HR Works: The Podcast for Human Resources

The pandemic has changed so much about how everyday HR tasks are completed. One of those tasks includes workplace investigations. A combination of remote work and additional health security measures have likely hampered workplace investigations. In this episode we 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.

In this episode we explore a simple question: can you mandate vaccinations at your workplace? We also discuss the latest guidance from the EEOC to some degree and take a stab at whether you should or not along with some other detailed considerations. 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.

It has been a few months since we have discussed workplace policies surrounding testing on this podcast. Since that time, testing has become much more widespread and available. In this episode, we will discuss what testing methods have been most effective, and what testing will look like next year. We are pleased to have back on the show today Dr. Sree Chaguturu, Chief Medical Officer for CVS Caremark (https://www.caremark.com/), the pharmacy benefits management business for CVS. He focuses on enhancing the quality of services provided to millions of its members and patients, while also contributing to the overall mission of CVS Health. Most recently, he was Chief Population Health Officer at Partners HealthCare. In this role, he led the system’s accountable care organization, one of the largest in the nation serving over 600,000 lives. Previously, he was a health care consultant at McKinsey and Company. Dr. Chaguturu is a practicing internal medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Lecturer at Harvard Medical School. His articles have appeared in publications such as the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and Health Affairs.

Many analysts and experts weighed in around this time last year to give their hiring predictions for 2020. We’ll never know how those predictions would have played out had the pandemic not occurred. Now we once again ask ourselves “what will hiring look like next year?” I have expert Michael “Batman” Cohen on the show to find out. Batman is the Founder of Wayne Technologies (https://www.waynetechnologiesinc.com/the-heros), a Contract Sourcing and Recruitment Training Organization. His approach to sourcing is one based on deliverables, transparent data, and using multiple sources/platforms to find the greatest diversity and quality of candidates. He will also be the keynote speaker in our virtual summit on December 9th called HR Now. Learn more here: https://interactive.blr.com/HR-Now-120920#Benefits

We all know that the move to remote work has many implications for the modern workforce. But does remote have to mean from home? Does it have to mean from your state? What about your country? Some countries have special packages that allow US employees to work abroad. In this episode we will explore this with Moe Vela, Chief Transparency Officer and Member of the Board of Directors of TransparentBusiness (https://transparentbusiness.com/), has worked in the remote work business for over a decade. He's been seen and quoted on Fox Business, Inc, Entrepreneur, Forbes, and more.

The Biden administration will be taking over on January 20, 2021. The administration’s approach to employment law will likely be very different from the current administration’s. Additionally, Executive Orders have played a large role in how employment law is conducted in the United States. What changes can Biden make with his own orders? What direction will the overall administration take? These are the questions I seek to answer in this episode of HR Works with my two guests. I am also excited to announce that this a SHRM-credit-approved podcast episode. Stay tuned for information on how to get your credits later in the program. My first guest is attorney Jo Ellen Whitney (https://www.davisbrownlaw.com/Jo-Ellen-Whitney) of Davis Brown (https://www.davisbrownlaw.com/) in Iowa. She is adept at managing the everyday chaos employers and human resource managers face. She is known for her approachable demeanor and practical approach to employment law. Jo is a prolific speaker and writer, simultaneously educating and entertaining audiences on the grey areas of employment law.  Her clients are employers, managers, physicians, hospital administrators, and HR professionals in the health, manufacturing, telecommunications, technology, agriculture, and finance industries as well as not-for-profit service organizations. She is described as “top notch” by clients she advises on a wide array of matters and issues relating to employment and labor law, health law, fair housing, privacy, and data security compliance, and contract and policy issues relating to grant funding. Our other guest is Charlie Plumb (https://www.mcafeetaft.com/bios/charles-s-plumb/), a shareholder at McAffee & Taft (https://www.mcafeetaft.com/) in Tulsa Oklahoma. He represents management in all phases of employment law and labor relations. Much of his practice is dedicated to counseling employers on compliance with a broad range of state and federal employment laws and regulations and educating management on best practices for avoiding disputes arising from the employer/employee relationship. He also has extensive litigation experience before federal and state courts, regulatory and administrative agencies, and in arbitration matters involving claims of discrimination, wrongful discharge, retaliatory discharge, breach of contract, and constitutional law violations.

