Breakfast Briefing for Real Estate Professionals: Avoiding the Pain of Employment Lawsuits - New York, NY

In today’s economy, reducing the threat of employment lawsuits and protecting your investment is more important than ever. Some of the most common pitfalls for employers arise from employment laws and regulations you may not even know about. Please join Seyfarth Shaw for a specially-designed seminar for our real estate clients and friends, covering the following topics:

• Wage/overtime claims: Lawsuits alleging violations of federal and state wage and hour laws are increasing exponentially, and many such claims have been brought around the country against real estate firms, developers and construction firms by employees such as site and property managers, groundskeepers, and assistant managers. Learn what you need to know to protect yourself from a potentially damaging lawsuit.
  
  
• New labor laws: Times are tough, and unions are under increasing pressure. Combine that with the Obama administration’s strong support of labor unions, and you have a combustible situation. Learn the effect of new and proposed labor laws on the building service workers union (SEIU 32BJ) – a union many of you deal with every day, or can expect to soon.
  
  
• Superintendent’s apartment and sideline work: Do you know how to reconcile the offset value of a super’s apartment with his or her wages? How should you deal with a situation where a super is performing sideline work on company time for occupants of your building or for other buildings? We’ll also cover the ins and outs of termination for cause and the practical way to handle a settlement relating to termination.
  
  
• The New York Social Security Number Protection Law: Did you know that as of January 2008, you are required to become much more proactive in protecting the social security numbers of your employees, tenants, shareholders, unit owners and others? Penalties can be up to $1,000 for a single violation and up to $100,000 for multiple violations resulting from a “single act or incident,” so this law has real teeth, yet most New York businesses are not sure of how to comply. We’ll show you what to do to protect yourself.
  
  
• New Federal COBRA subsidy rules: The Economic Stimulus Package provides a significant government subsidy toward COBRA for individuals who have lost group health plan coverage due to an involuntary termination of employment. Do you know who is covered and what you as an employer have to do to comply?

We’ll also cover some of the best proactive measures you can employ to protect yourself from employee lawsuits, such as having discrimination and harassment policies and providing training to your management and staff.

During a down economy, labor and employment lawsuits increase exponentially. Come learn how to protect yourself and your business by putting the right practices in place now, before there’s a problem.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER