Event Description
FELTG’s annual Emerging Issues in Federal Employment Law has a simple mission — to ensure the Federal workplace is accountable, that it looks more like the America it serves, and that you have all of the necessary tools to make this happen. Whether you’re an HR professional, attorney, supervisor, advisor, or an EEO or ER/LR specialist, you’ll find useful guidance in multiple events this week.
This year’s Emerging Issues in Federal Employment Law aims to help you succeed in the the Federal workplace circa 2024. We’ll guide you through the ever-changing law, share the steps for succeeding with up-and-down performers, provide guidance on how to make your team more resilient, offer tips for ensuring equity in hiring, and much more.
With 7 unique sessions over 4 days, FELTG’s Emerging Issues in Federal Employment Law offers an opportunity to receive guidance with a fresh perspective. And many sessions offer opportunities to pick up CLE or EEO refresher credits.
Emerging Issues in Federal Employment Law provides benefits you just can’t get from online virtual training providers. You can register for any of the sessions individually, or you can register for the whole program. Also, the training is presented LIVE by FELTG’s experienced and respected instructors, who will answer your questions, so you get answers in real time. Don’t put off getting the important training you need.
Download Individual Registration Form
This program meets the President’s mandate to provide training on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the Federal workplace.
Download Individual Registration Form
Monday, April 22, 2024
Session 1
2 – 4 pm ET
What They’re Saying: MSPB, EEOC, and FLRA Case Law Update
Presented by Ann Boehm, Attorney at Law, FELTG Instructor
Course description: FELTG’s annual Emerging Issues Conference kicks off with a two-hour dive into the most significant caselaw coming out of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), and the Federal Circuit. These Federal employment law cases impact your day-to-day work, so join us and learn how to ensure a discrimination-free workplace and take effective action on performance and conduct that will hold up to third-party scrutiny. Earn 2 CLE credits. 
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Course objectives
Attendees will learn how to:
- Evaluate the significance of the recent case decisions in Federal employment law.
- Avoid mistakes in performance and conduct actions.
- Identify and immediately address potential discrimination.
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Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Session 2
11 am – 1 pm ET
What Exactly is Undue Hardship Anymore?
Presented by Bob Woods, Attorney at Law, FELTG Instructor
Course Description:The Supreme Court upended decades of precedent in its unanimous decision Groff v. DeJoy. This is a big change for the concept of undue hardship in religious accommodation, experts say. But is it really? And how does it differ when it comes to reasonable accommodations for disability or pregnancy? Mr. Woods will deconstruct the distinctions between accommodations and explain the legal ramifications of each. Earn 2 CLE credits.
Course objectives
Attendees will learn how to:
- Understand how an agency can prove undue hardship – and how it cannot.
- Describe the differences between undue hardship for religious, disability, and pregnancy accommodations.
- Handle employees’ requests to be excused from performing certain job tasks because of religious reasons.
Session 3
2 – 4 pm ET
Driving Resilience and Mental Wellbeing in the Federal Workplace
Presented by Shana Palmieri, LCSW, FELTG Instructor
Course Description: A successful team is one that can handle unexpected and stressful situations. How do you build that kind of resilience among your employees? Ms. Palmieri will explain the importance of mental wellbeing in the workplace as well as how to manage toxic and other difficult employees who derail team success.
Course objectives
Attendees will learn how to:
- Understand mental well-being in the workplace.
- Reduce toxic dynamics.
- Implement strategies to retain and attract a high-functioning team.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Session 4
11 am – 1 pm ET
Equity in Hiring
Presented by Katherine Atkinson, Attorney at Law, FELTG Instructor
Course Description: This session will provide step-by-step guide for ensuring fair treatment and nondiscrimination in every phase of your hiring process, from developing selection criteria, through recruitment and all the way to the conditional offer, with a special focus on structured interviews that are fair, equitable, and nondiscriminatory. You will leave this class with the keys and tools for creating a well-qualified workforce, while avoiding the mistakes that have befallen many other agencies. Plus, you’ll learn how to best defend against allegations of discriminatory hiring. Earn 2 CLE credits. 2
Course objectives
Attendees will learn how to:
- Conduct effective and equitable structured interviews.
- Identify problematic interview questions.
- Recognize bias in the hiring process.
Session 5
2 – 4 pm ET
Engagement to Motivation — the FEVS and Beyond
Presented by Susan Schneider, EdM, MS, FELTG Instructor
Course description: Employee Engagement (EE) is vital to meet today’s challenges in the Federal workplace. Each year, agencies receive an EE score, based upon a survey done months before. The data is limited, particularly for regulatory organizations in the spotlight. This course describes the limitations of the EE score and examines the link between engagement, motivation, and leveraging employees’ strengths. Participants will explore realistic strategies for increasing engagement and creating tailored, timely measures of EE.
