HR Works: The Podcast for Human Resources

As many of you may know, there are basically two exemptions when employers mandate COVID-19 vaccinations: medical and religious. Most of us can wrap our heads around a medical exemption because such exemptions are a little more concrete than their religious counterparts. In this episode, we are going to discuss religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine in some detail. We are going to learn how it applies, what the limitations are, and how HR can interact with employees that claim such an exemption. I am pleased to be joined today by Morgan E. Geffre (https://www.foulston.com/who-we-are/morgan-e-geffre), an Associate at Foulston’s Employment & Labor Law Practice Group (https://www.foulston.com) in Wichita, Kansas. She assists employers with the review and development of comprehensive employment policies and procedures and proactively researches rapidly evolving issues to help clients stay ahead of developing legal trends. Morgan writes in-depth about relevant legal matters for the Midwest Employment Law Letter and Kansas Employment Law Blog. For more details on this topic, check out Morgan's recently published article (https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2021/02/08/tips-for-judging-sincerity-of-employees-religious-beliefs). Remember you can always follow us on Twitter at @HRWorksPodcast (https://bit.ly/3l0dzP3), and we are also now available on Spotify (http://spoti.fi/3t8of13) and Audible (http://adbl.co/30uhdaq).

The pandemic ensured that so much of our communication takes place remotely through chats, phone calls, video conferences, and e-mails. While these methods of communication keep organizations alive, they also leave a lot behind. How do we recover the value of in-person communication? The answer might be AI that offers real-time analysis to stakeholders during meetings. This episode is part of the HR Daily Advisor’s HR Technology Week 2021 (https://interactive.blr.com/HR-Tech-Week-2021). Our goal is to discuss HR technology in general, and AI technology specifically with our guest, Neil Sahota (https://www.neilsahota.com/), an IBM Master Inventor, United Nations A.I. Advisor, professor at UC Irvine, and globally-recognized speaker and author. Neil is a founding member of the UN’s Artificial Intelligence for Social Good Committee. He is the author of Own the A.I.Revolution, providing a future-forward look at A.I., focusing on how businesses can use it to commercialize while doing good in the world. Remember you can always follow us on Twitter at @HRWorksPodcast (https://bit.ly/3l0dzP3), and we are also now available on Spotify (http://spoti.fi/3t8of13) and Audible (http://adbl.co/30uhdaq).

In this episode we are going to look at the relief package that is being kicked around between the House and the Senate, and what some of the provisions might mean for employers and employment law. President Joe Biden’s goals are clear and well outlined (https://joebiden.com/covid-plan/). They indicate a number of desired changes that would influence employment law. We are pleased to have back with us today the illustrious Maggie Spell (https://www.joneswalker.com/professionals/mary-margaret-spell.html), partner at the New Orleans location of Jones Walker (https://www.joneswalker.com). Maggie focuses her practice on cases brought under federal, state, and local employment laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. She regularly offers wage and hour compliance advice and has represented employers in numerous Fair Labor Standards Act collective actions and state-law wage and hour class actions.

In this episode, we examine the nature of employer lawsuits that are COVID-related. We’ll find out what lawsuits are on the rise and how employers can avoid them. Here to talk about these and other legal issues is employment lawyer and member of Clark Hill (https://www.clarkhill.com) in Collin County Texas, Kim Moore (https://www.clarkhill.com/people/kimberly-s-moore). Kim Moore has been pragmatically solving employer's problems for almost twenty-five years. A board-certified employment lawyer with an MBA and extensive experience in and out of the courtroom. Kim is passionate about achieving the client's goals in non-compete, theft of trade secrets, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage and hour matters. Kim genuinely enjoys her work, particularly understanding each client's business and its people. Kim serves as the Member in Charge of the firm's Collin County office. Kim is also a AAA trained mediator. She uses her knowledge to help parties resolve all types of conflicts.

Last year saw so many additional deaths due to COVID-19 and related causes that the life expectancy in the United States has dropped by 1.13 years. That means employers will be encountering unexpected employee deaths more frequently. How do leaders and HR handle this? How do they share the information with your employees? How can they find a balance of grieving and support? In this episode, we have with us Kari Niblack, the CEO of ACS Benefit Services (https://www.acsbenefitservices.com/) in North Carolina. She had to personally face this situation and is here to discuss her experiences and what she learned.

