Financial Poise’s “Protecting Your Employee Assets: The Life Cycle of the Employment Relationship 2023” Webinar Schedule

I’m excited to be moderating this seven webinar series for 2023!

About This Series

If you have employees or advise employers, these webinars are for you!

No employer—whether large, medium or small—is immune from the reach of federal, state and local employment laws and regulations. Now, more than ever, employers should consider taking a proactive approach to auditing their employment practices and policies so that they can better respond when issues arise.

This webinar series approaches the employer-employee relationship from beginning to end, with programs covering the most important steps along the way, including hiring and onboarding, policy and procedure development and training, wage and hour compliance, accommodating disabled employees, conducting investigations and considerations associated with ending the relationship. We even discuss litigation strategies.

As with every Financial Poise Webinar, each episode is delivered in plain English. And, as with every Financial Poise Webinar, each episode brings you into engaging, sometimes humorous, conversations designed to entertain as it teaches. Each episode in the series is designed to be viewed independently of the other episodes, so that participants will enhance their knowledge of this area whether they attend one, some, or all episodes.

MODERATOR

Charles Krugel

PANELISTS

Max Barack, Partner, The Garfinkel Group, LLC, Chicago

Helen Bloch, Principal, Law Offices of Helen Bloch, P.C., Chicago

Cynthia E. Fruchtman, Founding Attorney, Law Offices of Cynthia E. Fruchtman, P.C.

Max Barack – max@garfinkelgroup.com

Max leads the Garfinkel Group, LLC’s employment law practices groups and is a plaintiff-side employment law attorney. He has been practicing law since 2013 and has spent the majority of that time handling plaintiff-side employment matters.  He concentrates his practice primarily on representing plaintiffs in their claims of discrimination, as well as wage & hour violations, whistleblower actions, & severance negotiations. He has extensive litigation experience, with a focus on electronic discovery (ESI). He has represented & assisted employers in defending discrimination & wage & hour disputes, including in department of labor investigations. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Employment Lawyers Association of Illinois & co-chair of its Legislative Committee. He is a regular contributor to the Chicago Bar Association’s @theBar blog, & is fluent in Spanish.
J.D., Chicago-Kent College of Law
B.A., University of Michigan

Helen Bloch – hbloch@blochpc.com

In 2007, Helen Bloch founded the Law Offices of Helen Bloch, P.C., a general practice firm that is a Certified Female Business Enterprise. In the employment & business context, Helen represents clients on all sides of the employment relationship- individual employees, managers, or employers. Routinely Helen negotiates & counsels clients on employment agreements, including non-competition, confidentiality, & severance agreements. Also, she drafts employment handbooks & various policies & procedures. Helen will advise businesses on best practices, including providing sexual harassment training. Helen has lectured on topics such as maintaining a diverse workforce, legal issues affecting small businesses, & legal rights & obligations from multiple sides of the employer-employee relationship. Since 2019, she has been selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers in the area of employment law. Helen is a Past President of the Decalogue Society of Lawyers & serves on the Alliance of Bar Associations, where she assists in screening judicial candidates.  Some of her other bar association memberships include the Illinois chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association, Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, & the Illinois State Bar Association.  An active National Association of Women Business Owner’s (NAWBO) member, Helen leads NAWBO’s Business Xchange Group.

Cynthia Fruchtman – cynthia@fruchtmanlaw.com

Established in 1997, the Law Offices of Cynthia E. Fruchtman, www.fruchtmanlaw.com, represents management in all aspects of the employment relationship.  Cynthia’s focus is on helping her clients maintain a productive workplace and avoid litigation but, where necessary, she represents employers in prosecuting or defending investigations, mediations, arbitrations and litigations before California administrative agencies as well as State and Federal courts in California.  Cynthia has extensively spoken at conferences about employment-related issues and has written many articles on various employment topics that have been published in various periodicals and books, including co-authoring CEB’s Advising California Employers and Employees and CEB’s Drafting Employment Documents.  A 1986 graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law, Cynthia also practices in the areas of general business litigation and Assisted Reproduction Technology.  Cynthia has been rated AV since 2003 by Martindale Hubbell and 10/10 “SUPERB” since 2014 by AVVO.

About Episode #1

Welcome to the Team!  Recruiting, Hiring & Restrictive Covenants

January 25, 2023 at 2:00 PM CST

You only get one chance to make a first impression, so you want to make sure your company avoids unnecessary missteps when recruiting and hiring employees. Understanding what you can and cannot say during interviews and how to respond when a candidate volunteers information that may be considered “off limits” is essential. At the same time, there is an increasing number of laws being passed throughout the country addressing when and what sort of information employers can request from applicants regarding their criminal and financial histories. In the event you decide to protect your organization by requiring certain employees to sign some type of restrictive covenants—non-competition, non-solicitation and/or non-disclosure—there are a host of legal and practical issues to consider. This webinar explores these and other issues so that you can be confident, going forward, that you are starting off on the right foot—legally, at least—when hiring new employees.

