On November 1, HR professionals and business leaders from around the country will gather online for “ELU Presents: Your State and Federal Legal Landscape.” The virtual conference will detail 100+ changes in legislation and regulations most likely to impact employers in the coming year. The program—a federal update presentation and breakout state-specific sessions—is designed to give attendees an efficient, effective download on what’s next in employment and labor law.
“There have been many developments in employment law this year,” said Alexander Sediva, Esq., SPHR, Director of Employment Law Services. “HR is often burdened with having to navigate the changes in the law, understand what the differences are, and how to rapidly execute on them.”
This year’s ELU Presents is an answer to that on-going pressure and a digital riff on Employers Council’s popular annual conference, Employment Law Update. The flagship two-day event was last held in person in 2019. The conference was held online in 2020 and 2021, and the newest iteration is tailored to put the full research power of the organization’s Legal Services team behind today’s over-stretched employers.
“Our legal team focuses solely on employment and labor law,” said Alexander, stressing how unusual it is for an organization to be laser focused on just those two categories of the law. “Indeed, this is everything we do. And we’ve been doing it for over 83 years.”
The Employers Council Legal Services Team is 45 plus members strong. Attorneys who serve Employers Council members come from a variety of backgrounds. Many have worked for the federal government, state governments and administrative agencies that create and enforce the laws and regulations employers need to navigate to stay in compliance—and in business! The Legal Services team includes departments that specialize in:
- Legal Consulting and Administrative Representation
- California Legal Services
- Investigations
- Affirmative Action Plans, Pay Equity, and Wage & Hour Compliance
- Labor Relations
- Workplace Safety
- Legal Training
The only legal service included in Employers Council membership is legal consulting, available to Consulting and Enterprise members. All members receive special member pricing on all other legal services, which are pay-as-you-go. Both members and non-members can take advantage of the Legal Services Teams’ employment and labor law insights at the upcoming ELU Presents online conference.
This year, there are twelve attorneys, five paralegals and support staff, and four Employers Council leaders dedicated to the ELU Presents effort. Together, they have decades of experience in employment and labor law, plus access to the extensive knowledge of the rest of the Legal Services Team. In the past, attorneys would divide up topics in preparation for the Employment Law Update. In 2022, the team is taking a more collaborative approach.
“I can’t stress enough how much of a team effort this is,” said Nicole Trotta, Esq., SPHR, Manager of Training, Legal Services. “There’s no one attorney who can keep track of everything. Each of our attorneys track the changes in the law by practicing in those areas and answering member questions on a daily basis.”
“This year all of our presentations have at least two attorneys who are working on it together,” Nicole continued. “I think that leads to more interesting ideas when you have more brains working on the project.”
The team is still finalizing their research and presentations, but Nicole expects ELU Presents to cover at least 100 distinct employment and labor law updates, changes and shifts that will impact employers and their industries. In addition to the federal and state presentations, attendees will also have post-conference access to a whitepaper that will dive deeper into ELU Presents topics.
“Not only do you have the presentation, but you also receive access to a whitepaper that goes into greater detail than the presentation,” Alexander said. “It’s something that attendees can read and digest and then call us back with questions. We encourage that.”
Alexander and Nicole report that ELU conferences, both live and online, spark conversations between their attorneys and members post-conference. Their team usually experiences a flood of calls in the weeks afterward as employers work through the individual implications of what they learned. And that’s just how the team likes it; it means that they are delivering the most relevant updates, at exactly the right time.
“All year long our attorneys are in the trenches every single day dealing with our members’ employment law related matters,” said Alexander. “In addition to representing our members before various federal and state administrative agencies, every attorney is taking hours of calls that span the full spectrum from wage & hour compliance, to discrimination, to the ADA, you name it.”
“What we focus on [for ELU] is premised on the questions we get,” Alexander said, summing up ELU Presents’ ultimate purpose. “It’s employment law we know is relevant to you, and we know it’s relevant to you because we talk to you every day.”
“ELU Presents: Your State and Federal Legal Landscape” will be held online on November 1, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. MDT. The session will cover both national legal developments and breakout state sessions for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and (held together) Idaho, New Mexico and Wyoming. Remember to select your state session when registering below. (Attendees can access additional state presentations to watch afterward, as well.)