The second focus of this year’s conference is Refresh. The past few years have brought no shortage of updates and changes in legal arenas, benefit plan design philosophies, and sensitivity to the needs of a diverse employee population. We are excited to have attorneys from many of HR Virginia’s trusted legal partners and benefits professionals from across the state to help us refresh our knowledge in these very important and ever-evolving areas of human resources. Here are just a few of the sessions we can look forward to.

Legal Updates & Topics

• #headache: Social Media & Privacy in the Workplace – Randy C. Sparks Jr. – Kaufman & Canoles, PC  Posts and Tweets and Blogs.  Oh my!  Social media has invaded almost every aspect of modern life, including the workplace.  Employees spend time during the workday checking their Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and who knows what else, while employers use these very same media to network, advertise, and recruit.  This session will help you understand the bounds of employee privacy rights and how employers can protect themselves so that social media use does not become a #headache!

• Navigate Religion in the Workplace – Yvette Gatling – Littler Mendleson, Laura Saracina – Littler Mendelson, and Lauren M. Bridenbaugh – Littler Mendelson  The pandemic, cultural shifts, and new laws and court decisions have taken claims of religious discrimination from a relatively uncommon claim to a rapidly rising issue for many employers. This presentation will educate on how to navigate requests for religion-based accommodation, conflicts between employees, appropriate conduct in the workplace as it pertains to religion, and emerging legal and compliance challenges in this space.

• Balance the Scales Through a Pay Equity Refresh – Leah Stiegler – Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black PLC, Patice L Holland – Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black PLC, R Patrick Bolling – Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black PLC  It’s all fun and games until someone files a complaint. As workers become more contentious and more aware of anti-harassment laws, incident reports increase. HR professionals must understand how to conduct an effective investigation and avoid legal pitfalls.  Join the WRVB legal team in a mock investigation based on an actual harassment incident. Not only will you see how to run an investigation, you will be able to question witnesses and offer your conclusions during this interactive session.

• Refreshing Employer Immigration Procedures in a Hybrid/Remote Work Environment – Andrew Greenfield – Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP and Kelli Johnson – Stripe  Flexible work arrangements complicate immigration compliance. This presentation will help attendees remain vigilant of the compliance hurdles presented by key visa programs designed around “local” labor market wages and U.S. worker availability.

• Outrageous Employment Law Cases … and the Lessons We Can Learn! – Randy C. Sparks Jr. – Kaufman & Canoles, PC  Every day, HR professionals are called upon to deal with a variety of employee issues, often ranging from the novel to the bizarre. Do we always handle them correctly? Can we do it better? During this session, we will examine some real life, outrageous workplace situations and discuss the potential issues posed by each situation and best practices for addressing them.

Compensation & Benefit Topics

• Secure 2.0 Act: Summary of Key Changes Impacting Employer Provided Retirement Plans – Justin Steil – UBS Financial Services  In the final days of 2022, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which included a sweeping retirement reform package, SECURE 2.0. The law includes nearly 100 provisions of which many will impact workplace benefits plans (401k, 403b, SIMPLE IRA, etc.) and address the U.S. retirement savings crisis. These provisions continue the theme and reforms that began with the 2019 SECURE Act, focusing on getting more participants into the retirement system, finding ways for them to accumulate more assets, and helping them achieve retirement readiness. Join us for a summary of key provisions of required & optional changes for companies to adopt. Several of the optional provisions have potential to strengthen a company’s retirement benefits package and become more competitive attracting and retaining top talent.

• Rethinking Benefits: Meeting Diverse Employee Needs – Carrie Preston Barlett – USI Insurance Services  Employees want benefits that meet their individual needs. The time to refresh your approach to your employee benefits programs is here! Rising inflation and health care costs, tangible DEI initiatives, and mental health benefits are top of mind for both employers and employees in 2023 and beyond. Learn how to create savings for both employees and employers, while strengthening your recruitment and retention efforts. Join this discussion as we share strategies to make your benefits more inclusive.

• Intentionally Embedding DEI&B (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) In Your Organizations Retirement Plan – Christina Tunison – LPL Financial  The presentation will acknowledge and highlight the recent changes in the American workforce and explore different types of diversity present in the workplace. We will help retirement plan sponsors understand how they can intentionally leverage retirement plan levers including plan design features, tools, and education resources, as well as considerations for evaluating investment options to encourage and support participation in the retirement plan.

• Pay Clarity or Pay Confusion? A Guide to Developments in Pay Transparency Laws in an Era of Remote Work – Michael McIntosh – Littler Mendelson and Gilda Bethany Ingle – Littler Mendelson  In recent years, Virginia expanded protections for employees who share pay information, however several other states and localities have gone farther, enacting expansive pay transparency laws imposing obligations on employers to share pay data, a broader trend requiring pay scale disclosures in job postings, which may impact your compensation practices, especially if the organization utilizes remote workers. This session will explore this trend and how your organization could be affected.

In addition to these, we look forward to several sessions covering other relevant topics such as ethics in the workplace, strategic alignment, DEI strategy, FMLA and ADA compliance, workplace disputes, I-9 compliance and much more.

For a full conference schedule and descriptions of all keynote and concurrent sessions, click here.