This is a webcast of the live New York session.Why you should attend
Psychological issues in employment law are both unavoidable and fascinating. They help to determine counsels’ day-to-day advice regarding a variety of employment issues, play a central role in litigation, shape damages analyses, and impact significantly the intensity and duration of employment lawsuits. Psychological issues often are at the core of incentivizing employees, negotiating workplace disputes or trying an employment claim to a jury. Yet attorneys and mental health professionals struggle too often to speak the same language.
This program brings together prominent practitioners from the management and plaintiffs’ bars, in-house counsel and the EEOC, forensic psychiatrists, and psychologists to transcend the jargon, identify practical ways of working together, and to describe effective litigation strategies and tactics. They will address in a clear and pragmatic way key legal and ethical issues at the intersection of employment law and psychology.
What you will learn
- How to cut through psychiatric and diagnostic terminology and effectively communicate with the treating, consulting and expert mental health professional
- Pragmatic approaches in litigation for utilizing and cross-examining mental health professionals, including experts
- The EEOC’s view, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, of reasonable accommodations for mental disabilities, permissible psychiatric examinations of employees, and inquiries of applicants and incumbents regarding their psychiatric functioning and history. The plaintiffs’ and defense bar’s view.
- Ethical issues to consider when counsel and client possess confidential information regarding an employee’s mental health
Special Features
- All new PLI program
- Convenient half day program format
- Earn one hour of Ethics credit exploring ethical issues that may arise when counsel and mental health professionals interact
Who should attend
In -house employment and labor counsel, outside counsel for employers and employees, human resources executives, and forensic mental health professionals will benefit from this program.
PLI Group Discounts
Groups of 4-14 from the same organization, all registering at the same time, for a PLI program scheduled for presentation at the same site, are entitled to receive a group discount. For further discount information, please contact membership@pli.edu or call (800) 260-4PLI.
PLI Can Arrange Group Viewing to Your Firm
Contact the Groupcasts Department via email at groupcasts@pli.edu for more details.
Cancellations
All cancellations received 3 business days prior to the program will be refunded 100%. If you do not cancel within the allotted time period, payment is due in full. You may substitute another individual to attend the program at any time.
All times are E.D.T.
Afternoon Session: 1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (E.D.T.)
1:30 Opening Remarks and Introduction
Stephen P. Sonnenberg
1:45 The Use and Misuse of Mental Health Professionals in Employment Litigation
- Mastering the basics: psychiatric jargon, diagnoses, and selection of a treating, consulting or expert therapist
- Obtaining, interpreting and utilizing psychiatric records
- The FRCP Rule 35 mental examination; do’s, don’ts and how-tos
- Strategies for cross examining the treating therapist or expert at deposition and trial
Stuart B. Kleinman, M.D., Stephen P. Sonnenberg, Anne C. Vladeck
2:45 Mental Disability Issues Under the Americans With Disabilities Act
- Litigation trends: successful mental disability claims and defenses and the impact of the ADA Amendments Act
- Employment practices that attract the attention of the EEOC and the plaintiffs’ bar
- Fitness-for-duty and direct threat psychiatric examinations of employees – limits and leeway
- Identifying potentially reasonable accommodations for psychiatric impairments including work at home, intermittent leaves and changes in supervisory techniques
Eric S. Dreiband, Christopher J. Kuczynski, Tanya L. Menton, Karen B. Rosenbaum, M.D.
3:45 Networking Break
4:00 Ethical Issues and Professional Responsibilities: When Lawyers Work With Psychiatrists and Psychologists
- The duty to protect or disclose an employee’s confidential psychiatric information
- Limits during litigation on discovery and disclosure of plaintiff’s psychiatric treatment, records and history
- Employee assistance programs: confidentiality, referrals and responsibility for the therapist’s level of care
- Mandated psychiatric exams: what disclosures are required; do ethical obligations differ depending on whether employees are represented by counsel?
- Ethical issues arising from counsel’s involvement in company investigations of employees under psychiatric care
Zachary D. Fasman, Hon. Cheryl L. Pollak, George W. Woods, Jr., M.D., Pearl Zuchlewski
5:00 Adjourn
PLI makes every effort to accredit its Live Webcasts. Please check the CLE Calculator above for CLE information specific to your state.
PLI's Live Webcasts are approved for MCLE credit (
unless otherwise noted in the product description) in the following states/territories: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho*, Illinois, Indiana
1, Iowa*, Kansas*, Kentucky*, Louisiana, Maine*, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire*, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York
2, Ohio
3, Oklahoma, Oregon*, Pennsylvania
4, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia
5, Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming*.
*PLI will apply for credit upon request.
Arizona: The State Bar of Arizona does not approve or accredit CLE activities for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement.
Arkansas and Oklahoma: Audio-only live webcasts are not approved for credit.
1Indiana: Considered a distance education course. There is a 6 credit limit per year.
2New York: Newly admitted attorneys may not take non-transitional course formats such as on-demand audio or video programs or live webcasts for CLE credit. Newly admitted attorneys not practicing law in the United States, however, may earn 12 transitional credits in non-traditional formats.
3Ohio: To confirm that the live webcast has been approved, please refer to the list of Ohio’s Approved Self Study Activities at http://www.sconet.state.oh.us. Online programs are considered self-study. Ohio attorneys have a 6 credit self-study limit per biennial compliance period. The Ohio CLE Board states that attorneys must have a 100% success rate in clicking on timestamps to receive ANY CLE credit for an online program.
4 Pennsylvania: A live webcast may be viewed individually or in a group setting. Credit may be granted to an attorney who views a live webcast individually. There is a 4.0 credit limit per year for this type of viewing. A live webcast viewed in a group setting receives live participatory credit if the program is open to the public and advertised at least 30 days prior to the program. Live webcasts viewed in a group setting that do not advertise at least 30 days prior the program will be considered "in-house", and therefore denied credit.
5Virginia: All distance learning courses are to be done in an educational setting, free from distractions.
Running time and CLE credit hours are not necessarily the same. Please be aware that many states do not permit credit for luncheon and keynote speakers.
Note that some states limit the number of credit hours attorneys may claim for online CLE activities, and state rules vary with regard to whether online CLE activities qualify for participatory or self-study credits. For more information, refer to your state CLE website or call Customer Service at (800) 260-4PLI (4754) or email: info@pli.edu.
If you have already received credit for attending some or the entire program, please be aware that state administrators do not permit you to accrue additional credit for repeat viewing even if an additional credit certificate is subsequently issued.