Southwest Florida Employment Law Blog : Southwest Florida Employment and Labor Lawyers & Attorneys for Discrimination Lawsuits and Civil Rights Cases in Fort Myers, Bonita Springs & Sanibel FL

We are so excited to announce that registration for the 2013 HR Law & Solutions seminar is now open!  The seminar is set for March 19, 2013, at the Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa.  Topics and speakers include:

• Legislative and Case Law Update presented by Robert Shearman, Esq. and John Agnew, Esq.
• Strategies and Best Practices for Handling Workplace Investigations presented by John Potanovic, Esq.
• Breakout Session #1, Latest Developments in Immigration Law presented by Tulio Suarez, Esq.
• Breakout Session #2, What’s New in the Workers’ Compensation Arena presented by Cora Molloy, Esq., David Roos, Esq., and Michael McCabe, Esq.
• HR – Keepers of the Culture:  Creating a Workplace of High Performance, Quality and Excellence, presented by Guest Speaker Chip Madera
• Employment Law IQ:  Test Your Knowledge and Issue Spotting Abilities presented by Vicki Sproat, Esq. and Suzanne Boy, Esq.

Though we know we have a tall order to surpass last year's 20th Anniversary HR Law & Solutions, we have a great line up and, of course, a few fun surprises as well.  Last year was a record-breaking year with over 300 attendees -- we hope you all will help us exceed that this year!  Click here to download the brochure.  Click here to register.  Looking forward to seeing you soon!

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

We are so excited to announce details for the 21st Annual HR Law & Solutions Seminar!  This year's event will be held March 19, 2013 at Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa. 

For our 21st seminar, we will offer sessions on workplace investigations, workers' compensation, immigration, health care reform, and of course the case law update.  We're also bringing back the employment law Jeopardy, since it was a lot of fun and got rave reviews last year!  For our guest speaker, we are excited to welcome Chip Madera, a dynamic motivational speaker who will present HR– Keepers of the Culture:  Creating a Workplace of High Performance, Quality, and Excellence.  

Special thanks to our lunch sponsor Lykes Insurance.  Lykes has been a great partner for us over the years, and we are honored to have Lykes' continued support. 

Another special thanks -- and warm welcome -- to our new partner, and breakfast sponsor, CTR Systems, Inc.  We are so happy to have you on board!

We'll be spotlighting our sponsors here on the blog as we get closer to the seminar.   If your company would like to become a sponsor, contact Gail Lamarche to discuss your options.

Registration will open at the beginning of February.  We hope you'll join us this year, as we aim to make this the biggest and best HR Law & Solutions yet!

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Can you believe we're less than a month away from 2013? I can't! 

One of the things that will change for Florida employers is the minimum wage, which is set to increase again in 2013, rising from $7.67 to $7.79 per hour. The minimum wage for tipped employees is rising as well, from $4.65 to $4.77 per hour.

The increase is effective beginning January 1, 2013. Employers should make sure payroll is adjusted appropriately. Employers should also update their minimum wage posters, which must be posted in a conspicuous and accessible place. You can download the English version of the new poster here, and the Spanish version here.

In other news, we've been hard at work behind-the-scenes planning the 2013 HR Law & Solutions seminar. We hope to make it even bigger and better than 2012 -- and that's a tall order considering the 2012 seminar ended with a 20th Anniversary champagne & Norman Love celebration! 

Check back later this week for more information.  As always, if you have any suggestions or requests for things you'd like to see at our 2013 seminar, feel free to comment here, or you can call or email me -- I'd love to hear them.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Henderson Franklin's Employment Law Practice Group will host its first HR Law Mini-Conference in Cape Coral on October 16, 2012 at the beautiful Resort at Marina Village.  Join us for a half-day seminar focused on topics that affect local employers and businesses.  Sessions include:

• Protecting your Bottom Line and Control Workers' Compensation Costs: War Stories from the Workers' Compensation Crypt, presented by Cora Molloy, David Roos and Michael McCabe and moderated by John Agnew
• What to do When the EEOC Comes Knocking, presented by Suzanne Boy
• The Retaliation Claim Boom: Best Practices to Minimize Liability, presented by John Potanovic
• E-Verify - Considerations Regarding Enrollment, Use & Requirements, presented by Tulio Suarez

The seminar has been approved for 3.0 General Recertification Credit Hours toward PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification through the HR Certification Institute.  For additional details, click here to download the seminar brochure.  To register, click here, or contact our Marketing Director Gail Lamarche at 239.344.1186 or gail.lamarche@henlaw.com.

Special thanks to our in-kind sponsors Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce and Cape Coral Construction Industry Association, and to our breakfast sponsor IberiaBank.  We hope to see you there on October 16!

