SHRM-Atlanta

If you missed the GEMs of SHRM-Atlanta in July you should be kicking yourself. The heat, humidity and storms did their best, but nothing could stop the eigh

t SHRM-Atlanta Geographical Emphasis Meetings (GEMs) from serving up a delicious menu of HR networking and educational delights.

The July GEMs began with one of the most intriguing presentations I have heard since joining SHRM-Atlanta 7 years ago. Dana A. Clark, President of Organizational Talent Solutions, traveled from Washington D.C. to speak to the North Fulton GEM on the topic Detecting Deception for the HR Professional. Drawing on her experience as the Operational Psychologist with the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and Chief Psychologist with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, she shared the importance of detecting deception during the hiring process. She gave us multiple ideas on how to detect deception, whether during an interview or seeking to determine the guilty party in a workplace theft.

HR professionals needing a greater understanding of Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) and Qualified Medical Child Support Orders (QMCSOs) were not disappointed with the presentation by William J. Cantrell, with Mazursky Constantine, at the Midtown GEM. This presentation on some of the lesser known regulations pertaining to employee benefits was insightful and provided guidelines that, if followed, could save organizations a tremendous amount of money resulting from fees and judgments.

Attorney Dara DeHaven of Ogletree Deakins informed participants at the Buckhead GEM of the impact of new regulations from the EEOC regarding the consideration of arrest and conviction records of job applicants. “Individualized Assessment” was the key word in dealing with criminal records. Some HR professionals were shocked to hear that the EEOC now recommends employers not ask about convictions on job applications. Several of us left with a realization that we need to update our application and interviewing processes.

With an expansive view of Atlanta as the backdrop, the attendees at the quickly growing Cobb GEM heard from attorneys Adriana Midence and Jonathan Spitz of Jackson Lewis LLP. The topic of HR and Technology provided opportunity for HR professionals to apply best practices and conform to the law in such areas as Electronic Onboarding, Background Checks and Recruiting with Social Media. Recent developments of the NLRB were also discussed. It was this latter topic that left a few of us “freaked out” as we learned of the freedom employees have in badmouthing supervisors, management and company practices—even to customers and online through social media! Attendees returned to their offices the next day to begin updating employee handbooks.

The Gwinnett GEM drew the largest attendance of our GEMs in July. Before the meeting started there was a buzz as participants networked and made new friends. When Heather Stagl of Enclaria spoke, she addressed Leading Change from the Middle. Here, HR professionals learned they can be Change Agents by influencing change even when they may not have direct authority. Heather shared how as Middle Managers in the organization, HR can influence change by providing advice, information and feedback to the Leader. Complimenting the presentation was the energetic audience participation.

The Airport GEM, located near the world busiest airport with a new international terminal, was the perfect location for the topic of “Developing a Global Workforce.” Steve Spires of Outplace Solutions shared about the four forces of Globalization: Immigration, Outsourcing, Technology and Foreign Direct Investment. Steve provided ample information to support the view that diverse teams excel over homogeneous teams in organizations around the globe. Participants also learned how the number of U.S. companies on the Fortune 500 dropped from 179 in 2000 to 133 in 2012; The number of Chinese companies on the list grew from 10 to 55 over the same period. Furthermore, attendees were intrigued to discover how U.S. companies now create more jobs outside of the U.S. than at home.

“Thank You for Thanking Me: The Power of Recognition” was the title of the presentation at the Perimeter GEM and delivered by Katie Lange Stone of Fallon Benefits. It is a standard theme within HR on how recognition is key to employee performance. Seventy percent of organizations have at least some type of recognition initiative in place. In this session, however, there was an emphasis on how recognition is something that should take place on the very first day a new employee joins the organization. Furthermore, noting how employees will differ in how they prefer to be recognized, it was suggested that employers consider the ages of the workforce and individual preferences before implementing recognition programs.

