Advanced Essentials of HR & Employment Law

Advanced Essentials of HR & Employment Law // Business 455
Dan Waldman, General Counsel & Co-Founder, StyleOwner, Inc.
Monday, April 23rd from 8:00 - 9:30 pm
As discussed in the introductory class that lays the groundwork for this class (Introduction to HR & Employment Law), the broad issue of "people" and "people management" is one of the greatest challenges facing a start-up enterprise. On one hand, entrepreneurs need to be keenly aware of the unmarked (and often conflicting) traps that are all around them. On the other hand, your people are your most important asset. Developing unique HR and employment law practices can add value to your budding business rather than merely being seen as boxes to be checked or traps to be avoided.
This class will cover topics involving those roughly grouped together as "preventative" as well as those that can be seen as value-adding. Among the topics to be covered:
Paying People Right: Issues like overtime, meal and rest periods, classifying workers as exempt or non-exempt (aka "salaried" versus "hourly"), and paying for agency temporary workers will be discussed in more detail. While these topics may seem mundane, frequently the first unexpected lawsuit befalling start-ups arises in one of these areas. We will explore further the issues of paying people properly.
Harassment and Discrimination: Anyone who has worked for a larger company will probably touched on the issue of harassment and discrimination. But what can you, as entrepreneur, do to mitigate risk? Even where you haven't harassed or discriminated, you may still be called to the carpet to account for your (or your co-founders') actions. We will talk about not only how to avoid harassment and discrimination, but to avoid creating the kinds of "bad facts" that could cost you a lot of that hard-fought seed money, even though you didn't actually harass or discriminate. We will also talk about the importance of conducting harassment prevention training.
Adding Value: