Delaware Employment Law Blog

Retaliation claims brought by employees who have complained about discrimination or harassment in the workplace have increased dramatically over the past several years.  They now account for more than one-third of all claims filed with the EEOC.  At the same time, the Supreme Court has issued a series of rulings that have expanded the types of retaliation claims an employee may bring.  This presentation will inform you about retaliation claims and give you strategies to avoid liability.  When it comes to dealing with employees, revenge is a dish best not served at all.

Attorney Michael P. Stafford will present this 90-minute seminar in our Wilmington office. The cost? Free. First come, first serve, though, so don’t delay.  E-mail Felicia G. (be sure to include “Breakfast Seminar” in the subject line) or call 302.571.5718 to sign up today.

I'll be presenting a new HR Hero audio conference, HR's Response to Social Media: Policies for Twitter, Facebook, and Other Popular Sites, on December 10, 2009. 

I'll discuss how to create a policy that will help you legally monitor employee online activity and protect your organization from legal risks associated with Web 2.0 in the workplace.

Specifically, we'll talk about:

• When social media can go terribly wrong -- and why a social medial policy is needed for every workplace

• The specific legal risks of having Facebook, Twitter, and other online tools available at work

• Seven issues that your Web 2.0 policy should address, including how to safeguard your organization's intellectual property and other sensitive company data

• The 24/7 world: Why you may want to govern employee use of social media during working and non-working time.

• How to craft a policy that treats employees like adults and conveys your organization's trust in its workforce

• Policy tips on providing employee guidance for using social media to communicate with those outside your organization

• How to communicate and educate your workforce on your new social media policy

You can register on the HR Hero website.

And, for more about social media in the workplace, see the following posts:

Social-Media Policy Ideas

Sample Social-Media Guidelines

Social Media Is Here to Stay: Time to Start that Workplace Policy

3 Reasons Why Employers Don't Have a Social-Networking Policy

Follow me on Twitter @@MollyDiBi 

[Don't know what a "tweet" is or how (or why) to use Twitter?  Register for my webinar next week on What HR Needs to Know About Twitter]

Adria B.  Martinelli will be speaking about how to accommodate workers who are caregivers and the workplace issues that commonly arise with dementia.  The audio conference is 90 minutes and will cover:

• Helpful ideas for accommodating an affected employee, including EEOC recommendations: reducing hours and responsibilities, having co-workers act as support, and more
• Laws that come into play, and how to meet your obligations under ADA and FMLA
• Sample HR policies that can reduce the burden for your caregiver employees
• What savvy employers are doing to minimize the problem of distracted and absent employees with caregiving responsibilities
• Signs or behavior that could indicate your employee has Alzheimer's or other dementia
• Options for work duties you can legally provide employees with dementia
• And more...

HR Hero is hosting the event and you can learn more or register at the HR Hero website.

If you're using Twitter to search for talented job candidates, you're not alone. The popular microblog received more than 23 million unique visitors just this September and more and more employers are utilizing it in their talent-acquisition efforts.

I'll be teaching a webinar on December 16 for HR Hero, where I'll focus on how Twitter can improve your organization's recruiting, branding, and engagement strategies, and how to avoid the legal issues associated with using microblogs in the workplace.

The seminar, called Recruiting in 140 Characters: Everything HR Needs to Know About Twitter, is 90 minutes and will be conducted via live webinar.  I'll show participants step-by-step instructions for setting up a Twitter account, so you can begin "tweeting" during this live event! You'll get live interactive guidance, so you can learn:

• How to make a tweet compelling enough to attract the most desirable candidates
• Techniques to get followers who will help spread your message and brand
• How you can stay on the cutting edge in your industry by following the right people
• How to find relevant content using hash tags and search functions
• Twitter manners: the dos and don’ts of tweeting
• How to locate passive job candidates online
• Blogging techniques to build brand recognition the RIGHT way and how to make your organization the employer of choice
• How to use Twitter to keep your all-star employees passionate and enthusiastic about their work
• The legal mistakes often made when using Twitter at work, and how you can avoid them
• Special tips and tricks to make sure your blog postings are relevant and how to make tweeting a breeze

Registration is available at the HR Hero website.  Hope to "see" you on December 16!