Course objectives
Attendees will learn how to:
- Develop a deeper understanding of engagement and motivation.
- Explain the limitations of FEVS’ measurement of employee engagement.
- Create realistic strategies for increasing engagement, including opportunities for employees to use their strengths.
- Produce tailored and timely measures of engagement.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Session 6
11 am – 1 pm
Say Whaaat?!? Respectful Communication in the Workplace
Presented by Roslyn Brown, President/CEO at EEO Workplace Strategies
Course description: Subtle and overt language, joking, off-handed comments, and offensive comments and gestures can lead to a hostile work environment. And that includes ill-advised, even if not ill-intentioned, phrases such as “hold down the fort” and “low man on the totem pole.” Being a respectful communicator means more than just not offending anyone, it also means taking preventive measures to tailor your communication to avoid misunderstandings, irrespective of the cultural and ethnic differences that we all bring into the workplace. Roslyn Brown will not only explain why certain phrases are troublesome but show you what to do when something offensive is said. 2
Course objectives
Attendees will learn how to:
- Recognize cultural expressions that are offensive to people in protected classes.
- Explain the importance of a respectful workplace in complying with the Executive Order on Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Federal workplace.
- Intervene effectively when offensive comments are made in the workplace.
Session 7
2 – 4 pm ET
Managing Chronic Performance and Conduct Issues
Presented by Deborah Hopkins, Attorney at Law, FELTG President
Course description: Whether it’s up-and-down roller coaster performers or repeat offenders of misconduct, chronically challenging employees eat up time, create workplace stress, and dampen productivity. And it will only get worse until you address the issue. FELTG President Deborah J. Hopkins will share the tools necessary to address performance issues and lay the groundwork for progressive discipline. Attendees will leave with the confidence to swiftly address poor-performing and misbehaving employees.
Course objectives
Attendees will learn how to:
- Differentiate between performance problems and misconduct.
- Manage an employee’s wide swings of performance.
- Effectively apply progressive discipline.
Registration
Download Individual Registration Form
Price
- Early Bird Tuition (register by March 22):
- Per Session = $345
- April 22-25 All Access = $1995
- Standard Tuition (register March 23-April 25)
- Per Session = $385
- April 22-25 All Access = $2295
- Rates per registrant and may not be used for groups under any circumstances. No split registrations.
Event FAQs
- Can I attend Virtual Training from my government computer?
- FELTG uses Zoom to broadcast its Virtual Training Institute events. Many government computers and systems allow Zoom access. If for some reason your firewall will not allow access, you’re welcome to use your personal email address to register, and to attend the sessions from your personal device.
- How do I claim CLE or EEO refresher credits?
- This program has been submitted (and we anticipate this program will be approved) for Virginia CLE credits. Members of other state bars must submit for CLE credit on their own, and may use the materials provided by FELTG in submissions. Attendees may also request a certificate of completion which will contain the number of training hours attended, and will designate how many EEO refresher hours were earned.
- Can I get HRCI credits for attending this class?
- Each session is approved for 2 hours of HRCI general recertification credit. The HRCI course numbers will be available upon the conclusion of the training.
- Can I share my access link with co-workers?
- No. Registration for this event is per individual, and access links may not be shared. Each link may only be used by one person.
- Can I register a teleworker?
- This event is individual registration, so the cost is the same whether the person is teleworking or in an agency facility.
- How do I receive a group rate discount?
- Group rates are available for agencies registering 10 or more individuals for the full event. Group discounts are available through March 22.
Cancellation and No-show Policy for Registered Participants: Cancellations made after the cancel date on the registration form will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. Pre-paid training using the “Pay Now” option will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. No-shows will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses.
Instructor
Course Description
FELTG’s annual Reasonable Accommodation webinar series returns in 2024 with new and updated material. We kick off the series with a webinar that lays the important groundwork necessary to understand how to successfully manage disability accommodation requests.
This 60-minute class offers and an overview of the current state of disability law and details how the ADA, ADAAA, and Rehabilitation Act apply to qualified Federal employees with disabilities. This overview will cover the legal steps required when an employee requests an accommodation, and the information the employee must provide in order to be granted an accommodation.
Attendees will learn how to:
- Understand the process for making disability determinations.
- Discuss what “qualified individual” actually means.
- Explain the purpose of the interactive process.
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This program meets the President’s mandate to provide training on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the Federal workplace.
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: (payment by June 18) $145
- Standard Tuition: (payment made June 19-July 18) $195
- Rates per registrant.
- Want to register a group? Group discounts for 10 or more attendees are available through June 18. Contact FELTG.
Cancellation and No-show Policy for Registered Participants: Cancellations made after the cancel date on the registration form will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. Pre-paid training using the “Pay Now” option will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. No-shows will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses.
