HR Legal Summit: Breakout Sessions Spotlight

Our breakout sessions are designed to help you dive deeper into timely, real-world HR and employment law challenges. You’ll be able to choose two sessions, and topics include workplace accommodations, HR legal fundamentals, DEI-related legal risks and enforcement trends, and updates on ERISA and benefit plan litigation.

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Breakout Sessions

Attendees may choose two of the following sessions:

Steering Through Uncharted Waters: Advanced Strategies for Workplace Accommodation Compliance

Speakers
Priya Vivian (Ballard Spahr)
Robyn Ruderman (Starbucks)

This advanced session is designed for experienced practitioners who already possess a foundational understanding of workplace accommodation law and are looking to deepen their expertise in handling complex disability, religious, and pregnancy-related accommodation requests under federal and state laws. Moving beyond the basics, attendees will examine multi-factor scenarios and novel requests, while exploring the evolving legal standards following recent court cases and trends.

Through complex case studies and advanced hypotheticals, the session will address the intersection of accommodation obligations with other workplace laws — equipping seasoned session participants with sophisticated strategies for navigating the interactive process, avoiding high-risk pitfalls, and anticipating emerging areas of litigation exposure.

On Course with HR Law: Foundational Knowledge for Emerging HR Professionals

Speaker
Lou Chodoff (Ballard Spahr)

This introductory session will provide HR professionals and small HR teams with a practical overview of the core legal issues that arise throughout the employee life cycle. Participants will learn how to recognize common compliance risks in hiring, wage and hour practices, leave and accommodations, performance management, investigations, discipline, and terminations.

The session will focus on real world issue spotting, documentation, and knowing when to escalate matters to legal counsel or senior leadership, with particular attention to the challenges faced by HR professionals who are building systems, policies, and credibility in lean or stand-alone HR functions.

DEI In the Cross Hairs – From Title VII to False Claims Act Liability

Speakers
Dee Spagnuolo (Ballard Spahr)
Virginia Essandoh (TD Bank)

As employers continue to reassess diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives amid intensifying political, regulatory, and litigation scrutiny, human resources professionals and counsel face a challenging and increasingly sophisticated landscape.

This session examines the growing legal challenges to DEI programs through the lens of federal anti-discrimination law, government enforcement trends, and emerging whistleblower theories. Drawing on recent litigation, agency guidance, and practical experience, we will explore how traditional civil rights principles are being applied to workplace policies, hiring and promotion practices, affinity programs, trainings, and compensation initiatives, while also addressing the expanding use of the False Claims Act and other enforcement mechanisms to challenge DEI-related representations and practices by government contractors, educational institutions, healthcare entities, and other federally funded organizations.

We will discuss how organizations can evaluate and structure initiatives to advance institutional goals while minimizing legal and reputational risk.

Seeing Around Corners: Preparing for the Next Wave of Benefit Plan Litigation

Speakers
Brian Pinheiro (Ballard Spahr)
Finn Pressly (Ballard Spahr)

With ERISA fiduciary litigation on the rise, employers must understand the fiduciary obligations associated with their benefit plan administration. After an update on the current state of the law, the presenters will review the new trends in benefit plan litigation and equip attendees with best practices for protecting themselves from class action complaints.