And, if you're in the Chicago area and want to learn more about social media for employers, check out the upcoming HR Social Media Summit, on December 2-4.  Dec. 2-4: Social Media & HR Summit (Chicago, IL)

Until then, you can follow me on Twitter at @MollyDiBi . . . .

I had the privilege of speaking on recent ADA and FMLA developments at breakfast seminar this morning. The event was presented by the Delaware Employer Council and held at Delaware Park’s beautiful facilities. Over 50 HR professionals attended.

This morning's topic included the regulations proposed last month by the EEOC as a result of the Americans with Disabilities Amendment Act of 2008 (“ADAA”). I also talked about last weeks’ expansion of FMLA military leave by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010 (“NDAA”).

Highlights of the presentation included:

· The vast expansion of the scope the ADA by lowering the standard for establishing whether an individual has a disability.

· The prohibition against considering the effect of medication or other mitigating measures in determining whether a person is disabled.

· The six rules of construction in determining whether a person is disabled under the ADA

· The ability of families of injured veterans to take FMLA “military caregiver” leave under the NDAA.

· The ability of families of active members of the Armed Forces to take “qualifying exigency” leave under the NDAA.

As promised, my materials are linked below.  ADA FMLA Update

Maribeth L. Minella and Molly DiBianca will present an audio conference on non-compete agreements for Human Resource professionals on Tuesday, Nov. 17. The conference begins at 11 a.m. Eastern and will last for 90 minutes.  HR Hero is hosting the event and registration can be found on the HR Hero website.  Here's the agenda:

• How to draft and implement legally solid noncompete, nonsolicitation, nondisclosure, and confidentiality agreements
• The the typical restrictions built in noncompete agreements
• How widely-varied state laws complicate the issue
• When and how to use nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements and policy statements
• Tactics you can implement NOW to prevent corporate raiding by former employees
• How to handle applicants and new hires with pre-existing noncompete agreements. Are such employees off limits? How do employers know if an applicant or new hire comes with restrictions?
• The latest court precedents relating to enforcement of noncompete agreements. How has the climate changed in light of the economic downturn?
• The dangers awaiting unwary employers talking to potential employees who are under noncompete agreements
• The employer’s options if an employee is under restrictions placed by a former employer

Non-compete agreements have become increasingly popular. If your organization is using them or is considering using them, this is an excellent way to ensure that you've got the key points covered for maximum enforceability.  We hope you can join us!

If you're using Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn® to search for talented job candidates, you're not alone. According to Workforce Management, companies like digital advertising agency Organic are incorporating social media as part of their recruiting strategies. And with nearly 7.1 million people now using Twitter (Nielsen NetView), smart employers are utilizing blogs in their talent acquisition efforts. 

But feeding the talent pipeline online can result in costly litigation if a job applicant claims you've invaded her privacy.

Learn how to reap the benefits of online recruiting while minimizing legal risks by participating in the interactive audio conference, 2009 Recruiting: Feed Your Talent Pipeline Using Twitter, Facebook, and Other Social Media. In just 90 minutes, you'll get straight answers to such questions as:

• Is Twitter the best place to find job applicants who "live" online? What's the best way to use Twitter for effective recruiting?
• How can I use corporate branding on the Internet to attract potential job candidates?
• How can I use Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn® to get our branding messages out more quickly?
• What's the best way to use Twitter to build a "following" among active and passive job candidates?
• What are the potential legal issues that could arise when using Twitter? How can I avoid posting "tweets" that could be construed as harassing or discriminatory?
• What type of information should I avoid on social networking sites when searching for talent?
• How do I handle information found online that I would NEVER ask about in an interview?
• How can I use a wiki without incurring legal trouble, such as releasing sensitive company and/or employee information?
• What are the legal risks if one of my employees posts content on a company-run blog or social networking site?
• What action should I take if employees post our company logo on their private social networking sites for blogs?
• How can my organization protect itself from potential litigation surrounding employee usage of social media tools?
• How far can I go when keeping tabs on an employee's blogs, instant messages, and social networking sites?

I'll be presenting this audio conference on January 12, 2009. To register, visit the H.R. Hero website.

No matter how you say it, terminations–whether they involve a single employee or a large-scale layoff – are probably one of the least favorite parts of your job. Along with the emotional stress they cause, terminations can also pose enormous legal risks. Make one mistake in the firing process, even an innocent one, and your company may quickly embroil itself in a costly lawsuit.

