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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Employment and Workers Comp

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Wednesday, January 8, 2025

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$297.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE webinar will address implicit bias and its effect on employment discrimination, both during the hiring process and the employee review process. Our panelists will guide employment counsel in advising clients on these essential issues.

Faculty

Heather M. Sager
Partner
Perkins Coie

Ms. Sager has wide-ranging experience litigating complex wage-and-hour claims, as well as conducting wage-and-hour audits for clients grappling with the Fair Labor Standards Act, the California Labor Code, and the California Equal Pay Act. Her practice was established at the forefront of the wage-and-hour class and collective actions that are now commonplace throughout the country. Ms. Sager emphasizes proactive risk management to avoid litigation and employs efficient and aggressive strategies to help her clients minimize exposure when faced with class, collective, representative, multi-plaintiff, or single-plaintiff lawsuits. As part of due diligence, she also provides risk assessments of wage-and-hour exposure, as well as policy and procedure audits both pre- and post-merger. Ms. Sager is active in counseling and training employers on workplace harassment prevention and unconscious bias and regularly conducts workplace investigations into allegations of inappropriate conduct. Her experience also extends to the traditional labor realm, where she has helped clients prevail in elections, obtained injunctive relief to stop inappropriate union conduct, defeated organizing campaigns, and appeared before the National Labor Relations Board on countless issues.

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Tracie Johnson Maurer
Principal
Jackson Lewis P.C.

Ms. Maurer has represented employers before numerous governmental agencies and in litigation before the state and federal courts of Georgia, as well as other federal courts across the southeast and midwest. She counsels clients on state and federal compliance issues, best practices for dispute avoidance, and frequently conducts training seminars for managers, supervisors, and employees on a wide variety of employment law issues.

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Description

We each make thousands of decisions every day, many influenced by implicit or unconscious biases, preconceived ideas we formed over our lifetimes due to past experiences and exposure to biased information. By definition, we are not consciously aware of our implicit biases.

These implicit biases can unintentionally affect hiring decisions and employee performance evaluations in the workplace and can cause significant problems. Implicit bias in the hiring or review processes--or even the appearance of that bias--puts employers at risk of being sued for discrimination.

What's more, plaintiffs' lawyers increasingly are using the theory of implicit bias in employment discrimination lawsuits to bolster their clients' alleged claims. Accordingly, employers should consider taking steps to develop and implement policies, procedures, and training to address unconscious bias in the workplace.

Listen as our panel discusses these issues and provides insight to practitioners on how to minimize implicit bias and any related liabilities.

Outline

  1. Overview of implicit bias and how to identify it
  2. The interplay between implicit bias and its impact on hiring and employee review and processes
  3. Analysis of emerging plaintiff trend of using implicit bias arguments during employment discrimination litigation
  4. Best steps for employment counsel in advising clients on how to best identify and minimize liabilities caused by implicit bias
  5. Practical strategies for employers to utilize when addressing instances of potential implicit bias

Benefits

The panel will review these and other relevant topics:

  • What is implicit bias?
  • How does implicit bias impact the workplace and cause potential liabilities?
  • How are plaintiffs in discrimination lawsuits using implicit bias as a litigation tactic?
  • What steps can employers take to identify and minimize implicit bias and its harmful effects?