It has been a few months since we have discussed workplace policies surrounding testing on this podcast. Since that time, testing has become much more widespread and available. Recent news has also offered us perhaps our first breath of fresh air in quite some time: two viable vaccines have been successfully developed. In this episode, we will discuss what these vaccines mean for employers, what kind of time frames we are talking about, and to what extent the vaccines will mitigate COVID-19. We are pleased to have back on the show today Dr. Sree Chaguturu, Chief Medical Officer for CVS Caremark (https://www.caremark.com/), the pharmacy benefits management business for CVS. He focuses on enhancing the quality of services provided to millions of its members and patients, while also contributing to the overall mission of CVS Health. Most recently, he was Chief Population Health Officer at Partners HealthCare. In this role, he led the system’s accountable care organization, one of the largest in the nation serving over 600,000 lives. Previously, he was a health care consultant at McKinsey and Company. Dr. Chaguturu is a practicing internal medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Lecturer at Harvard Medical School. His articles have appeared in publications such as the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and Health Affairs.

In the last episode, we began to discuss the issue of online accessibility and an increase in general, especially since the pandemic hit in lawsuits surrounding this issue. Today we are going to continue that discussion, specifically focusing on a proposed piece of legislation called the Online Accessibility Act. We are pleased to have back with us employment attorney Conner Eversole (https://www.hallestill.com/our-team/conner-eversole) to discuss this important issue today. Conner is an attorney at the national law firm Hall Estill (https://www.hallestill.com/) in corporate law. He's been helping businesses navigate the growing issue to help them comply with digital guidelines under the Americans With Disabilities Act. The WCAG guidelines that Conner spoke of can be found here: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/

This special episode is sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management, also known as SHRM. We are also excited to announce that this is our very first SHRM credit approved podcast episode. Stay tuned for information on how to get your credits later in the program. With large swaths of the workforce working remotely, some employers have growing concerns about employee productivity, as well as information security and confidentiality. While some monitoring of employees will occur at virtually every organization, the degree to which that monitoring is implemented and how can be the difference between getting useful information and accidentally learning protected information about your employees. Additionally, employers are struggling to protect their trade secrets and other confidential information among employees that are outside the watchful eye of their employers. We are pleased to have with us two attorneys from Jones Walker (https://www.joneswalker.com/) to discuss the issue of employee monitoring as well as how employers can protect themselves from trade secrets and confidential information threats. First, we have with us Joseph Lavigne (https://www.joneswalker.com/professionals/joseph-f-lavigne.html), a partner at Jones Walker. As a lead attorney on Jones Walker’s trade secret and non-compete team, Joe focuses his practice on prosecuting and defending claims of employee misconduct involving trade secret violations, unfair trade practices, non-compete violations, invasion of privacy, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act issues, theft, and related disputes. He also advises clients on employment policies and practices and regularly negotiates employment agreements for employers. We also have with us today P.J. Kee (https://www.joneswalker.com/professionals/p-j-kee.html), also a partner at Jones Walker. P.J. regularly represents clients in federal and state courts. He has been on trial teams that have not only successfully obtained and fended off injunctions relating to trade secrets, but also prevailed on the merits at trial. P.J. also litigates other complex commercial and employment matters that involve breach-of-contract claims, business torts, fraud claims, fiduciary duty actions, defamation claims, invasion-of-privacy claims, wage-and-hour disputes, Title VII claims, and appellate advocacy.

With the mass migration toward working from home, more employees are depending on digital devices and the Internet for essential information for everything both in and out of work. Yet, many websites, services, and digital tools are not accessible to people with disabilities. That may mean your employees are having difficulty completing their work. Meanwhile, your liabilities are increasing rapidly. We are pleased to have with us employment attorney Conner Eversole (https://www.hallestill.com/our-team/conner-eversole) to discuss this important issue today. Conner is an attorney at the national law firm Hall Estill (https://www.hallestill.com/) in corporate law. He's been helping businesses navigate the growing issue to help them comply with digital guidelines under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Please check back next week when we'll discuss proposed legislation that is designed to make online accessiblity lawsuits largely vanish for employers.