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Yesterday, Henderson Franklin's Employment Law Practice Group hosted the 20^th Anniversary of its HR Law & Solutions seminar at Sanibel Harbour Resort.  The seminar was a great success!  Over 300 attendees heard presentations on a variety of law topics, including retaliation, workers' compensation, and immigration, and they tested their skills in a lively game of "Employment Law Jeopardy."  We also welcomed back the hilarious Sean Carter, "Humorist at Law," to rave reviews, and inducted four new members into the HR Law & Solutions Hall of Fame.

We capped the day with a special surprise celebration, when Norman Love of Norman Love Confections arrived to present a giant, multi-level chocolate cake.  The entire cake -- even the law books and gavel -- was edible!  Attendees enjoyed the delicious cake along with a champagne toast. It was the perfect ending to our anniversary celebration.

To all who attended, I would like to extend a sincere thank you from all of us.  We couldn’t ask for a better group, and we look forward to 20 more years with you all!

Here are a few photos from the event.  For the complete album, be sure to visit our Facebook page.

Hall of Fame Inductees Frank Shore, Pam Fairfax, Donnie Laubheimer, and Chief Bill Lombardo.

Employment Law Jeopardy

Side view of the amazing Norman Love Confections cake

Champagne toast for our 20th Anniversary!

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Preparation for the 20th Anniversary HR Law & Solutions seminar is well under way, and we have reached record numbers -- with nearly a month to go!  As of this post, we have 295 attendees registered.  The good news is that we've secured additional space, so we can continue accepting registrations even after we hit 300.  The better news, for those of you who haven't registered, is that to celebrate the largest attendance in HR Law & Solutions history, we will give a prize to registrant #300 at the seminar!  If you haven't registered, please do soon!  This seminar is sure to be our best yet, and we are so excited to share everything we have planned with all of you.  Check out my previous post for the event schedule and details, and click here to register.  Looking forward to seeing you March 27!  

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I am excited to announce we have just opened registration for the 20th Anniversary of our HR Law & Solutions Seminar!  The seminar is March 27 at Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa.  Topics and speakers include:

• Employment Law and Legislative Update presented by Attorneys Robert Shearman and John Agnew
• First Report of Injury: Best Practices to Save Your Bottom Line presented by Attorneys Cora Molloy and David Roos
• DHS/DOL Immigration Audits: Is Your Company Ready? presented by Board Certified Immigration Lawyer Tulio Suarez 
• Dealing with the Retaliation Claim Boom presented by Board Certified Employment Lawyer John Potanovic
• Employment Law IQ: Test Your Knowledge and Issue Spotting Abilities presented by Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer Vicki Sproat and Attorney Suzanne Boy
• It's Not the Fruit, It's the Root presented by guest speaker Sean Carter, Humorist at Law.

Also, as I teased in my Save the Date post, we have some fun surprises up our sleeves, including a surprise guest and a special 20th Anniversary celebration!  Download the seminar brochure here.  Click here to register.  Can't wait to see you all!

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Henderson Franklin is so excited to announce the 20th Annual HR Law & Solutions seminar will take place March 27, 2012 at Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa.  To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we have several great topics planned, we are bringing back the hilarious Sean Carter, and we might just have a few surprises up our sleeves! 

Registration will open in the beginning of February.  Thank you for your continued support of our seminar -- we are looking forward to making it the best yet, and can't wait to share all we have planned with you.

• Print
• Comments (6)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Last week, we hosted the 19th Annual HR Law & Solutions seminar.  We welcomed a huge crowd and, for the first time, two fabulous guest speakers.  Paul Macleish got the day started off right (bagpipes anyone?!), and Dr. Rick Goodman finished the day with a bang.  In between, attendees learned about new cases, the FLSA, worker's compensation, and GINA from Henderson Franklin attorneys.

We inducted three new members into the HR Law & Solutions Hall of Fame:  Lori Burke of INgage Networks, Anna Evans of Lykes Insurance, and Sandie Peterson of Markham Norton.  Our Hall of Fame recognizes attendees for their contribution to our seminar, and to the HR field in Southwest Florida. 

Anna Evans, Sandie Peterson, Lori Burke

A packed house!

You can checkout our Facebook page for more photos.  We want to thank everyone who attended for helping make the event such a success.  A very special thanks goes out to our generous lunch sponsor, Lykes Insurance.  Your continued support and partnership means so much to us!

Plans are already underway for next year's seminar -- our 20th anniversary celebration!   

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

By now I hope you have registered for our 19th Annual HR Law & Solutions Seminar, as we are at full capacity with a wait list!  Inevitably, though, we will have a few cancellations, so if you haven't registered yet and would like to attend please contact Gail Lamarche ASAP.  We have so many exciting things planned, and don't forget the 5.75 HRCI Strategic Credits. Check out the agenda here.