Instructor
Course Description
The second session in FELTG’s annual Reasonable Accommodation webinar series builds on the first and focuses on the step that is critically important yet seemingly indescribable for many Federal supervisors, HR and EEO specialists, and program managers – the “interactive process.”
Reasonable accommodations should generally be determined after a discussion between the employee and the agency, through what is called “the interactive process.” This 60-minute webinar will tackle what you need to know about this process, when working with employees to determine a reasonable accommodation.
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This program meets the President’s mandate to provide training on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the Federal workplace.
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: (payment by June 18) $145
- Standard Tuition: (payment made June 19-July 25) $195
- Rates per registrant.
- Want to register a group? Group discounts for 10 or more attendees are available through June 18. Contact FELTG.
Cancellation and No-show Policy for Registered Participants: Cancellations made after the cancel date on the registration form will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. Pre-paid training using the “Pay Now” option will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. No-shows will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses.
Instructor
Course Description
The third session in FELTG’s annual Reasonable Accommodation webinar series focuses on one of the most commonly requested accommodations for individuals with physical and mental disabilities – telework. It turns out telework may also be one of the most effective accommodations, but it’s not for everybody.
This 60-minute webinar will dive into a discussion on recent and relevant Federal cases – won and lost – involving telework requests as reasonable accommodation. This course will explain the circumstances and that make telework “unique” among reasonable accommodation requests and prepare you to do the appropriate interactive discussion and analysis.
Attendees will learn how to:
- Recognize when an agency can legally deny telework as an accommodation.
- Determine what to do if telework would be an effective accommodation, but something else would work, too.
- Identify what the EEOC says about accommodating an employee’s commute.
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This program meets the President’s mandate to provide training on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the Federal workplace.
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: (payment by June 18) $145
- Standard Tuition: (payment made June 19-August 1) $195
- Rates per registrant.
- Want to register a group? Group discounts for 10 or more attendees are available through June 18. Contact FELTG.
Cancellation and No-show Policy for Registered Participants: Cancellations made after the cancel date on the registration form will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. Pre-paid training using the “Pay Now” option will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. No-shows will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses.
Instructor
Meghan Droste
Course Description
The reasonable accommodation process is full of pitfalls that could land your agency before an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission administrative judge (AJ). The fourth session in FELTG’s annual Reasonable Accommodation webinar series explains in detail when that happens – and you’ll hear it directly from an AJ.
In this 60-minute webinar, EEOC AJ Meghan Droste will share the embarrassing gaffes and challenging issues that she’s seen in her time as an EEOC AJ — and how to avoid them. Join us for an inside look at this stage of the EEO process.
Attendees will learn how to:
- Gain a better understanding of how hearings before an EEOC AJ work.
- Recognize potential mistakes in the accommodation process – before you make them.
- Identify the most challenging types of reasonable accommodation cases.
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This program meets the President’s mandate to provide training on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the Federal workplace.
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: (payment by June 18) $145
- Standard Tuition: (payment made June 19-August 8) $195
- Rates per registrant.
- Want to register a group? Group discounts for 10 or more attendees are available through June 18. Contact FELTG.
Cancellation and No-show Policy for Registered Participants: Cancellations made after the cancel date on the registration form will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. Pre-paid training using the “Pay Now” option will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. No-shows will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses.
Instructor
Course Description
The fifth session in FELTG’s annual Reasonable Accommodation webinar series focuses on a law that went into effect in 2023: the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which requires agencies to provide reasonable accommodations to employees who are pregnant or have medical restrictions related to pregnancy or childbirth.
In this 60-minute webinar, you will learn answers to the following questions: What are your responsibilities under the PWFA? What are some examples of PWFA reasonable accommodations? What is the best way to prepare for the interactive process when discussing accommodations for pregnancy?
Attendees will learn how to:
- Identify potential accommodations for pregnant employees.
- Determine an appropriate length of time for a pregnancy-related accommodation.
- Understand how the EEOC will analyze charges regarding accommodations for
employees affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.
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This program meets the President’s mandate to provide training on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the Federal workplace.
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: (payment by June 18) $145
- Standard Tuition: (payment made June 19-August 15) $195
- Rates per registrant.
- Want to register a group? Group discounts for 10 or more attendees are available through June 18. Contact FELTG.
Cancellation and No-show Policy for Registered Participants: Cancellations made after the cancel date on the registration form will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. Pre-paid training using the “Pay Now” option will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. No-shows will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses.
Instructor
Course Description
FELTG’s annual Reasonable Accommodation webinar series comes to a close with this 60-minute session on accommodations of the religious variety. There are significant distinctions between religious accommodations and those for individuals with disabilities and pregnancy. It’s important for you to understand those differences. A recent Supreme Court decision changed the undue hardship standard for religious accommodations, on the heels of increases in employee requests for accommodations for religion.