On the last day of July the SHRM-Atlanta GEMs completed the circuit with the Rockdale GEM. In addition to a full breakfast, participants were fed a presentation by Randy Ross of Enthusiasm. As he spoke on “Engaging and Retaining Top Talent,” Randy advised employers to remember how every employee is a free agent—they are free to leave if they so choose. Defining employee engagement as “keeping your heart and your head in the game,” he emphasized how employee and customer experience cannot be viewed separately as they are intricately linked.

The next round of GEMs will be in September. Don’t find yourself reading about the GEMs in October and regretting you missed participating. Check out the SHRM-Atlanta events page now for the upcoming dates, locations, topics and speakers. We look forward to seeing you in September for one of our SHRM-Atlanta GEMs.

Jack W. Bruce, Jr., as Chief Operating Officer at BIS Benefits, (Alpharetta, GA), provides general oversight in Finance, HR, Operations, Team Building & Strategic Management for this employee benefits firm. His role is to continually lead the firm by proactively enhancing the service, communications, human resource assistance, and technology for the benefit of their clients. Jack has earned a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) designation. Jack has a few connections on LinkedIn and also enjoys an occasional tweet (Twitter: www.Twitter.com/jackwbruce & www.Twitter.com/BISbenefits. He is a member of the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and SHRM-Atlanta—where he serves in a volunteer position as Vice-President of GEMs.

Read more by Jack at his blog for HR & Leadership for Small Business, Jack In The Team Box, which can be found at www.jackintheteambox.com.

By Michael D. Haberman, SPHR

What do scary news, leadership training, networking, tweeters and a guitar playing attorney have in common?  Give up?  The answer is the SHRM-Atlanta 2012 conference which was held on March 13^th and 14^th.  But that is not sufficient information to fully understand what occurred, so let me explain.

I am sure you are curious about the guitar playing attorney.  That was Mark Toth of ManpowerGroup North America. He was the keynote presenter on Tuesday the 13^th.  He regaled with facts like 32% of companies will have a lawsuit that will cost them up to $50,000.  Another 28% will have one that costs up to $100,000, while another 39% will pay over $100,000.  Many of them well over $100,000.  And 1% will pay over a $1,000,000 because of the number of people involved in the lawsuit or the facts of the case or both.  His presentation was not one of joyful news, but he presented it in an entertaining manner, and he pulled out his guitar and led us in a song at the end that had as its subject matter employment law.  Very creative and entertaining.

There were many, many people using Twitter, some of us as “official” and some not.  Everyone was encouraged to broadcast the message via social media.  So it is good to see HR and HR organizations embracing social media use beyond what we outliers do.

Of course there was a lot of networking going on with old contacts and making new ones.  Many a business card was traded.  The marketplace was well run and set up to encourage meeting people.  If you did not then it is your own fault.

The scary part I mentioned?  Well, I was assigned to follow and write about the Law and Legislation track.  All the presentations were informative, some were entertaining, but all of them were scary.  Let me give you a sample or two of what I am talking about.

• A thumb drive is the most likely way your employees can steal your date, with the typical 8 gig drive holding over 80,000 documents.
• Disability has moved from the realm of equal opportunity to being affirmative action.
• Lawyers can make you look like a bumbling fool in a deposition if you have not crossed every “t” and dotted every “I” and even then you will be miserable in the process.
• 88% of your IT staff said they will steal data or sabotage your data if they are fired.
• There are more ways your data can be leaked than you can probably count.
• Sending documents to your home computer to work on them may violate HIPAA.
• Enforcement efforts by both the EEOC and the USDOL are on the rise for the third year in a row.

So much for the scary and bad news. There was some good news as well. This included:

• Handbooks can be crafted to allow you flexibility and not box you in.
• The State of Georgia has made agreements such as non-competes and non-solicitation much easier to use than they have in the past.
• Mandatory arbitration agreements can actually protect you from wage & hour class action suits.

All told the law and legislation track was very educational as was the entire conference.  So put next year’s conference in your budget and plan on joining us.