For the first time, we will have live Twitter updates throughout the seminar, provided mostly by the fabulous Lori Burke on the HR Collier feed.  We will use #swflhrlaw and #shrm as hashtags.  If you're in the audience, feel free to join in! 

Finally, I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to send in their questions for the breakout sessions in advance.  We will, of course, field live questions at the seminar, but if you want to send them in now please email them to me at suzanne.boy@henlaw.com. 

See you Tuesday!

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

We are less than three weeks away from the 19th Annual HR Law & Solutions Seminar, and thanks to an overwhelming (and record-setting!) response, we are only 10 spots away from being at full capacity.  If you haven't signed up and want to attend, register here, or contact Gail Lamarche at gail.lamarche@henlaw.com as soon as possible. 

As I've told mentioned before, we are featuring two fabulous guest speakers this year.  I profiled the first, Paul Macleish, in this post last month.  I want to take a minute to profile our second guest speaker, Dr. Rick Goodman:

What can an ex-team physician for the St. Louis Rams teach local business owners and HR professionals?  Dr. Rick Goodman's high-energy speeches are designed for companies of all sizes that want to maximize their potential. Dr. Rick has been working and studying with some of the most successful people and organizations in the world for over 20 years. He has developed unique and effective systems that help organizations.

In 1995, Dr. Rick became a medical staff member for two professional sports teams, the St. Louis Rams and the St. Louis Ambush. After selling his medical practice, Dr. Rick worked with two of the largest corporations in America, McDonnell Douglas and Boeing Corporation, where he implemented strategies to form and execute self-directed work teams. Throughout the project, he worked directly with leaders from all branches of the armed services to increase the productivity of all employees, maximize efficiency, and cut costs. During the first two years, Dr. Rick saved each company several million dollars and even prevented layoffs at all of their facilities.

Dr. Rick doesn't speak, teach, or train from the text book but passionately shares his life's stories and experiences with laughter and fun. Click here for a YouTube sneak peak.

We are very excited to welcome Dr. Rick to our seminar, and we think attendees are in for a real treat.  See you soon!

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

We are very close to opening registration for the 19th Annual HR Law & Solutions seminar and we couldn't be more excited!  We have a lot of great things planned this year, including, for the first time, TWO guest speakers.  The first, Paul Macleish, is profiled below.  We will profile the second guest speaker in the coming weeks. 

Our first guest speaker, Paul Macleish, is originally from the Scottish border.  Paul is a seasoned human resource professional, leadership coach, facilitator, author and motivational speaker. Paul created Achieve Leadership,® a company which specializes in creating and sustaining a culture of leadership excellence through sound business practices, good people skills, human resource best practices and great mentorship, development and guidance. 

Paul is an authority on the subject of developing world-class leaders to meet the challenges of today and the vision of tomorrow.   He was involved in the leadership development performance excellence strategies at Walt Disney World®, which helped transform the Disney® culture to a culture of high leadership performance and accountability.

Paul's presentation "Becoming a True Strategic Partner" will help attendees:

• understand why they need to become strategic partners
• understand how to identify key business needs that will help align participants as a strategic partner
• build an awareness of influencing skills and how to build alliances in the workplace
• understand the importance of the company vision, mission and goals and how to use them on a daily basis
• understand how to have a greater strategic impact with your boss, team and peers and elevate your professional reputation within the workplace.

Check back next week for registration, and for a very exciting announcement about the HRCI credits that will be available to attendees this year.  Make sure to register early, as last year we were near full capacity with 280 attendees.  Thank you so much for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you all Tuesday, April 26, 2011.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The Employment Law Practice Group is pleased to provide the February 2010 edition of the Employment Law Update, which features the following articles:

• Did you know that Florida ranks second only to California in the number of wage and hour suits brought against employers?  Robert Shearman provides employers with a timely update and advice in "Taking Care of Business and Working Overtime: FLSA Lawsuits on the Rise."

• Whether an employee is terminated because of a depressed economy or poor performance, severance agreements are important for employers and employees alike. John Agnew explains in "Why a 'Golden Parachute' Can Be As Good For The Employers As It Is for the Employee, Especially in Difficult Economic Times."

• In the article "Amendment to FMLA Expands Military Family Leave," Joanne Lashey explains how FMLA policies should be reviewed and revised to comply with changes to exigency leave, contingency operations and caregiver leave requirements.

• Be sure to mark your calendar and save the date of April 27, 2010 so you can attend the 18th Annual HR Law & Solutions Seminar at Pelican Preserve Country Club in Fort Myers. The topics and speakers are announced on page 4; look for registration to begin mid-March.

• Click to download your copy of the Employment Law Update.

• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link