Speaker: Mr. Sam Sherman, co-founder and partner in San Diego's IP, litigation and employment law firm of Tencer Sherman LLP

Topic: Employment Law Update and Avoiding Litigation

The meeting is free for all FENG members and their guests. For those desiring CPE credit, 1.0 hours CPE credit will be given out, with the procedure for this to be reviewed in the meeting.

The Details: Discussion Topic and Speaker 

In many areas of law, and employment law in particular, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Seemingly small violations can quickly turn into major headaches, including individual litigation and class action lawsuits.

This is a big issue in California, which often sets the tone for many other states as well.  We have, by far, the largest population of any American state, with that population now at almost 40 million.  California also has labor laws that are among the most employee-friendly in the country, which is a factor in drawing people to the state which, in turn, provides a vibrant labor pool supporting the growth of the thousands of established and startup companies residing in the state.  But those same realities make it a challenge to employers.

This subject is vitally important for financial execs, especially those who may also have direct responsibility for human resource management, those who have any responsibility for the corporate culture, or those who are outside of the corporate world doing consulting or contract work.

This presentation will give us a look at recently passed employment laws and how they affect our businesses.  He will also look at recent trends in employment litigation, which are often tied to those new laws as well as to other developments in the economy and the political landscape.  

And at least as important as those above two topics will be Sam's discussion of how to avoid employment lawsuits.

This presentation will discuss how understanding our employment laws, as well as the surrounding federal laws, and implementing good employment policies and practices, can make your employees happy, dedicated and loyal, and can grow your business.  We’ll also take a look at the other side of that coin — how a single disgruntled employee, and an employer’s non-compliance with the Labor Code, can turn into a class action lawsuit with damages in the millions, and can devastate a business, in terms of time, money, and company morale.

We will leave this talk with several key takeaways:

 •  The benefit of complying with antidiscrimination reporting requirements -- and staying ahead of any resultant issues.

 •  Knowing what constitutes unfair labor law practices, and how to avoid them.

 •  Being conversant with what state law requires for benefits eligibility for your employee demographic, and what could get you in hot water.

 •  In what areas could your company be deficient, where it may need to enhance its employee training, to avoid running afoul of the law.

 •  How taking preventive measures with good employment law policies and practices can save your company money -- and may save your company itself -- and develop happy and loyal employees.

Because of the breadth and depth of our members’ experience with various aspects of employment law, we expect this to be a highly interactive presentation and discussion.  On the subject of guests, if you would like to invite your company's general counsel or head of HR to attend, or a non-company colleague of yours, please feel free to do so -- they could both benefit from the presentation and add to the discussion.

About our speaker 

As one of the founding members of San Diego's Tencer Sherman law firm, Sam Sherman has a breadth of experience from the courtroom to the boardroom, now focused in his practice on employment law.  His practice concentrates on defending and advising California employers on all aspects of employment law.

On the advising side, Sam guides employers on compliance with California’s labor and employment laws, drafting employee handbooks, auditing employee/independent contractor designations, separation agreements, and all other areas of employment law.  His advice work focuses on wage and hour compliance, assisting in investigating employee claims of harassment, and drafting handbooks, offer letters, nondisclosure agreements, employment agreements and separation arrangements. 

On the litigation side, Sam is an experienced trial lawyer, having served as lead trial counsel for businesses and individuals in various bench and jury trials. Sam specializes in defending corporations in a full range of of employment related lawsuits. This work ranges from defending employment claims alleging individual and class action wage and hour violations as well as individual claims for harassment, discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination.  His work has gone beyond the corporate world into the public sector, where he has spent a considerable portion of his practice defending school districts and other public entities in all areas of litigation, including personal injury, employment arrangements and student sexual assault. 

Outside the office, Sam devotes a good portion of his spare time to community involvement. He has served as past co-chair of the San Diego County Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. He currently serves on the board of directors for Serving Seniors, a San Diego based non-profit organization focused on feeding, housing and educating low-income seniors.
 

Mr. Sherman graduated in 1999 from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in policy studies. Mr. Sherman received his juris doctorate in 2003 from the University of San Diego School of Law.

During his time at USD School of Law, Mr. Sherman was a member of the Mock Trial team and received various awards and recognitions for his trial skills at competitions in California and Arizona.