In this episode, we will be taking a hard look at how mothers in particular fared over the last year, the impact that the pandemic had on them, and how employers better position themselves to support mothers and create a place for them in the next normal. The issue will be discussed from an HR perspective as well as an employment law perspective. Our first guest is Kara Shea (https://www.butlersnow.com/attorney/kara-shea/), an attorney with Butler Snow (https://www.butlersnow.com/) in Nashville, TN. Kara is a member and Practice Group Leader for Labor and Employment. She regularly counsels clients in financial services, healthcare, and home health industries on employment law compliance. She has extensive trial and appellate experience in Tennessee and around the country. Our other guest is Michelle Keefe, CEO of Momup (https://www.momup.com/). As a stay at home mom, Michelle discovered like many of her friends she wanted to continue her career path with businesses that value work/life balance. She found herself surrounded by highly educated, skilled, energetic multitasking mega stars that were unemployed and looking for new exciting challenges. She realized by forging partnerships with progressive companies and connecting them with skilled talent Mom Up could make a huge impact. She holds a graduate degree from Harvard University and an ungraduated degree from the University of Notre Dame.

The pandemic pushed so many workers home at the same time that it introduced countless new sources of stress and anxiety. Keeping employees happy, or at least, not burnt out has never been more important as they work in isolation from their coworkers, and perhaps from everyone. How far can remote efforts to improve morale really go? Can any one approach, or combinations of approaches, offset what is lost with in-person camaraderie? In this episode, we are pleased to have with us Vicki Salemi (https://www.vickisalemi.com/). Vicki is a career expert, author, speaker, consultant, and a former corporate recruiter from New York City.

It was just last Wednesday when an unprecedented attack on the Capitol building captured the attention of the world. I, for one, watched with disbelief as doors were breached, police were overrun, tear gas was used on both attackers and defenders, and when one woman died. It was a grim scene and one that reminds us that even those places that are supposed to be secure can have serious security flaws. Ahead of the inauguration, the FBI recently warned all 50 states that there might be armed violence. We’ve all seen the pictures of the national guard in the capitol building but not everywhere will have such resources to protect themselves to that degree. As an HR professional, you likely play some role in your organizational security. This event has highlighted for all of us how important that role is, and how more can always be done. I am lucky to be joined today by Ty Smith, a retired Navy Seal and founder and CEO of CommSafe AI (https://commsafe.ai), an African American and disabled veteran-owned technology company that helps companies disrupt emerging threats via an AI communications analysis system that helps companies identify and mitigate toxic communication in the workplace before it escalates. As promised, here is a link to the article (https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2020/06/15/pandemic-create-new-threats-and-exacerbate-old-ones/) I mentioned discussing new threats during the pandemic with Ty.

When it comes to hiring, veterans are often overlooked. Many organizations have worked very hard to bring their unemployment numbers closer to other groups with some success. However, there is one related group of candidates that is even more often overlooked: military spouses. This episode will examine why that is a mistake on the part of employers. Our first guest is Lida Citreon, founder of LIDA360 (https://www.lida360.com/). A leader in reputation management and personal branding, Lida has worked with hundreds of international business leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals, designing and promoting authentic, passionate, and intentional reputation strategies that drive results. She also focuses on building up veteran and military spouse talent. We are also joined by Tina Flores, SPHR and 16 year military spouse. Tina knows all about the struggles that mil spouses face as she’s seen and lived it all. She has had to give birth (2x) without her husband present, she’s had to let go of her former life during a move (New State didn’t recognize a former state’s law school…) and safe to say she’s been married to a man who has been home less than he’s been away. More recently in her career, she has been focused on the more human side of business and has found her happy place in human resources. She’s been performing HR-ish roles since 2011, but has recently made it her mission to focus on this niche as sourcing, cultivating, training, and reviewing teams is where she belongs. Finally, we are also joined by Kayla Eberhardt. She is Program Coordinator, Entrepreneurship at the Institute for Veterans & Military Families (https://ivmf.syracuse.edu/). She is responsible for the coordination and support of objectives related to the growth of the Coalition for Veteran Business (CVOB) and the Center of Excellence in Veteran Entrepreneurship (CoE). Kayla brings a unique perspective to her role through her knowledge as both a former military spouse and daughter of a veteran entrepreneur.

In the last episode of HR Works COVID-19 Update (https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/podcast/hr-works-covid-19-update-conducting-remote-workplace-investigations/), we began to discuss conducting remote workplace investigations with an expert attorney. In this episode, we are going to continue that discussion, focusing specifically on how poorly conducted investigations can impact workplace culture. We once again have Andre Caldwell (https://ogletree.com/people/andre-b-caldwell/), a shareholder at Ogletree Deakins in Oklahoma City, to discuss this important issue. Mr. Caldwell began his career as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of Oklahoma where he was assigned to the Violent Crime and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. During his tenure, he was awarded the FBI Director’s award from FBI Director Robert Mueller for his outstanding prosecutorial skills. Just prior to joining Ogletree Deakins Mr. Caldwell was a shareholder at one of the largest and oldest law firms in Oklahoma and was an active member of the Criminal Defense Compliance and Investigations and Litigation and Trial practice groups. Mr. Caldwell utilized his wealth of trial and investigative experience to represent private and public companies of various sizes in all aspects of commercial litigation, preparation of compliance guidelines, and conducting corporate criminal risk assessments.