Human Resource professionals see the Family & Medical Leave Act (”FMLA”) as a major compliance challenge. And it just never seems to get easier. Lately, the FMLA is back in the news. The Act has seen more legislative and regulatory action in the past few months than it has during the previous ten years.

On January 28, 2007, Congress expanded the scope of the Act to include two new types of military leave for families of servicemembers. Next, on February 11, 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor released its long-awaited proposed revisions to the FMLA regulations.

William W. Bowser and Scott Holt will be addressing these important changes at the May 13 meeting of the Delaware Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Cavalier Country Club. Our presentation will focus on what you need to do now in response to these changes.

Online Registration for the meeting is available here. Directions to the event are available here.

ADEA, ADA, FMLA, now FRD??? Is FRD (Family Responsibility Discrimination) the latest acronym to add to the growing list of potential employee claims to be concerned about?

At our Annual Employment Law Seminar yesterday, I presented on this subject, which has been a recent “hot topic” in the world of Employment Law. I also prepared a handout for attendees. It’s a concise, easy-to-read summary of the “who, what, where, why, and how” of Family Responsibility Discrimination. You can now get a copy of the handout–use the link below to jump to a pdf copy of the materials. The articles might just turn out to be a handy reference when you have a potential FRD issue.

And if two pages (with pictures!) still seems to long for you, here’s the conclusion I draw at the end; i.e., The Bottom Line about FRD:

The line where bias turns into an actionable family responsibility claim is not always an easy one to see. But given the EEOC’s focus on this type of discrimination, it is essential you recognize the issues. Review the EEOC’s enforcement guidance carefully and seek advice of counsel if you have any questions about taking employment actions with respect to an employee with caregiving responsibilities.

Just contact me if you need additional guidance on the rights and responsibilities of employers with respect to FRD.

Family Responsibility Discrimination Handout

Our readers with HR responsibilities and interests at law firms may be interested in signing up for an hour-long, CLE-accredited webinar on best practices for retaining your firm’s attorneys. One of the presenters is our friend Lauren Stiller Rikleen, author of Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women’s Success in the Law. I’ve heard Lauren speak on several occassions and can attest that she is a fantastic speaker. You can read an article by Lauren titled, Women’s Initiatives: Seeking Opportunities and my review of her book, as well as other articles about women in law in the Delaware Lawyer magazine. (All editions of the Delaware Lawyer magazine have been archived on its website.)

Be sure to let us know what you think if you decide to participate.

Our Annual Seminar for Employers was held today at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, Delaware. The attendance at the seminar was our best ever, with more than 130 of Delaware’s best human resource professionals, labor relations specialists, senior managers, and small business owners.

Our many thanks to The Honorable Mary Pat Thynge, who spoke candidly about the federal mediation process. Her comments were direct and insightful for everyone, including for the attorneys!

Another thanks to all of the attendees who completed and submitted a survey at the end of the day. We’re looking forward to reviewing your comments. Our objective is to make the seminar as effective and enjoyable as possible. Your opinion really tells us what we can do to better to maximize the client experience. We are especially interested to learn what topics most interest you for future seminars. If you were in attendance today but did not have an opportunity to submit an evaluation, just let us know and we’ll send you one that can be completed and returned electronically–no stamp necessary!

Again, thank you to all of our clients, colleagues, and new friends, who gave us your attention and participation for a very full day on a variety of employment-law topics.

New Castle County’s blue-collar union ratified a three year contract, which provides for no cost-of-living increases in the next two years. The News Journal’s story on the settlement is located here. T

he agreement was reached after over a year of negotiations and reflects the tough economic times faced by New Castle County and other governments in Delaware. See our earlier post.

Bill Bowser and I will be discussing the state of public sector negotiations on April 16 at our Department’s Annual Seminar.

To register, contact Marie Willey at 571-4751. Cost is $95. Lunch is provided.

Page D1 of today’s Wall Street Journal reports that:

A spike to record levels in pregnancy-discrimination complaints to regulators suggests more women are speaking up about suspected workplace bias.

Pregnancy-bias complaints recorded by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission surged 14% last year to 5,587, up 40% from a decade ago and the biggest annual increase in 13 years.

And that “may be only the tip of the iceberg,” an EEOC spokesman says. The agency also received 20,400 pregnancy-bias inquiries at its call center last year, the center’s first full year of operation; that doesn’t include thousands more walk-ins asking about the same topic at fair-employment offices. An advocacy group, 9to5, National Association of Working Women, also is seeing an increase in pregnancy-bias calls on its hotline.

I have seen a huge surge in pregnancy discrimination claims in my practice as well. The WSJ attributes the groundswell to “both changing demographics and a new activism among mothers.” Employees’ awareness of the law in this area may have been further heightened by the EEOC’s Guidance on Discrimination of Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities, issued in May of 2007. The EEOC’s guidance devoted considerable attention to pregnancy discrimination claims.

I will be speaking on pregnancy discrimination at several upcoming seminars. Click on the links to learn more about opportunities to learn on this important topic: Pregnancy in the Workplace: Manage FMLA, ADA, and PDA Issues Audioconference on April 8 - learn about pregnancy discrimination from the comfort of your own desk! The Advanced Employment Issues Symposium on September 25-26 in Las Vegas, and October 16-17 in Nashville, TN offer additional opportunities to learn more about pregnancy discrimination.

Our yearly Employment Law Seminar will be held this year on April 16, 2008. Due to the ever-expanding number of attendees (last year, we sold out within a week of the invitation release), the seminar will be held at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, Delaware. The complete invitation and registration information can be viewed at the YCST website, but here’s a quick summary.

The seminar begins at 8:30 with a welcome from Barry M. Willoughby, who serves as Chair of the YCST Employment Law Department. Following the introduction will be two morning plenary sessions. First, “The Good, Bad, and the Ugly,” which is a perpetual favorite, giving you the need-to-know developments in employment law during 2007. The second plenary session will cover two areas that have seen a tremendous amount of change and development over the past year–Family Responsibilities Discrimination, and the new FMLA regulations.

Attendees can choose from four different topics for the two break-out sessions, including,
*Annual Labor Update reviewing all of the essential developments in the Public Sector;
*Electronic Discovery Workshop to cover the critical developments in a rapidly developing aspect of litigation;
*The Jerk at Work, which deals with the cost of the “jerk” to your business and what you can do to eliminate them from your workplace; and
*Wage and Hour Class Action Litigation, an area of the law that has seen exponential growth over the past few years.

The Keynote Speaker this year is the Honorable Mary Pat Thygne, one of two Federal Magistrate Judges in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. We are positively thrilled to have Judge Thygne join us this year. She is well-known among practitioners in the Delaware District Court for her service as a federal mediator, having helped parties resolve disputes on mutually beneficial terms. Judge Thygne has a tremendously insightful perspective on federal employment litigation that she has graciously agreed to share with our seminar attendees.

The YCST Annual Employment Law Seminar is a yearly highlight for the presenters and attendees, alike. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!