HR Hero Audio Conference
John Phillips'
12 Steps to Mastering Employment Law
Audio Conference on CD Series

12 audio conferences on CD on the hottest topics in HR management and employment law - perfect for picking up new skills and refreshing old ones - all without leaving your office!

Pick and choose from this comprehensive list of 90-minute audio conferences to target topics of particular interest to your organization and create a custom curriculum.

Disciplined Progressive Discipline: Tough Love for Your Organization
September 20

Communication is a key to an organization's success. But it's always harder when that means a tough talk with a problem employee.

Every smart employer has some form of a progressive discipline policy. But very few implement it properly. Where do most fall short and lose the benefits of having the policy? Why do many progressive-discipline policies actually increase the risk of legal liability?

In this audio conference, John reveals how to use the keys to progressive discipline (consistency, speed, honesty, and proper implementation) to improve productivity and boost morale. You'll learn specifically what to say, how to record it, and how to follow-up to make sure the discipline has been effective. You'll also learn about your rights, and your employees', in a disciplinary meeting.

BONUS: Learn how to get your supervisors and managers to follow your progressive discipline policy to the letter, further reducing your risks.

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Unintended Discrimination: When No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
September 27

All employers know discrimination is against the law. And most assert,"We don't discriminate in any aspect of employment." So why are so many employers hit with discrimination charges and lawsuits?

Answer: Because they're committing unintentional discrimination - making perfectly legal decisions that have an unintended, discriminatory impact on a protected class. (The courts call this "disparate impact.")

Learn the extremely surprising - and deadly serious - degree to which you can be legally liable for discrimination you never intended. Understand what you should you look for when determining if you're committing unintentional discrimination . . . What powerful, specific preventative strategies you can put in place . . . How to add "unintentional discrimination" to the training you give supervisors . . . and how to keep unintentional discrimination out of your hiring . firing . discipline . and promotions processes.

Listen and learn as John spotlights this emerging legal threat and explains what steps HR must take to prevent disaster.

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Not In Writing? It Never Happened! Document. or Else.
October 12

One way to get sued is to have incomplete or inconsistent records of manager-employee interaction. A better way is not keep records at all.

Never before has documentation been so important in preventing or successfully defending discrimination charges and employment lawsuits. The EEOC expects it. The DOL demands it. And — if you end up in court — juries will use documentation breakdowns against you if your case boils down to "he said-she said."

Join us for this audio conference to learn how to get supervisors to document their interactions. You'll also get clear guidance on how to save, share, recall, and restrict access to key employee documents. And — to make sure documents aren't used against you — you'll learn how to craft key performance evaluations to avoid claims of a witch hunt.

Finally, you'll discover how to comply with new laws designed to protect employee and applicant personal information in this age of rampant ID theft.

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Background Checks: When What You Do Know Can Hurt You
October 19
Your organization counts on you to hire and manage solid employees. One effective strategy for doing that is to conduct background checks - if you know how to conduct them thoroughly and legally.

Background checks open you up a host of legal pitfalls. So if you currently check - or are considering doing so - you owe it to yourself to participate in this audio conference. You'll learn when a background check can and should be done . . . who's an appropriate target for a check . . . what you need to reveal to the applicant (before and after the background check is complete) . . . and exactly what kinds of things are appropriate and legal search areas.

Importantly, you'll learn exactly what to do if the check comes back positive for criminal, civil, or financial irregularities - and how to use that information properly. You'll gain confidence in your hiring decisions when you have all the legally-attainable facts about a candidate. And you'll know how to protect yourself against charges of discriminatory should you decide not to extend a job offer.

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Mistakes HR Makes That Lead to Employee Lawsuits
October 26

Do you know there's a way to virtually guarantee an employee will sue you? Did you know there are multiple ways?

Most employers don't, and that's precisely the point of this audio conference. If you don't fully understand how to ensure a lawsuit (and thus how to avoid one), you're virtually an accomplice to the lawsuit. You've made it possible. You've encouraged it.

So don't fail to protect your organization. Tune into this audioconference, and learn the seven specific ways you can ensure a lawsuit - so you can make sure you never do.

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Employee Privacy vs. Your Right to Know: Legal & Effective Monitoring
November 9

Customer identity theft . . . misuse of company e-mail . . . corporate espionage . . . blogging at work . . . all these factors (and many more) have led to increased employee monitoring.

