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Background Checks for the 21st Century: How to Protect Your Organization Without Sinking in the Quagmire of New Laws


Product Code - LGN65
Speaker(s): Philip L. Gordon, Littler Mendelson P.C.; Barry A. Hartstein, Littler Mendelson P.C.; Rod M. Fliegel, Littler Mendelson P.C.
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Study after study demonstrate that an organization’s own people pose the most significant threat to information security and the privacy of customer, patient, and employee data. Privacy and human resources professionals have responded by implementing increasingly rigorous screening programs and by subjecting vendors’ employees to similarly stringent background checks. While mitigating privacy and information security risk, these screening programs can unwittingly create substantial legal exposure for the organization.

New federal and state laws are imposing increasingly complex restrictions on criminal history, credit and social media checks. At the same time, regulators such as the EEOC are flexing their enforcement muscle in an area that previously had seen limited enforcement action. These enforcement actions have caught the attention of plaintiffs’ class action counsel who challenge screening in practices in lawsuits alleging violations of federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and other state and federal laws.

In this presentation, a panel of leading experts in the areas of personal privacy and practices and background checking will describe these critical new developments and their implications. The panel also will provide practical recommendations on conducting effective background checks in compliance with the web of new laws regulating the area.

Educational Objectives:

• Understand privacy pitfalls and how to avoid them.
• Learn to advise your clients to conduct effective pre-employment screening in compliance with the many state and federal laws regulating the area.
• Find out how to reduce the risk of government enforcement actions.
• Learn to advise your clients how they may gain thorough knowledge of their vendors and who is working for same.

Who would benefit from attending the program?

Privacy professionals, human resource professionals, and in-house employment and privacy counsel.

Program Level: Intermediate.

Credit Available: CLE. For more information, please click on the “CLE Credit” tab.

Philip L. Gordon, Littler Mendelson P.C.; Barry A. Hartstein, Littler Mendelson P.C.; Rod M. Fliegel, Littler Mendelson P.C.

Philip L. Gordon, Littler Mendelson P.C.
Philip Gordon chairs the Privacy and Data Protection Practice Group of Littler Mendelson, the nation’s largest law firm representing only management in employment law matters. He counsels employers on the full range of privacy and data protection issues, including background checks; monitoring employees’ electronic communications; regulating social media and other new technologies; compliance with HIPAA and other federal, state and international data protection laws; and security incident response. Mr. Gordon sits on the Advisory Board of Bloomberg BNA’s Privacy and Security Law Report. His blog is located at www.workplaceprivacycounsel.com. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the New York University School of Law.

Barry A. Hartstein, Littler Mendelson P.C.
Barry Hartstein has earned a national reputation for a career that includes more than 30 years of counseling and representing employers in a broad range of labor and employment matters. He is a frequent writer, commentator and lecturer on workplace issues. He also has extensive experience as a litigator and has defended employers nationwide in individual and class action claims and wage and hour collective actions. Mr. Hartstein has particular expertise dealing with the EEOC on both a local and national level, which included a recent invitation by the EEOC Chair to address the Commission at a recent meeting in Washington D.C. on the legal standards governing employers’ consideration of criminal arrest and conviction records. He earned a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law and a B.S. from Cornell University.

Rod M. Fliegel, Littler Mendelson P.C.
Rod Fliegel, Co-Chair of Littler's Hiring and Background Checks Practice Group, has been practicing exclusively in the area of labor and employment law since 1993. He has broad subject matter experience and significant expertise in class action defense and the intersection of the federal and state background check laws (e.g., Title VII and the Fair Credit Reporting Act and their state law equivalents). Mr. Fliegel also has extensive experience defending employers in state, federal, and administrative litigation, including matters with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the New York Office of the Attorney General. As the national coordinating counsel for several clients, he handles and oversees civil and administrative matters throughout the country. Mr. Fliegel earned a J.D., with honors, from Golden Gate University School of Law and a B.A. from Oberlin College.

This program is CLE-credit eligible.

If you have further questions regarding a specific state or how to file for CLE credit, please contact Bloomberg BNA customer service at 800-372-1033 and ask to speak to the Legal and Business CLE Accreditation Coordinator.

Hardship Policy
Bloomberg BNA offers a hardship policy for attorneys earning less than $50,000 per year. If an attorney wishes to take advantage of this option, he or she must contact Bloomberg BNA directly. For attorneys who are unemployed or earning less than $35,000 per year, a full discount off the price of the program will be awarded upon written proof of hardship. Attorneys earning between $35,000 and $50,000 per year will receive a 50% discount off the price of the program. Any attorney working in the public service sector also qualifies for a special price. If you have further questions regarding the hardship policy or seek additional information, please contact Bloomberg BNA customer service at 800-372-1033 and ask to speak to Lindsey Pace, CLE Accreditations Coordinator, or email us at accreditations@bna.com.

Questions
For more information about Mandatory or Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) requirements, visit the American Bar Association website at http://www.abanet.org/cle/mandatory.html.