Events
Duane Morris Attorneys Michael Cohen, Marc Scheiner, Jonathan Segal and Jonathan Wetchler to Lead the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry's HR Roundtable
April 26, 2012 | King of Prussia, PA
| Crowne Plaza Valley Forge
Duane Morris attorneys Michael Cohen, Marc Scheiner, Jonathan Segal and Jonathan Wetchler will all be part of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry's HR Roundtable on Thursday, April 26, 2012, in King of Prussia, Pa. This year's roundtable focuses on "Drafting an Employee Handbook" and "HR Records Retention, including Electronic Recordkeeping."
In the first session, Michael Cohen and Marc Scheiner will lead a discussion on "Drafting Employee Handbooks and Avoiding the Most Common Handbook Mistakes." Employee handbooks are an effective way to communicate policies and procedures to employees, but a poorly drafted handbook may put an employer at risk for liability. Speakers will provide an in-depth overview of issues to consider when drafting a handbook, including:
- The legal and necessary policies that all handbooks should contain, such as Equal Employment Opportunity Policy, Harassment Policy, Family and Medical Leave Policy.
- Recommended policies that should be included in employee handbooks, such as attendance and punctuality policy, drug and alcohol policy, and a jury duty policy.
- Optional policies that companies should consider, depending on the unique culture of the company, such as dress code policy, social media and electronic communication/blogging policy, and inclement weather policy.
- Recommendations on how and why to disperse the handbook to employees: hard copy, on the company's Intranet or electronic handbook.
- Circumstances in which an employee handbook can be legally binding.
- Avoiding the most common mistakes employers make with employee handbooks.
Following a brief refreshment break, Jonathan Segal and Jonathan Wetchler will examine "HR Records Retention Requirements, including Electronic Recordkeeping Legal Do's and Don'ts." With so many major human resources laws recently undergoing changes—ADAAA, FLSA, HIPAA, GINA and others—the rules on how long to retain records, how to properly destroy records, and what to do with electronic records, have become even more confusing. The attorneys will review:
- The records that must be kept in each type of file: personnel files, medical files, immigration files, payroll files, general EEO demographic files, workplace investigation files, and attorney-client communications files.
- How long a company must retain each of the records according to federal and Pennsylvania laws: items in the personnel file; pre-employment records; payroll records; medical records; immigration record; attendance reports; benefits forms; and supervisors' informal employee files.
- When and how to legally destroy/shred HR records.
- Special considerations that should be given to electronically-stored information, including legal do's and don'ts.
- The 10 steps to creating an electronic document retention policy and program.
- How HR professionals should determine how long other departments' (e.g. finance, sales) records should be retained.
- Why and when to keep records longer than the law requires.
- What is meant by the "Duty of Preserve," which requires a litigation hold on some HR records.
To learn more, or to register for this event, please visit the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry website.
