A Pound of Prevention

It often has been said that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Nowhere is that more true than in the area of employment law. What an employer does now, before there is an employee lawsuit on the horizon, can provide significant protection against potential liability in the workplace.

Dykema has teamed with Welch Consulting, a nationally renowned firm of experts on employment economics and statistics, to present sixteen things (a/k/a “ounces”) that employers can do to reduce the likelihood of being held liable for violating employment laws. Dykema Members Robert A. Boonin and James F. Hermon, along with Dr. Ted Anderson, one of Welch Consulting’s senior expert consultants, will address a variety of topics, in this “pound of prevention” overview, including:

• Key provisions in employee handbooks and applications that will get you into (and out of) trouble
• Interview questions that can trigger liability
• How to terminate employees and limit your legal exposure at the same time
• Options for reducing liability under state and federal wage and hour laws, including proactive data auditing of time keeping and meal break records and a statistical review of time record editing behavior of managers
• New legal theories of liability being pursued by the government (e.g., the EEOC and NLRB), including potential changes to the exempt and non-exempt compensation thresholds, which if known, can be avoided
• Analysis employers can conduct to avoid Equal Pay Act or other discriminatory pay practice claims, especially focusing on isolating pay disparities at the individual level

The speakers will also cover techniques for proactively capturing and using company-maintained employment data so that liability can be minimized, including the use of statistical analysis to help defeat plaintiffs’ class certification claims.

Bottom line: an early (and thorough) review of employment policies, practices and company-maintained data can greatly increase the likelihood of avoiding litigation—while contributing to winning cases should they occur—and do so while limiting otherwise costly legal and expert witness fees.

Wednesday, June 7, 2017
7:30 am: Breakfast and Networking
8:00 am - 9:30 am: Presentation

Dykema Gossett PLLC
39577 Woodward Avenue
Suite 300
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304

Click here to register

Please contact Sarah Crotty at scrotty@dykema.com if you have questions.