HR Law Certificate Program

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, have transformed the workplace, requiring employees to handle confidential medical information, engage employees in discussions of a sensitive medical nature, and to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities. Moreover, the NJ Law Against Discrimination (LAD) affords stricter protection to persons with disabilities, so that even employees with short-term medical conditions may fall under the law’s protection. The amount of litigation under these statutes is truly staggering and the case law, ever more complicated, increases year-to-year.

• Defining Disability
• Providing Reasonable Accommodations
• Drug and Alcohol Problems: Special Issues
• Leave as an accommodation

Over the past decade, over one million charges of job discrimination and harassment have been filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the majority alleging discrimination based on race, but many for sex, age, disability and national origin discrimination. One in four employers a year is a target for such a charge. This session will not only review and evaluate relevant case law under federal and state discrimination statutes but will also present an in-depth look into a discrimination charge, with an emphasis on preserving evidence and preparing a defense. The session will also explore the best practices and policies that have been proven to reduce the threat of discrimination charges.

• Overview of Federal and State Discrimination Statutes
• Document Retention and Preservation of Evidence
• Responding to the EEOC Charge
• Harassment/Retaliation

This emerging area of the law already accounts for a substantial amount of employment litigation as new technology and security cameras push the legal frontier forward. Unlike other areas of the law, there is no central body of privacy law. Instead, the legal standards must be cobbled together from various sources, including constitutional law, statutes and common law. This session will offer a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of workplace privacy law, with an emphasis on searches, surveillance, drug testing, medical information, and electronic communication.

• Understanding the Right to Privacy
• Searches and Surveillance
• Off-Duty Conduct
• Job References
• Medical and Genetic Information
• Electronic Communications and Social Networking

You have heard about them. You have read about them. Indeed, Time Magazine has celebrated them as Persons-of-the-Year. They are whistleblowers and they play an important role in exposing corporate misconduct. New Jersey has the toughest whistleblower law in the nation, but not every gripe or ethical dispute constitutes “whistleblowing.” To avoid the whistleblowing traps, it is important to understand the nature of whistleblowing and to have proactive policies and practices in place. This session offers a practical, no-nonsense understanding of the New Jersey whistleblower law and will give participants hands-on experience in evaluating a whistleblower charge.

• What Type of Conduct Does the Law Protect
• Evaluating Potential Whistleblower Charges
• What is Retaliation
• What Kind of Policy is Required