The 2017 Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute, co-sponsored by Minnesota Continuing Legal Education, the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section, and the Twin Cities Human Resource Association, took place on May 22 & 23, 2017 at the St. Paul RiverCentre. The annual ELI is one of the largest employment law conferences in the country!
Leonard Segal was honored to be asked to speak once again at this year’s ELI. This year, Lenny led four sessions, including two during the alternate plenary session. If you were at this year’s ELI, hopefully you had a chance to see at least one of Lenny’s sessions. Here is a brief summary of each of Lenny’s sessions:
- Unlawful Harassment in the workplace – During the alternate plenary session, Lenny guided attendees through the current state of the law regarding unlawful workplace harassment. Topics included: what constitutes “unwelcome” and “severe or pervasive” conduct, the standard for determining whether conduct rises to the level of unlawful harassment, and when an employer can be held liable for unlawful harassment.
- Hiring and screening – During the alternate plenary session Lenny, filling in for another presenter who was unable to attend, addressed what employers can and cannot do during the hiring process. Among the topics discussed were: questions employers can and cannot ask of job applicants, what background checks can be conducted, and the extent to which screening or or other testing may be conducted.
- Open Forum on the Family and Medical Leave Act – Intended to be a more advanced FMLA session, Lenny and two other experienced employment law attorney led this session in which attendees had the opportunity to ask anything and everything about the FMLA. As anyone who applies the FMLA knows, tricky situations can arise when the FMLA is involved. This was a fun session that yielded dozens of questions from attendees. It could have gone on for the entire afternoon if there was sufficient time!
- Open Forum on Discipline and Discharge – Discipline and discharge of employees can be very tricky even for the most well-intentioned employers. During this session, attendees were able to ask the panel their toughest discipline & discharge questions. The same panel that led the Open Forum on the FMLA also led this session.
As always, this year’s Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute was terrific! Attendees were able to learn a ton of information and walked out with great resource materials. For further information about this year’s program, please click this link: 2017 Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute
If you attended this year, we hope you had a great time and found the ELI to be a great experience!
