2025 Employment Law Update

Thursday, February 20, 2025

*Dates and times are subject to change.

Session 1: Employment Law Year in Review & What to Anticipate in 2025
Gary Clark & Kaitlin Phillips, Quarles & Brady

2024 brought a whirlwind of employment law changes, but what lies ahead in 2025 could significantly reshape the landscape for employers. With the new presidential administration just sworn into office, we’ll discuss regulatory changes, legislative updates, and key trends that could impact your organization. We will also discuss recent changes in law and litigation trends that will impact your workforce in 2025, including new pregnancy accommodation requirements, potential non-compete bans, a genetic information discrimination litigation trend and new updates regarding the use of AI. Equip yourself with the insights needed to navigate the evolving legal landscape and ensure your compliance strategy is ready for the challenges ahead.

Session 2A: Managing FMLA Traps and Staying Ahead of the Trends
Jeff Nowak, Littler Mendelson

This past year ushered in a host of fascinating developments involving the FMLA. Courts across the country have issued important decisions on caring for a family member, employee notice and medical certification. The reality is that the FMLA lays a whole bunch of traps for even the most seasoned HR professional, so it’s essential that we keep a mindful eye on the red flags and master the trends as we administer our employee leaves of absence. In this session, Littler shareholder Jeff Nowak will highlight the latest FMLA traps and trends and identify practical solutions to help employers stay compliant. Specifically, Jeff will address:

• The likelihood of federal paid leave in a second Trump administration
• Managing remote employees under the FMLA: Is your remote employee located in the far reaches of Idaho eligible for FMLA leave?
• DOL is not going away anytime soon: How to navigate a Department of Labor FMLA investigation
• Does the FMLA now provide job protected leave for a sibling to care for another sibling? One important court just gave us the answer

Session 2B: Handbook Hacks: Crafting Clear, Concise, and Compliant Employee Guides
Holly Corkery, Lynch Dallas

Crafting an employee handbook can be a daunting task, but creating and maintaining a quality employee handbook will help your workplace thrive. This presentation will review not only what an employer should include in an employee handbook, but how to effectively communicate that information to employees in a way that fosters a positive workplace culture.

Session 3A - 2025 Illinois State Legislative Update
Craig Papka & Michael Sherer, Von Briesen

For Illinois employers, the 2025 legal updates focus on several key changes impacting workplace policies and practices. New regulations address wage theft, employee leave rights, and expanded protections against discrimination, requiring businesses to update their compliance strategies. Employers will also need to be aware of new laws regarding workplace safety, remote work, and employee classification to avoid legal risks.

Session 3B - 2025 Iowa State Legislative Update
Terri Davis, Shuttleworth & Ingersoll

This session will cover changes in Iowa’s statutory and regulatory provisions affecting employers. We will discuss new requirements for employers as well as strategies and best-practices for updating policies and training your managers to make sure your organization is in compliance.

Session 3C - 2025 Minnesota State Legislative Update
Krista Hatcher & Ayesha Mitha, Fredrikson Law

Following the sweeping changes of 2023, the 2024 legislative session saw more new and updated laws affecting Minnesota workplaces. Will 2025 build on this trend? Between modifications to sick and safe time, new pay transparency requirements, expanded protections for pregnant employees and new parents, the upcoming unemployment insurance-style paid family and medical leave system, and other changes, Minnesota employers need to review their policies and practices to ensure they remain in compliance. This session will also cover what we might expect in the coming year.

Session 3D - 2025 Ohio State Legislative Update
Bill Nolan, Barnes & Thornburg

Ohio courts and legislative bodies are keeping employers busy in 2025. While the Ohio General Assembly has not passed significant employment legislation since 2021’s Employment Law Uniformity Act (ELUA), the courts and employers are still interpreting important ELUA issues. Ohio cities are increasingly restricting salary history inquiries, the cannabis landscape continues to evolve, and Ohio courts are considering important issues on noncompetes and sexual orientation discrimination. This session will catch you up on all of those developments and more, and make sure you are ready to tackle the biggest current issues for Ohio employers.