There are so many different ways to get it wrong:

• You say something to a departing employee in the heat of the moment that is prime lawsuit fodder later on.
• You discover after the firing that the ex-employee’s supervisor has always written glowing performance appraisals for that worker–and the documentation now suggests retaliation.
• You go the extra mile by offering severance payments with waivers to employees being laid off–but a common wording error later renders those waivers unenforceable.
• You make an error calculating a terminated employee’s final paycheck, or you withhold funds from departing workers that you’re not lawfully allowed to deduct.

Join Maribeth L. Minella on October 29 for this 90-minute webinar presented by Business & Legal Resources to learn:

• The most common termination-related mistakes employers make–and how to avoid repeating them
• Why you must prepare for the possibility of termination even before you hire an employee
• The specific policies and practices you need in place to lawsuit-proof your company before you terminate another employee
• What you should always say–and what you must never say–when letting an employee go
• How to review your severance agreements to make sure they’re binding, and what risky language to avoid
• The crucial post-termination steps you should take to stay out of legal trouble
• What to do when an employee fired for cause later asks you for a job reference
• The unique risks involved in group layoffs, as well as terminations involving older workers
• What you can – and cannot – deduct from a terminated worker’s last paycheck

To learn more or register for this webinar, please visit the event’s webpage at BLR’s website.

I give a lot of presentations. And I take them seriously. Which may explain why my slides often get noticed as being “different” than many of the other presentations my clients see. I subscribe to the style of presenting advocated by Cliff Atkinson, known as Beyond Bullet Points.  Nancy Duarte and Garr Reynolds are two other visionaries in the field of visual communication who lead by example. In short, the principle theory behind my slide design is to present only one idea per slide and to present it with images instead of words.

And, while I could go on for many posts about the topic of effective presenting skills but I’ll save that for another day.  Instead, I’ll refrain from the evangelical sermon and, instead, offer a tiny bit of practical help.

One of the bigger stumbling blocks involved in this type of presenting is where to get the graphics you’ll use instead of words on your slides.  There really are an unlimited number of ways to create images for this purpose. 

Of course, you can simply purchase them from stock photo sites.  I use Shutterstock to buy images and buy a one-month subscription to save on the cost. 

You also can surf the web to find images.  Google Images works great for this and so does Bing’s image search. But beware of “borrowing” images—just because they’re available online does not mean that they’re publicly available.  You must determine if you're lawfully able to use the pictures that you find. Dave Paradi recently listed 10 excellent government sites that offer bunches of beautiful photographs for free!

One seriously underestimated tool is PowerPoint.  I use it constantly to create my own images—everything from simple stick-figure drawings to more substantial 3d graphics.  If you don’t believe that this is possible for mere mortals (i.e., non-designers), just have a look at the wonderfully instructive blog, Slides that Stick for some excellent tutorials.  You may be amazed!

One of the greatest resources, though, is right at your fingertips—or, even better, they are your fingertips!  Pick up a pen and start drawing. Don’t be “fancy”—really, it’s best if you just avoid even attempting anything that will look even close to “artistic.”  Just stick with the basics.  You’d be surprised at how well you can communicate using those same skills that you picked up as a toddler.  Need inspiration? Check out Dan Roam, who just won the World’s Best Presentation Contest at Slideshare.net—using, you guessed it, simple marker drawings! 

EEOC’s “Best Practices” on Caregiver-Responsibilities, issued in April 2009, presents an excellent opportunity to discuss the topic of family-responsibilities discrimination (FRD).  Adria B. Martinelli will discuss the impact of the new guidance at our next Breakfast Briefing, on September 18.  Adria will discuss the subtleties of this evolving area of the law. 

Attendees will learn:

• Why the EEOC issued the Caregiver Discrimination Guidance
• When or how unlawful disparate treatment of caregivers can occur
• How you can recognize bias in your own workplace
• How you can structure policies and train managers to avoid claims and protect your company

Registration

As always, there is no cost to attend our Breakfast Seminar.  However, conference space is limited and therefore, we suggest that you register as soon as possible.

Two Ways to Register:

1.  You may click here to register by email.  Be sure to include "Breakfast Seminar" in the subject line and your name and contact information in the email text, OR

2.  You may telephone Felicia at 302.571.5718. 

 

An email containing driving directions and parking options will be sent to all registrants closer to the event.

Please mark your calendars and join us for our last Breakfast Seminar of 2009 on Friday, November 13, 2009.

As always, information regarding employment law issues is available on the Delaware Employment Law Blog.  Moreover, two of our employment attorneys, Molly DiBianca and William Bowser, are Tweeting about current employment topics. They can be followed: @MollyDiBi  and  @WBowser.

p>HR professionals, how do you use new social media tools?  If you said, “I’m not,” you’re missing out on a potentially revolutionary HR management resource.  I am very excited to be participating in an upcoming seminar that will be teaching HR pros exactly what these tools are and showing you how to put them to use.  HR’s Social Media Virtual Summit will explain:

• How to use social-networking sites to target the right job candidates with the right credentials;
• How online videos generate excitement about your company and improve your on-boarding and retention efforts;
• How to avoid legal risks resulting from employees’ posts on your company-run blog or social-networking site; and
• How to turn Twitter into a quick, effective micro-training tool.

Not only am I excited about the content but I’m also looking forward to the way in which the seminar will be presented. This all-day conference is being presented live online.  My co-presenters and I will be live in Nashville, TN, where we’ll be presenting to attendees via live video stream on the internet. So participants can stay home, saving the time and expense of travel, and watch the entire day-long seminar from their office or conference room.  This is such a neat format and I can’t wait to put it to work!  Just think, you can earn 5.5 hours of recertification credit in a single day without leaving home.

I’ll be presenting with a great line-up of faculty, including:

• Jerry Stevenson, director of social media and knowledge management in the human resources technology practice at Buck Consultants, an ACS company;
• James D. Lynch is Vice President of Employee Communications at the American Express Company, where he manages all internal communications for 22,000 employees worldwide.

You can register and find out more about the summit at the HR Hero website, but here’s a preview of the agenda:

• Locate the right talent using social media
• Legal trouble spots to avoid when using social media for recruitment
• Take employee productivity and communication to new heights with social media
• Energize workplace learning using social media tools
• Social media policies that protect your organization from lawsuits
• Developing an effective HR social-media strategy
• Live Q&A with the faculty (via e-mail and Twitter!)

In April, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued new guidance for employers on avoiding Family Responsibility Discrimination. FRD is defined as discrimination in which male or female workers are fired, demoted, not promoted, denied employment benefits, or harassed because of their caregiving responsibilities for a child, partner, or elderly relative. The EEOC recommends work-life balance programs, flexible work arrangements, flexible sick leave policies, and part-time job opportunities to prevent discrimination lawsuits from caregiver employees.

Adria B. Martinelli and Molly DiBianca, Esq. will present an important audio conference on this subject on August 4, in which we'll teach employers how to use work-life balance programs to prevent costly litigation and how to create a workplace free from caregiver discrimination by participating in the all-new HR Hero audio conference, When Employees Are Also Caregivers: Legal Advice and EEOC Guidance for Employers.

In just 90 minutes, you'll learn:

• How flextime schedules, flexible week opportunities, telecommuting, and other programs can protect your organization against caregiver discrimination claims -- and actually boost productivity and the bottom line
• The EEOC’s best practice advice for launching and managing flexible work arrangements
• Your legal obligations regarding employees with caregiving responsibilities under the EEOC guidance, arising from Title VII, the FMLA, and ADA, among others
• EEOC guidance on training your managers to recognize caregiver discrimination at work
• The types of workplace conduct that could invite caregiver discrimination claims
• Hands-on advice for structuring policies that can protect your organization from caregiver discrimination
• An overview the responsibilities faced by an employee who is also a caregiver, and how employers can accommodate these needs while eliminating legal risks

To register for the audio conference,visit the registration page on HR.Hero.com

Registration is open for the 2009 Delaware SHRM State HR Conference, which will take place on November 3 and 4.  The registration page of the DE SHRM website lists the topics and speakers on this year’s conference schedule.  Bill Bowser and Scott Holt will be presenting their very popular, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” presentation.  And, in light of the number of changes during the past year, they’re sure to have plenty to talk about!   We hope to see you there!

The impact of social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is undeniable but, also, undefined. Hundreds of millions of Americans now use these sites and others like them for an expanding number of reasons. And it’s not just the country’s youth online, either. Twitter users are more likely to be Baby Boomers than they are to be youngsters in the 12-to-24 crowd.

