Mastering the Employee Handbook

Douglas Desmarais | Smith & Downey, P.A

Doug Desmarais focuses his practice on all aspects of labor and employer/employee relations, general litigation, ERISA litigation, and business immigration. He has extensive experience in representing clients before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, including with regard to claims involving sexual harassment and race, gender, religion, age, and disability discrimination and retaliation.

Doug frequently represents clients before the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, and the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Commission, as well as numerous other governmental agencies. His employment litigation experience includes representation of clients in federal and state courts across the country.

Doug also regularly counsels clients in all facets of employer/employee relations and provides training to assist clients in avoiding employment-related litigation. He is a frequent lecturer and panelist on educational programs in the labor and employment areas. Doug is the past chair of the Sexual Harassment Subcommittee, Committee on Labor and Employment Litigation, ABA Section of Litigation.

Zachary L. Erwin | A | C | K  ANDERSON | COE | KING

Mr. Erwin concentrates his civil litigation practice primarily in the areas of workers’ compensation and labor and employment defense. Zach has extensive experience in Maryland and the District of Columbia representing employers and insurers in workers’ compensation cases. In Maryland, Zach has successfully handled numerous cases before the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission, in various State Circuit Courts, and before the Maryland Court of Special Appeal and Court of Appeals. In the District of Columbia, Zach has represented employers and insurers before the Office of Workers’ Compensation, Office of Hearings and Adjudication, Compensation Review Board, and the DC Court of Appeals.

Zach’s practice also includes defending employers against individual and collective actions raising employment discrimination, employee benefits, and wage and hour claims under Title VII, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. In that capacity, Zach has vast experience representing employers and insurers in both state and federal court and before state and federal administrative agencies, including: The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, numerous Maryland and D.C. Fair Employment Practices Agencies, the Department of Labor, and MOSH/OSHA. Zach also regularly counsels’ clients on all aspects of the employer-employee relationship, including but not limited to employee handbooks, discrimination and accommodation, wage payment and collection, employee termination, and issues that frequently arise in the overlap between employment law and workers’ compensation.

Session I – A Primer on Employee Handbooks – Douglas Desmarais

I. Guidelines for Whether Your Organization Should or Should Not Have a Handbook | 2:00pm – 2:10pm
II. Ensuring Handbook Style Fits with Corporate Culture | 2:10pm – 2:20pm
III. Revising the Old vs. Starting Anew | 2:20pm – 2:30pm
IV. Topics That Must be Included | 2:30pm – 2:45pm

Break | 2:45pm – 2:50pm

V. Topics That Must be Included | 2:50pm – 3:00pm
VI. Topics That Should be Included | 3:00pm – 3:10pm
VII. What to Avoid in a Handbook | 3:10pm – 3:20pm
VIII. How to Document Distribution of an Employee Handbook | 3:20pm – 3:30pm

Break | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

Session II – Zachary Erwin

I. Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Policy | 3:40pm – 4:10pm
II. Drug Testing Policy | 4:10pm – 4:40pm

Break | 4:40pm – 4:45pm

III. Remote Working Policy | 4:45pm – 5:20pm