How do you monitor employees - effectively and legally? Specifically, how do you monitor computers? e-mail? voice mail? What about searching employee property? Using video cameras? When does lawful monitoring turn illegal? Listen to this audio conference to get clear, specific answers to these questions and many others. Dramatically increase your workplace security by learning the eight key rules for monitoring employees.

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Resolving Employee Disputes: Supervisors Are the Frontline
November 16

When disputes flare up in your workplace, your supervisors need to take swift, effective, legally-appropriate action. Are you CERTAIN they can do this? Do they fully understand the latest, most cutting-edge ways to resolve disputes . . .so they don't damage morale or create legal troubles?

This crucial audio conference will reveal nine specific ways supervisors can handle employee disputes, while making your organization a better, more productive place to work. Invite your supervisors to listen with you - for no additional cost.

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10 Must-Have Provisions in the Best Employee Handbooks
November 22

Your employee handbook is a crucial tool for conveying the principles, policies, procedures, and benefits of your organization. But if you fail to create your handbook the right way, you invite a host of troubles - miscommunication, sinking morale, and even serious legal problems.

Don't that happen to you. Listen to this critical audio conference to learn exactly how to create or revise your employee handbook the most effective way. Let Phillips show you the Top 10 components of every great handbook.

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Taming The FMLA Monster: 11 Breakthrough Techniques
November 30

Is the Family and Medical Leave Act driving you crazy? Do you spend countless hours trying to figure it out, apply it lawfully, administer it, and control its use by employees?

If so, you're certainly not alone. Although it's been the law of the land since 1993, FMLA still consistently ranks near the top of the list of "Things That Drive HR Mad."

Now Phillips - who has helped scores of companies clearly understand FMLA-is here to help. In this much-needed audio conference, you'll get 11breakthrough tips for controlling FMLA leave before it controls you. (And if it already controls you, you'll learn how to wrestle control back!)

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HR's Holiday Headaches: Avoid These Legal Hotspots
December 6

Merriment abounds during the holidays, right? Not always. Because - unfortunately - the season can bring specific employment-law challenges that make the year-end less than merry.

Listen to the final audio conference in this series to learn how to avoid employment law landmines during the holidays. 'Tis the season for bad decisions that breed workplace lawsuits. So get this step-by-step guidance from John Phillips . . . so you won't get a lump of coal in your stocking!

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Gender Discrimination: Breaking the Glass Ceiling Before It Breaks You
December 13, 2005

Does your organization have a "glass ceiling"? Does it demonstrate a pattern of failing to promote women to executive positions . even if that pattern is innocent or unintended?

If so, your organization - right now - is in legal danger. Recently Wal-Mart was battered by a massive class-action gender-discrimination lawsuit. And hundreds of smaller companies are also being sued. Many more are losing top talent because they fail to promote the most qualified employee. Will your organization be next?

Listen to this engaging presentation and discover how to spot situations and scenarios that can explode into gender-discrimination lawsuits. You'll learn why some career-path mentoring strategies can create disparities; how organizations can unintentionally discriminate based on gender; what your wage records reveal about your risk level; and what you can do at a strategic level to correct any problems. Discrimination lawsuits are sky-rocketing, so learn now how to protect your organization.

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Wage and Hour Roulette: Gambling Your Company's Future
January 10, 2006

One in five employers has been audited by the U.S. Department of Labor for violations of the federal wage-and-hour law, according to a recent survey. If you haven't, it may just be a matter of time.

What will they find when they do? Are you POSITIVE you've correctly interpreted the revised (but still complicated and confusing) overtime regulations? If you've failed to correctly classify employees as exempt, you may owe them a whopping amount of back pay - going back two or three years.(DOL audits triggered $165 million in back-wage payments in 2004 alone.)

In this session must-attend, you'll learn how to root out questionable classifications and determine your organization's liability should a misclassification occur.

You'll get a clear understanding of the risks involved when your supervisors require or allow employees to work "off the clock," how to spot it, and how to stamp it out. You'll also get the truth about comp time as compensation, and why you can't use it. Finally, you'll get a refreshing clarification of the DOL's very latest efforts to clarify federal overtime laws.

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Because John Phillips' 12 Steps to Mastering Employment Law is series of audio conferences on CD, you enjoy:

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