Session 3E - 2025 Wisconsin State Legislative Update
Ann Barry Hanneman & Erica Storm, Von Briesen

For Wisconsin Employers, the 2025 legal update will focus on key compliance issues for Wisconsin employers, and look ahead to future areas of potential legal and legislative changes that may affect employers in the state. Key areas of consideration include the impact of Act 10 legal challenges for public-sector employers, and the issues of non-compete agreements and other restrictive covenants, fair employment laws and discrimination, and employee leave protections for all private and public sector employers.

Session 4A - The State of the FLSA Salary Threshold Increase & Avoiding FLSA Litigation
Beth Odian, Michel Best

This session will discuss the Biden administration’s amendment to the white-collar exemptions’ salary threshold, the current state of the amendment, and the amendment’s future. During this discussion, Beth will cover the impact of the court ruling invalidating the amendment on employers, options for employers who provided employee pay increases, and what to do if the amendment is resurrected. In addition to the salary threshold amendment, this session will also cover common FLSA compliance issues that result in class action litigations, such as rounding practices, non-discretionary bonuses, meal breaks, and pre- and post-liminary activities.

Session 4B - Union Organizing: Where do we go from here?
Joel Aziere, Buelow Vetter

President Biden pledged to be the most pro-union President of the most pro-union Administration in modern history. He made good on that pledge and his appointees at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) took steps to overturn a half-century of established labor law. Along with that activity, union organizing efforts dramatically increased to levels not seen since the 1970s. With the return of President Trump to the White House, what can we expect from the NLRB? In this presentation, we will look back at the last four years, discuss the legal and economic implications this increase on unionization has had on employers and discuss the Longshore strike and its impact on the transportation of goods. Then we will look into our crystal ball and discuss what we expect to see from the NLRB in 2025 and how that may (or may not) impact union organization activities going forward.

Session 5A - The Anatomy of a Law Case: What Every Employer Should Know
Randi Winter, Spencer Fane

This entertaining session will use real-world examples and war stories to provide an overview of each phase of the typical employment lawsuit, and to explain how employment litigation can vary depending on the type of case and forum. Taught from the perspective of a trial attorney, the presentation will teach HR professionals what to expect and how important their role may be if their employer is sued. Topics will range from how to ensure your organization’s supervisors do not intentionally or inadvertently delete relevant evidence after you receive an initial demand letter threatening suit, to how you might respond if a key witness behaves badly during a deposition. You will learn strategies for setting your organization up for a successful outcome, whether through dismissal, settlement, or verdict. As an added bonus, you will leave the presentation with at least one or two funny anecdotes to share at the proverbial water cooler. 

Session 5B - Top 10 Mental Health Mistakes in the Workplace: learning to avoid the mistakes that lead to legal liability
Frances Haas, Nyemaster Goode

This session will explore the complex legal issues that arise in the context of employee mental health issues. We will discuss unique accommodation issues for mental health conditions, and study real-life examples of mistakes that employers made that led to liability exposure. Attendees will leave the program with an understanding of how to issue-spot legal issues in the context of mental health, how to navigate the “gray area” in mental health issues, and identify a number of proactive steps to take now to avoid legal headaches later.

Session 6A - Eight Steps in Conducting Effective Internal Investigations
Cynthia Bremer & Jody Ward-Rannow, Ogletree

This session will cover best practices in conducting legally defensible internal investigations in response to complaints of alleged harassment, discrimination, and other employment law topics. It will cover the full cycle of investigations, starting with intake and planning, focusing on interviews and making credibility assessments, and addressing all the way to reaching (and documenting) a conclusion and engaging in post-investigation follow-up. Participants will engage in an interactive discussion regarding a proposed hypothetical that will highlight good investigation techniques.

Session 6B - Cannabis in the Workplace – Employment Law Considerations for HR
Chaz Billington, Vorys, LLP

This session will cover the employment law considerations in dealing with employee use of cannabis within and outside the workplace. The goal of this session is to help HR professionals understand the legal issues associated with cannabis in the workplace and navigate through those issues in a fast-evolving legal landscape.

HRCI and SHRM credits applied for.

Sponsoring MRA events is a tremendous opportunity to bring your message of business value to our growing membership of organizations HR professionals and business leaders. Our members represent all industries including manufacturing, service, distribution, finance, and health care! 80% of event attendees are new at each event offering you the opportunity to network with new contacts. We are very excited about the event this year and hope you can join us! 

For more information on sponsorship, call Laura Kielbasa at 262.696.3346 or [email protected].

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