Psychological Issues in the Workplace 2018

About the Event

Psychological issues in employment law are both unavoidable and fascinating. They can create or resolve disputes and are often at the heart of workplace complaints and claims. While mental disability accommodation requests and discrimination charges continue to increase, they are far from the only workplace disputes involving psychological issues. As our workforce ages, facts and myths about older workers’ cognitive abilities play an important role in their utilization and management, as well as the creation of discrimination claims. In these types of disputes – at the intersection of employment law and psychology -- attorneys and mental health professionals frequently work together and often are on opposite sides of disputes. Yet attorneys and mental health professionals struggle too often to communicate effectively. This program brings together prominent practitioners from the management and plaintiffs’ bars, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in-house counsel, professional mediators, and psychiatrists, to transcend the jargon, identify practical ways of working together, and to describe effective strategies to avoid, pursue and resolve litigation. They will address in a clear and pragmatic way key legal and ethical issues at the intersection of employment law and psychology. In-house employment and labor counsel, outside counsel for employers and employees, human resources executives, and forensic mental health professionals will benefit from this program.

What You Will Learn

• Update from the EEOC and plaintiffs’ bar on key mental disability issues under the Americans with Disabilities Act, including accommodations issues, and the pursuit of emotional distress claims in litigation
• Strategies to resolve highly emotional workplace complaints and claims, including perspectives of a mediator as well as defense and employee rights counse
• Myths, biases and facts about the aging workforce and cognitive impairments, and the psychological challenges of new technology
• Ethical issues that arise when lawyers and mental health professionals work together or are adverse in litigation
• Ethical issues that arise when sensitive information about an employee’s or litigant’s psychiatric history and mental health record is at issue

Featured Speakers

Stephen P. Sonnenberg, Esq. (Chairperson)
Dina R. Jansenson, Esq.

Credit

Transitional: Newly admitted NY attorneys can earn ethics, professional practice, law practice management, and skills credits in this format. Total NY CLE Credits: 4.5 (Ethics - 1.00 and Professional Practice - 3.5)

Date / Time

Wednesday, April 25, 2018
12:30 PM - 5:00 PM ET

Location

PLI New York Center
1177 Avenue of the Americas, 2nd floor
(entrance on 45th Street)
New York, NY 10036