This 60-minute webinar will provide guidance as you handle accommodation requests involving religious clothing and headwear, grooming, religious displays in the workplace, and work schedules, among other things.
Attendees will learn how to:
- Define the term “undue hardship” and provide case examples.
- Determine whether the agency can provide an effective religious accommodation.
- Handle requests to be excused from performing certain job tasks because of religious
reasons.
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This program meets the President’s mandate to provide training on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in the Federal workplace.
Price
- Early Bird Tuition: (payment by June 18) $145
- Standard Tuition: (payment made June 19-August 22) $195
- Rates per registrant.
- Want to register a group? Group discounts for 10 or more attendees are available through June 18. Contact FELTG.
Cancellation and No-show Policy for Registered Participants: Cancellations made after the cancel date on the registration form will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. Pre-paid training using the “Pay Now” option will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses. No-shows will not be refunded or given credit toward future courses.
Course Description
Whether you’re an HR professional, employee relations practitioner, EEO specialist, supervisor, or agency counsel, you have undoubtedly faced a leave-related challenge. And chances are, you struggled.
We understand. Leave is an entitlement. But not always. And it’s a complex and seemingly burdensome issue, one often laced with emotion. Numerous laws intersect to make it even more challenging. FELTG’s Absence, Leave Abuse & Medical Issues Week will give you the critical foundation you need to address the most complex areas of Federal employment law.
Our speakers will discuss sick leave, annual leave, leave without pay, absence without leave, and FMLA. Then they will tackle the most current, relevant topics, such as disciplining employees for leave abuse, dealing with medical issues and unacceptable performance, leave and reasonable accommodation, medical documentation, medical exams, and managing leave issues of hybrid and teleworking employees.
Daily Agenda
Monday, September 23
Understanding Federal Leave Categories and Processes: Course topics: Overview of leave; entitlements; eligibility; notification requirements; Leave Without Pay; Sick Leave; Medical documentation; and more.
Tuesday, September 24
Leave-Related Discipline & Medical Removals: Course topics: The five elements of discipline; leave-related misconduct; documentation necessary to discipline an employee for leave-related misconduct and leave abuse; AWOL charges; excessive absence removals; medical inability to perform removals.
Wednesday, September 25
Reasonable Accommodation: Entitlements and Processes: Course topics: The ADA Amendments Act; the Rehabilitation Act; the reasonable accommodation process; the “regarded as” provision of the ADA; leave as reasonable accommodation; flexible work schedules and alternative work locations; religious accommodation.
Thursday, September 26
Medical Documentation, Medical Requests and Record Confidentiality: Course topics: How the ADAAA and GINA impact the collection of medical information; pre- and post-employment medical exams and inquiries; conditional employment offers; medical documentation requests; direct threat; conflicting regulations and contra court decisions.
Friday, September 27
Managing Telework and Hybrid Workers: Course topics: Telework as a reasonable accommodation; valid performance standards, unacceptable performance; setting expectations; monitoring performance.
Participants will receive program materials via email the week before the training.
Date and Time
September 23-27, 2024
12:30 – 4:30 pm ET each day
Instructors
Katherine Atkinson, Ann Boehm, Bob Woods
Registration
Download Individual Registration Form
Pricing
Most people attend the full training week, but you may opt out of any days you don’t plan to attend.
Early Bird Tuition (register by August 23):
- 5 days = $1695
- 4 days = $1465
- 3 days = $1095
- 2 days = $825
- 1 day = $495
Standard Tuition (register August 24-September 27):
- 5 days = $1795
- 4 days = $1565
- 3 days = $1195
- 2 days = $925
- 1 day = $595
Event FAQs
- Can I attend Virtual Training from my government computer?
- FELTG uses Zoom for this Virtual Training Institute event. Many government computers and systems allow Zoom access. If for some reason your firewall will not allow access, you’re welcome to use your personal email address to register, and to attend the sessions from your personal device.
- Can I earn CLE credits for this class?
- CLE applications are the responsibility of each attendee; FELTG does not apply for the credits on behalf of attendees. If you are seeking CLE credit, attendees may use the materials provided by FELTG in submission to your state bar. Attendees may also request a certificate of completion which will contain the number of training hours attended.
- Can I share my access link with co-workers?
- No. Registration for this event is per individual, and access links may not be shared. Each link may only be used by one person.
- Can I register a teleworker?
- This event is individual registration, so the cost is the same whether the person is teleworking or in an agency facility.
- How do I receive a group rate discount?
- Group rates are available for agencies registering 10 or more individuals for the full event. Group discounts are available through August 23.