So it’s no surprise that social media is causing tremendous changes in the way employers recruit and hire new employees. Employers have to look beyond standard recruiting tactics if they hope to secure the most sought-after candidates. But the adventure into the social-media sphere is not without risks. Before you send that friend request to that job applicant, be sure you know how it could expose your organization to legal liability.

Whether you’re a master of your Facebook page, or you’re still wondering what a “tweet” really is, Molly DiBianca will guide you in the right direction when it comes to social media and hiring. This 90-minute seminar will be presented live in our Wilmington office and over the internet via webinar for those who cannot attend in person. The cost? Free. First come, first serve, though, so don’t delay—e-mail or call Felicia G. (302.571.5718) to sign up today.

P.S. This is our final seminar in the Breakfast Seminar Series for 2009. We’d love to hear what you want the topics to be for our 2010 Series. Have an interest in something in particular? Drop us a line or let us know by leaving a comment.

This exciting conference will be presented by the ABA Law Practice Management Section and held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia.  There are plenty of valuable topics worthy of mention, including a panel in the Small-Firm Track featuring our own William W. Bowser.  Bill, along with Tom Mighell, author of the national legal blog, Inter Alia, and co-author of the latest book for lawyers on effective collaboration tools,  The Lawyer's Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, our friend and legal-blog guru, Tim Stanley of Justia.com, and Immigration Law blogger, Greg Siskind, make up the panel who will discuss How to Maximize Web Sites, Blogs, Social Networking Profiles, and Other Aspects of Web 2.0.  

One of the two keynote speakers also has my interest piqued.  David Lat is the founder of Above the Law, a blog that puts the saying “any publicity is good publicity,” to the test.  I’d guess that Mr. Lat will offer conference attendees some very valuable insight into how firms can best handle bad online publicity and avoid ending up the feature in his wildly popular online legal tabloid.

To take advantage of all of this great knowledge, visit the section’s website to register or learn more about the conference.

And, for information about other upcoming seminars, see the following posts:

October 7-8:  HR's Social Media Virtual Summit (filmed live from Nashville, TN and streamed directly to your office over the web, hosted by M. Lee Smith Publishers, moderated by Molly DiBianca).

November  3-4: Delaware SHRM State HR Conference (Young Conaway’s Employment Law Department is the platinum sponsor of this year’s exciting annual event.  William W. Bowser and Scott A. Holt will present their always popular employment-law update, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly).

November 18:  Employment Law Department (Topic and Speaker TBA)

December 2-4:  Social Media and HR Summit (hosted by Ragan Communications and M. Lee Smith Publishers at the Aon Center in Chicago, Molly DiBianca will present during the preconference about social media policies; during the main conference about the legal limits governing employers’ monitoring of employees’ social media usage; and as a panelist to discuss the biggest blunders made by employers in this Web 2.0 world.)

Adria B. Martinelli will present Pregnancy Discrimination Claims Flood EEOC: How to Counter New and Aggressive Enforcement on July 23, 2009.

Pregnancy discrimination lawsuits are on the rise and the courts are ruling against employers:

• In the May 2009 AT&T v. Hulteen case, the court ruled that employees who took pregnancy leave before the effective date of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act should be eligible for the same retirement benefits as those who took leave after the law was enacted.
• The Seventh Circuit Court recently recognized the applicability of the PDA to the "potential pregnancy" after an employee claimed she lost her job because she had taken time off for fertility treatment.
• And now that the new ADA Amendments Act has gone into effect, the interplay between the ADA, PDA, and the recently-revised FMLA has further complicated compliance issues for employers.

Learn how to make sense of the overlapping complexities of the PDA, FMLA, and the ADA, and how to accommodate pregnant employees without risking discrimination claims, as well as these other critical and timely topics:

• Key rulings made recently against employers regarding pregnancy discrimination claims, including the U.S. Supreme Court's
  interpretation of the PDA in AT&T v. Hulteen
• How do you know when employees are protected under the PDA? (Hint, they’re not always pregnant.)
• How the new ADA Amendments Act comes into play
• New discrimination risks employers need to consider when training supervisors and managers
• EEOC guidance on family rights discrimination
• Practical advice for day-to-day issues involved with managing pregnant employees
• The kind of accommodations that should and should NOT be made for pregnant workers

Register for this employment law seminar at HR Hero.com

Maribeth Minella will present on the WARN Act in a session during the New York State Bar Association's day-long seminar:  "Counseling the Corporate Client in Turbulent Times:  Employment Law for the General Practitioner and Corporate Counselor." 