Michael (Mike) D. Haberman, SPHR is a consultant, writer, speaker and co-founder of Omega HR Solutions, Inc.  He has been in the field of HR for 30 years as both practitioner and consultant. He specializes in compliance issues for his small business clients.  He is the author of the blog HR Observations which can be found at www.omegahrsolutions.com and he has been writing blog posts on a full spectrum of HR topics for almost seven years.  He is an active user of Twitter and can be found at @mikehaberman or @HRComplianceGuy.  He has been an instructor in HR for 14 years and has helped many people achieve their PHR or SPHR during that time.

Within the last three months, a number of court decisions, agency rulings, and new regulations have generated confusion regarding arbitration agreements and policies.  Until recently, one of the benefits of arbitration was the possibility of avoiding class and collective actions.  Given recent rulings, that might not be a viable strategy anymore.

The pendulum began swinging in April 2011 with the Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563 U.S. ____ (2011).  That case upheld an arbitration agreement with cell phone customers that required individual—not class—arbitration.  The pendulum swung even further in December 2011 when FINRA expanded its rules prohibiting class actions to also prohibit collective actions.

But the pendulum swung back the other way when the NLRB ruled in D.R. Horton, Inc., 357 NLRB No. 184, that it would be an unfair labor practice to deny employees the right to bring or participate in class or collective actions in any forum.  The NLRB started with the proposition that filing and joining class and collective actions is a protected, concerted activity under section 7 of the NLRA.  Then, the NLRB noted that the company’s mandatory arbitration program worked in conjunction with a class action waiver to deny any forum to employees for their class or collective actions—they could not go to court because there was mandatory arbitration, and they could not go to arbitration because there was a class action waiver.  The NLRB suggested that if employees were not put between this rock and hard place, no unfair labor practice would have occurred.

The pendulum swung back towards employers on in late January 2012 when the Central District of California upheld a class action waiver contained in an employment agreement in Johnmohammadi v. Bloomingdales, Inc.  In that case, the Court found it important that the employee had voluntarily agreed to the class action waiver in arbitration, and it was not a condition of employment.  Perhaps if the arbitration agreement containing a class action waiver had been a condition of employment, the Johnmohammadi case would have come out differently.

In any event, employers are left with little to go on in designing an arbitration program or evaluating one that already exists.  On the one hand, the Supreme Court has endorsed arbitration—even where class or collective actions are waived.  On the other hand, the NLRB has taken the position that employees must always have a forum (judicial or arbitral) for their class or collective claims.

Until the law is settled, employers should proceed with caution when drafting arbitration agreements or policies.  Express class-action waivers should not be used in employment agreements or employee handbooks in light of D.R. Horton.  Current arbitration programs that contain class or collective action waivers should be amended to avoid unfair labor practice charges.  Is it time to review your current arbitration program, or to draft arbitration agreements with your employees?

You can see Peter Hall’s session with David Long-Daniels, Information Privacy and Security — Working Remotely, Social Networking, Employee Monitoring and How to Avoid or Manage the Lawsuit That’s Coming, at the 22nd Annual SHRM-Atlanta HR Conference at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, March 13-14th, 2012.

Peter Hall is an associate with Greenberg Traurig, LLP in Atlanta.  He focuses his practice on labor and employment law with an emphasis on litigation matters. He counsels both large and small employers on a variety of labor and employment issues, including avoidance of discrimination and retaliation claims, compliance with disability and medical leave requirements, wage and hour issues, employee termination, restrictive covenants, union avoidance, and elections and records retention. Peter has counseled and defended employers before state administrative agencies in Georgia and other states as well as before federal agencies, including the EEOC and the DOL. He frequently drafts employment, restrictive covenant and separation agreements, and has experience drafting and reviewing multistate and multinational employee handbooks.

Peter obtained his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2004 and his Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from The Ohio State University in 2001.  He is listed as a “Rising Star” in Georgia Super Lawyers magazine, 2012.