March Legal Update & Luncheon

Registration deadline: Friday, March 25, 2022

Approved for 2 hours of HRCI & SHRM business recertification credits.

Legal Hour:
10:15 AM - 11:15 AM
River Crest Founders Room

Title: 2022 Legal Hot Topics
Speaker: Amber James & Voula Liroff

During this session, attendees will hear about the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which gives workers certain rights to engage in conduct to better their wages and other working conditions. This conduct is referred to as “protected concerted activity.” Panel speakers will provide an informative presentation with practical advice about the basics in identifying and navigating employee efforts to collectively bargain and other “concerted activity.”

Objectives and Takeaways:

• General overview of employee and employer rights under the NLRA and preparing your workforce to navigate efforts to collectively bargain
• High-level steps for keeping compliant organizational policies and practices, including limits on employer speech and restrictions on restricted employee speech/communication
• Key strategies for avoiding unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB
• Best practices for partnering with your in-house and out-side counsel

Bios:

Amber James is Associate Counsel at HNI Healthcare and a Certified Information Privacy Professional. As legal counsel to a national healthcare solutions firm, Amber routinely advises business leaders and managers on a wide range of legal issues in the healthcare industry such as physician compensation, telemedicine, Stark/Anti-kickback, HIPAA/HITECH, and the false claims act; and employment laws and regulations including FMLA, ADA, NLRA, and discrimination and harassment. Amber also negotiates a range of commercial agreements including services agreements, RFPs, software licensing agreements, and third-party vendor agreements.

Amber is a graduate of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law. She spent the first decade of her legal career practicing law in Fort Worth where she was selected as a Fort Worth Top Attorney from 2011 - 2018; President of the Tarrant County Young Lawyers Association; and Co-Chair of the Corporate Counsel Section of the Tarrant County Bar Association. Amber now resides in Austin, Texas with her husband, teenage daughter, and black Labrador named Scout.

Voula Liroff is the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at HealthChannels, LLC, a healthcare solutions company. She partners with the operations and other administrative teams to achieve business goals and mitigate risk. She provides strategic and legal advice to management on sensitive employee issues, including complaints and investigations, leaves of absence, accommodations, performance management, and layoffs/terminations. Voula also manages internal and external investigations and all external employee claims before agencies and in legal proceedings; serves as the privacy officer and manages patient privacy (including HIPAA/HITECH) matters; develops company policies for various areas, including labor and employment, data privacy, compliance, corporate training, internal investigations, and enterprise-wide risk assessments; advises on various forms of agreements, including business contracts, restrictive covenants (including non-compete and non-solicitation), and severance; and oversees litigation across the country.

Previously, Voula worked in the Labor and Employment Practice Group at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, an international law firm focusing her practice on nationwide counseling and litigation for employers across numerous industries. Before attending law school, Voula was an analyst at a financial consulting firm.

Voula received her law degree from Columbia Law School and undergraduate degree in Economics from Columbia College in New York. 

Voula volunteers her time to various community groups. She is on the Board of Directors for Leadership Broward and on the auxiliary board for the Jack and Jill Children’s Center, a nonprofit organization providing early childhood education and support to high-need families in Broward County. She lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with her husband, two young daughters, and labradoodle Sunshine.

Luncheon:
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
River Crest Ballroom

Title: Beyond Values:
Building an Ethical Business Environment (HRCI Ethics Credit)
Speaker: Mike Coffey

Every employee brings to the workplace a unique view of right and wrong shaped by their background and experience. Beyond simple legal compliance or respect for an organization’s values, individuals’ adherence to their own moral belief system is the at the core of ethical behavior. In this one-hour presentation, Mike Coffey will explore the differences between compliance, values, and ethics; how organizations can encourage ethical behavior; and ways to accommodate ethical differences in the workplace.

Problem Addressed: 
Organizations’ desire to conduct business in an ethical manner while at the same time respecting employees’ different ethics.

Learning Objectives:

• The definition of “ethics”
• The difference between compliance, values, and ethics.
• The key role “corporate governance” plays in an ethical environment.
• Understanding corporate social responsibility.
• How employers can address ethical differences in the workplace.

Bio:

Mike Coffey is an entrepreneur, human resources professional, licensed private investigator, and HR consultant.

In 1999, he founded Imperative, a background investigations firm helping risk-averse companies make well-informed decisions about the people they involve in their business.

Today, Imperative serves hundreds of businesses across the US and, through its PFC Caregiver & Household Screening brand, many more

private estates, family offices, and personal service agencies.

Mike shares his insight from more than two decades of HR-entrepreneurship on the Good Morning, HR podcast, where each week he talks to business leaders about bringing people together to create value for customers, shareholders, and community.

Mike has been recognized as an Entrepreneur of Excellence and has twice been named HR Professional of the Year.

Additionally, Imperative is included in the prestigious Best Places to Work in Texas list and has been named the Texas Association of Business’ small business of the year.

Mike is a member of the Fort Worth chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and volunteers with the SHRM Texas State Council.

Mike maintains his certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) through the HR Certification Institute. He is also a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP).

Location:
River Crest Country Club
Ballroom
1501 Western Ave
Fort Worth, TX 76107

Get Ready for the Meeting:

Bring your business cards for our networking event.

We care about each one of our members and are taking COVID-19 safety precautions:

• Hand Sanitizer will be provided.
• Masks are highly encouraged. Forgot a mask and need one? No worries, we will have them at the door.
• "Social stickers" will be provided for your nametag to indicate your individual preference: Red = no contact, green = comfortable with contact.
• If you are sick and/or have been exposed to someone with COVID please stay home. We will miss you, but there will be plenty of opportunities to attend a FWHR in-person event.
• We are encouraging social distancing by seating 6 to a table instead of 8.

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Reservations / Cancellations

All registrations must be received before close of business on the Monday prior to the event. Thereafter, a limited number of registrations will be accepted at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. Please understand that you cannot be guarantee seat at the meeting if you do not register by the Monday preceding the event. If you can't make the event, please let us know 72 hours beforehand by sending an email to info@fwhr.org, so that we can cancel your registration. Otherwise, we will bill you for the reservation (we pay the venue based on the number of attendees reserved - including no-shows). Refund requests or any financial matters relating to this event should be directed to treasurer@fwhr.org. 

Use of Materials

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