Conference Speakers

Description:

If there is one thing that is more certain than death and taxes, it is that there will be conflict in the workplace.  Learning how to manage that conflict is a critical skill for any HR professional.  Hear from a lawyer about how to minimize and manage conflict.

Learning Objectives :

• Attendees will learn the common causes of conflict in the workplace.
• Attendees will learn steps and tips on how to avoid workplace conflict.
• Attendees will learn how to manage workplace conflict when it inevitably arises.

Description:

This presentation explores common workplace situations where managers and supervisors may unintentionally create HR or legal risk. Rather than presenting employment law as a traditional legal lecture, the session uses realistic scenarios to examine issues such as unequal treatment, employee complaints, documentation, confidentiality, accommodations, termination decisions, workplace policies, and sensitive communications. Participants will consider “What would you do?” before learning the legal concern and practical HR approach. The goal is to strengthen managers’ ability to recognize gray areas, respond appropriately, and partner with HR before a situation escalates.

Learning Objectives

• Recognize common manager and supervisor behaviors that can create HR or legal risk.
• Identify potential concerns involving employee complaints, unequal treatment, documentation, confidentiality, accommodations, and termination.
• Evaluate ambiguous workplace situations where there may not be an obvious “right” answer.
• Apply practical management and HR principles when responding to employee situations.
• Understand when a manager should involve HR rather than attempting to handle a sensitive matter independently.
• Demonstrate better decision-making by considering the potential impact of their words, actions, and documentation.

Description:

This 55-minute program equips HR professionals with a current, Texas-specific compliance framework for wage-and-hour and leave/accommodation obligations. The session opens with the FLSA fundamentals most likely to trigger enforcement exposure — including the unsettled status of the federal salary threshold following the 2024 rule's vacatur — then translates the pay-related provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into concrete payroll and recordkeeping action items. The program then shifts to accommodation practice, walking attendees through a defensible, step-by-step interactive process under the ADA and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), identifying how the Act’s obligations can apply simultaneously to a single employee absence. The session closes with a 90-day compliance action plan attendees can implement immediately.

Learning Objectives:

• Distinguish current FLSA salary-threshold and duties-test obligations from the vacated 2024 rule, and identify the wage-hour practices — misclassification, off-the-clock work, rounding, and improper deductions — most likely to generate DOL or Texas Workforce Commission exposure.
• Apply the Texas Payday Act's pay-frequency, final-pay-timing, and permissible-deduction rules as an independent compliance layer on top of federal FLSA requirements.
• Run a legally defensible, documented interactive accommodation process under the ADA and the PWFA, correctly distinguishing PWFA's broader accommodation standard — including temporary suspension of essential functions — from traditional ADA practice.
• Evaluate a single employee leave or accommodation scenario against FMLA, ADA, PWFA, and Texas-law obligations concurrently, and apply a 90-day action plan to close identified compliance gaps.