cyber Risk Consulting Practice Leader
Lockton Companies

Paul Gouge, CIPT
Cyber Risk Control Consulting Director
CNA Insurance

This session will explore how to manage intensifying cybersecurity and data privacy risks posed by remote work.

  • Securing proprietary information while employees work from home
  • Addressing cybersecurity and confidentiality concerns when employees work with their personal computers
  • Determining the lengths and limits of employee access to company data
  • Reconciling the need to leverage new digital platforms with protecting sensitive, confidential data
  • Overcoming obstacles to preserving attorney-client and work product privilege when working from home
  • State data privacy regulatory trends: CA, CO, CT, UT, and VAons

4:45
The View from the Plaintiff’s Bar: The Latest Trends and Claims Coming Down the Pipeline

Davida S. Perry
Managing Partner
Schwartz Perry & Heller LLP

Brian Heller
Partner
Schwartz Perry & Heller LLP

Moderator:

Raymond Cashman, Esq., CPCU
Director, Management Liability and Specialty Claims
Nationwide

5:30
Cocktail Reception
Sponsored by

Sponsored by McGlinchey Stafford PLLC, join your peers for networking and cocktails.

Day 2 - Wednesday, January 25, 2023

9:00
Co-Chairs’ Opening Remarks

Mercedes Colwin
Partner
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP

John W. Hamlin, Esq.
Chief Counsel, Employment, Benefits and Governance
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

9:05
General Counsel Panel: Perspectives on Pressing, High Stakes Issues at the Forefront

Beth Mabe Gianopulos
Senior Associate, General Counsel
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

Victoria Gorokhovich
Managing Counsel, Labor and Employment
PSEG Services Corporation

John W. Hamlin, Esq.
Chief Counsel, Employment, Benefits and Governance
Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

Bonnie Pierson-Murphy
Vice President and Assistant General Counsel
IBM

Moderator:

Mercedes Colwin
Partner
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP

10:00
Political Speech in the Workplace: Critical Updates Around Dobbs vs. Jackson and Union/Non-Union Employee Posturing

Kristi Mackin Galletti
Senior Claims Specialist
AXA XL

Mary Anne Mullin
Senior Vice President
QBE Insurance

  • Dobbs versus Jackson fallout
    • Patchwork benefits and compliance
    • Leave laws
    • Discrimination claims
  • Unionizing: Managing backlash between union/non-union employee debate
  • Determining which policies are advisable or inadvisable for addressing political speech in the Workplace
    • Social media policies and procedures
    • Dress
  • Determining parameters that are lawful
  • When and how far you can go in enforcing the policy

11:00
Break
11:15
Remote Workforce Monitoring: Avoiding Micro-Surveillance and Knowing the Laws and Potential Pitfalls Surrounding Its Use

Stephen Malone
Vice President, Legal, Employment and Corporate Affairs
Fox

Bradford Newman
Partner
Baker McKenzie

From eliminating distractions to adding technological automation, there are numerous ways businesses can improve remote workplace productivity with tracking technology. But how do employers monitor without becoming oppressive? When can tracking technology backfire? And what are the potential employee retaliatory pitfalls?

  • Measuring outcomes–The results that are directly tied to business success. When data gained is
  • the wrong data gained
  • Building transparency into your employee monitoring programs: What programs will incentivize
  • employees to work diligently in remote situations? New metrics, experimental approaches
  • Avoiding an oppressive remote monitoring dynamic that might alienate employees
  • Confidentiality/employee privacy concerns: Legal landmines
    • Federal workplace privacy and employee monitoring regulations: ECPA
    • State data privacy regulatory trends: CA, CO, CT, UT, and VA

12:15
Special Interview with the NLRB

Marvin Kaplan
Board Member
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

12:45
Lunch
1:15
Pay Equity and Transparency: Dissecting Recent Defense Wins/Losses and The Lesser-Known Lessons for Addressing Wage Disparities

David V. Cascio
Partner
Laner Muchin

Jonathan Kurens, Esq.
Senior Vice President
Marsh USA Inc.

Laura R. Lapidus, Esq.
Management Liability (EPL) Risk Control Director
CNA Insurance

  • Analyzing newly rolled-out state laws and changes to standards for pay transparency: CA
  • SB1162, NY, WA, CO
  • Impact of the pandemic: Impact of job losses on data, state of C-suite executive pay
  • Evaluating racial and ethnic pay differences amid social justice issues
  • Impact of tight labor market: Starting salary and retention pay decisions
  • Steps to taking a proactive stance toward releasing pay data publicly
  • Defending and covering pay equity claims intermingled with gender discrimination claims
  • The new, emerging trends in pay equity litigation and what is coming down the pipeline

2:15
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Return to Work through a DE&I lens

Alyssa Pianelli
Vice President - FSG Legal and Claims
Aon

Michelle Arbitrio
Partner
Wood, Smith, Henning, & Berman LLP

Sarah Y. Cho
Assistant Vice President, Global Inclusion Programs
Chubb

Kristina Barcia
Assistant Vice President - Specialty Claims
Westfield Specialty Insurance

  • Significant regulatory developments, settlements, and litigation activities involving the EEOC
  • Automated employment decision tool law compliance trends
    • New York limits digital tools in recruiting with its Automated Employment Decisions Tool Law
  • Examples of recent court decisions and legal challenges: Key lessons learned
  • Navigating local laws and labor agreements
  • Toeing the line around bona fide occupational qualification exceptions
  • Understanding time limits around discrimination claims under state and federal law
  • Return to work through a DE&I lens: The design and delivery of custom educational programs, culture scans, and support for the development and/or restructuring of diversity and inclusion policies, programs and practices

3:15
Close of Conference