About Episode #2

An Ounce of Prevention:  Policies, Procedures and Proactivity

February 22, 2023 at 2:00 PM CST

Workplaces are increasingly bureaucratized. Documentation is essential to working this bureaucracy. From a cost vs. benefit standpoint, having a written workplace handbook that highlights conduct, compensation and benefits, generally saves more money than it costs.

While downloading a handbook from the internet, even if it’s free, may sound like a good idea, you generally get what you pay for as one-size-fits-all solutions are rarely as effective as solutions tailored to your needs. What makes the most sense for your organization? What policies are must-haves? What are the latest best practices when it comes to employee handbooks and policies? What about training your staff and your managers?

This webinar presents practical advice for employers looking to put themselves in the best position possible to not only defend against employment-related claims but—hopefully—to help avoid them in the first place.

About Episode #3

Show Them the Money: Wage & Hour Compliance

March 29, 2023 at 2:00 PM CST

Compliance with federal, state and local wage and hour laws are at the forefront of employment related litigation. Employers must be mindful of the risks posed by misclassifying individuals as well as by a host of practices that can imperil otherwise proper classification decisions. This webinar delves into the mistakes commonly made by employers and endeavors to provide attendees with the tools needed to help find and fix potential wage and hour pitfalls such as overtime or using independent contractors.

About Episode #4

The Impact of Communicable Diseases at Work

April 19, 2023 at 2:00 PM CST

When it comes to dealing with communicable disease-related issues planning is everything. What kinds of things might an employer do to lessen the impact of a communicable disease disaster on their business? Join this panel of experts as they explore these topics: (1) government relief programs; (2) Increased employer medical screening, testing & temperature taking; (3) managing remote work, including how to assess eligibility for remote work (job descriptions, accommodations, electronic access); (4) workplace communication–HIPAA, privacy, harassment, etc.

About Episode #5

I Know What You Did Last Summer: Workplace Investigations

May 24, 2023 at 2:00 PM CST

Employers must be prepared to promptly and effectively respond to harassment and discrimination complaints. Often, that requires knowing when and how to conduct an internal investigation. Given the significance of the issues often at stake and the potential for a negative outcome (attorneys’ fees, high dollar settlements, negative PR), learning on the fly is not a viable option when undertaking an investigation.

This program covers a host of questions, including what should be investigated, who should conduct the investigation, what steps should you take and in what order, who should be interviewed, what sort of documents should be created and how do you close out the investigation? It also explores the investigation process and provides guidance from seasoned investigators as to how to handle the many issues that you will often confront during the course of an investigation.

About Episode #6

It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye: Minimizing Risk When Separating Employees

June 21, 2023 at 2:00 PM CST

Involuntary terminations are never pleasant, but they are an inevitable part of business. Whether an employee is being let go due to poor performance or serious misconduct, chances are that they may take issue with it—either during the termination meeting or at some point down the road.

In the event a separated employee decides to visit the nearest Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Office or meet with a plaintiff’s attorney, you want to make sure that you have taken steps to minimize risk and give yourself your best defense.

This webinar discusses the various issues you should consider not only when you are making the decision to terminate but also in the weeks and months that lead up to that point. Drawing on their experiences as HR counselors and lawyers, the panelists provide practical tips to minimize exposure and best practices for conducting an employee termination meeting.

About Episode #7

Time for a Break: Managing Leaves of Absence and Accommodating Disabilities

 July 19, 2023 at 2:00 PM CST

Your business likely functions more effectively when your employees are at work doing the work you hired them to perform? What are your rights (and obligations) as an employer when an employee is unable to work due to an illness or injury? Does the Family and Medical Leave Act apply? Do you operate in a jurisdiction that has recently enacted a sick leave law? What happens when an employee requests a reasonable accommodation because of a disability?  These types of questions have been confounding employers for years and are likely to grow more complicated as state and local governments step in to fill the voids left at the federal level. Do not despair, though, as this webinar includes discussions of the mistakes commonly made by employers as well as a series of tips and pointers from a panel of experts who will help you navigate these and other thorny issues involving employees who are unable to work for health-related reasons.

FINANCIAL POISE CONTACT

Several Team Members monitor info@financialpoise.com  constantly during regular business hours. If you have any questions or concerns, your email will receive a prompt response. You may also call (847) 463-9530. Be sure to leave a message if you reach voicemail and it too will be promptly responded to.

About Financial Poise