The employment-law seminar is scheduled for June 12 at The New Yorker Hotel in New York City.  The program will provide basic-to-intermediate continuing legal education courses on how to conduct internal investigations, legislative updates, how to draft individual employment agreements, application of the WARN Act and state-level or "mini" WARN Acts, and other recent developments in the field of labor and employment law.  The program's content also will be presented in Albany, NY on June 3 (Employment Law Albany) and Rochester, NY on June 10 (Employment Law Rochester). 

Severance agreements are on the minds of many employers today.  Some employers are cutting labor costs out of business necessity. Others are taking a cue from the economy and seriously reviewing their personnel practices.  If this leads to the discovery that some areas may be overstaffed or inefficiently structured, it may make good business sense to lay off employees. Under either circumstance, it is common for employers to offer some type of compensation to those employees being severed.  Constructing an effective and legally enforceable severance agreement is not as easy as writing a check, though.  There are many considerations involved, some of which can be complex and not necessarily obvious.

The EEOC, for example, will challenge releases that attempt to prohibit a severed employee from filing a charge of discrimination or cooperating with an investigation. And some other legal claims are not waivable by law as well. There are many advantages to severance agreements when they are done correctly, but when they are not, they create new legal problems.

Delaware employers who are interested in learning more about the complexities of severance agreements that work should attend our seminar on June 5.  Employment law attorneys Sheldon N. Sandler and Maribeth L. Minella will discuss the intricacies of severance packages on June 5, as the next session in our 2009 Breakfast Briefing series. The session is free for those who register before the program fills up.  As with all sessions in the Breakfast Briefing series, the June 5th event will be held at our offices in Wilmington, Delaware.  Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., with a one-hour discussion to begin at 9 a.m.  To sign up, please e-mail your contact information (name, email address, phone, address, company, and job title) to elawseminars at ycst.com and be sure to indicate the name or title of the program in the subject line.  Registrations are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis and confirmation is sent upon acceptance.

We look forward to seeing you on June 5 and, in the meantime, we welcome your suggestions for topics for future seminars.  The next session in the 2009 Breakfast Briefing series is scheduled for September 15, 2009, so be sure to mark your calendar accordingly!

Human resources professionals are quickly learning that Web 2.0 is critical to the success of their organizations. Which is why I’m so excited about participating in this exciting seminar, presented by HR Hero and Ragan, sponsored by Aon Consulting.  The seminar will feature some truly extraordinary representatives who will share their insights on how employers can put the world wide web to work for them. 

The seminar includes sessions during a 1-day preconference and 2 days of full conference, and will teach attendees how to use the latest Internet resources to re-engage average employees and turn them into “rock star” contributors. Here are just a few of the highlights:

• Engage top-talent employees during tough economic times and improve business results by developing internal communication strategies;
• Define and emphasize your company’s core values to reap the benefits of a healthy, productive culture at work;
• Connect with your key audience through social media networks and grass-roots methods to guarantee quality hires and positive brand recognition;
• Use social media to hire and retain top-notch talent and help build your brand;
• Draft an effective social media policy for your company;
• Maximize your talent pool to save budget dollars through new recruiting channels such as LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs;
• Develop a reward strategy when your company has no budget; and
• Boost employee retention and minimize stress by improving health and financial literacy in the workplace.

For more information and to register, visit the conference’s web page at http://www.hrandsocialmedia.com/.

Our annual employment law seminar, held last week, was a tremendous success. The success can be contributed in large part to the great attendees, who always bring a fresh perspective and challenging questions to the forefront of the current discussion.  Many attendees have since requested copies of the slides used at the various sessions. 

Here is the first of them, this one from Tim Snyder's presentation on COBRA and the Economic Stimulus Package.  Others will follow in the next few days. 

Our next seminar will be held on June 5, 2009, as part of our Breakfast Briefing series.  Look for more information in the next week on the topic and registration but, in the meantime, don't hesitate to let us know if there are topics in particular that are on your radar these days.