American Bar Association, Section of Labor & Employment Law Council Meeting (Lisbon, Portugal; April 2023)
Title: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Profession: It’s Everyone’s Business
Description: DEI Workshop for the Council Members.
American Bar Association, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee, (March 2023)
Title: Addressing Micro-Aggressions and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Legal Profession
Description: Microaggressions are actions that would never give rise to a claim of employment discrimination on their own, but that make the work environment inhospitable for minorities and people of color. It is often considered a major contributor to higher levels of workplace attrition and discontent. Many organizations have embraced implicit bias training to remedy microaggressions, but that is just one tool to address this widespread problem. The panel will discuss microaggressions, their effect on the labor market, and new ways of addressing them.
American Bar Association, Federal Labor Standards Legislation Committee (Puerto Vallarta, MX; February 2023)
Title: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Legal Profession: It’s Everyone’s Business
Description: The ABA found through its Model Diversity Survey that there is much work to be done with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession. Through creative approaches to talent recruitment, acquisition, and retention, and by creating a culture and environment where people feel like they belong, we can make progress. Engage in a thoughtful discussion about what we can be doing better to ensure that our businesses ,organizations, and committees are successful at including, fostering, and promoting historically underrepresented persons.
American Bar Association, 16th Annual Labor & Employment Law Section Conference, November 2022
Title: Trauma-Informed Lawyering in Discrimination and Harassment Cases
Description: Our work as employment lawyers often involves individuals who have experienced who trauma. Plaintiff’s attorneys represent employees who have been (re)traumatized by workplace discrimination or harassment and management attorneys defend claims brought by individuals who have experienced trauma. How do lawyers on both sides engage in effective, zealous advocacy without re-traumatizing the plaintiff? How do we educate juries about trauma? What are strategies we can use to protect ourselves from the effects of vicarious trauma or burnout in these high-emotion cases?
American Bar Association, Equal Employment Opportunity Committee, March 2022
Title: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Luncheon: The 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike
Description: Join us for a discussion about the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike, including reflections from members of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legal team and how the Civil Rights Movement in Memphis continues toplay a significant role in issues around race in our country today.
American Bar Association, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee, March 2022
Title: Mastering the Trick of Special Investigations
Description: Practitioners know not all investigations are created equal as they often require delving into complex and politically charged issues and topics. This panel will cover investigations involving social media, substance abuse, stale allegations, and other complex issues and include a discussion of privacy rights and measures that maybe taken consistent with those rights.
American Bar Association, 15th Annual Labor & Employment Law Section Conference, November 2021
Title: DEI in 2021: What Does It Mean to Bring Your Whole Self to Work When External Events Elevate Concerns of Community Threat?
Description: When external forces create a real or perceived safety risk to individuals or the communities to which they belong, how do organizations support their employees and train their leaders to recognize the interconnected experiences of trauma in the workplace? This panel will discuss the impact of the longitudinal traumatic events tha thave occurred in the U.S. and how they manifest in and affect employment. Panelists also will identify strategies to help individuals bring their whole selves to work and address how organizations can create and support more inclusive workforces.
American Bar Association, 14th Annual Labor & Employment Law Section Conference, November 2020
Title: Advanced Workplace Investigation Issues in Sexual Harassment Cases
Description: Since 2017, harassment has been front and center in the news and in the workplace. The #MeToomovement has spurred government and corporations to rethink their approaches to this issue. And it has never been more important for employers to conduct fair and effective investigations and to ensure that retaliation does not result from raising harassment allegations or participating in such investigations. Panelists will share perspectives on best practices, including whether to investigate internally or externally; how and when to engage public relations and communications advisors; how to balance privilege and privacy concerns against demands for transparency from various stakeholders; how to deter related retaliation claims, which often prove successful even when the underlying harassment claims are not substantiated; indemnification and joint defense issues; and the growing trend toward “workplace culture assessments."
American Bar Association, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee, March 2020 (Postponed due to Covid)
Title: Trauma-Informed Counseling: A New Approach to Witness Interviews
Description: Why did the complainant wait to file a complaint? Why is the complainant hesitant to talk? Does this mean her allegations are not true? The respondent is not acting in a normal manner for someone in this situation. Does that mean he is lying? Learn how to tackle these questions and navigate challenging interviews using trauma informed interview techniques, which emphasize physical, psychological and emotional safety for interviewees. Learn how trauma-informed techniques can be used to handle emotionally charged interviews. Emphasis will be placed on how to avoid common interview mistakes, use of helpful trauma-informed techniques, and how these skills can enhance investigative interviews and improve workplace dynamics.
Omega Daughter, LLC Presentation, Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc., Charlotte, NC, January 2020
Title: How to Interact and Engage with EEOC Investigators
Omega Daughter, LLC Training, Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc., Knoxville, TN, January 2020
Title: Sex Harassment and Gender Discrimination
American Bar Association, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee, March 2019
Title: Lessons Learned from Title IX
Description: This session will compare and contrast Title IX campus sexual misconduct investigations with Title VII workplace investigations. We will cover unique Title IX issues, such as trauma informed interviewing approaches; the importance of the institution’s policies, including the concept of “affirmative consent”; and the impact of intoxication and incapacitation. We will explore growing trends in Title VII investigations in the wake of the #MeToo movement, including anonymous complaints, stale claims, and off-duty conduct. Finally, we will cover how these Title IX and Title VII concepts can overlap for an investigator or legal advisor.
American Bar Association, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee, March 2018
Title: Genetics, Complicity or Bad Luck: Is there Workplace “Lifestyle” Discrimination? If So, Is it Illegal?
Description: The answer may be more complicated than you think. This panel will examine obesity and “lifestyle” conditions that give rise to actual or perceived disability claims. Panelists will discuss current case law along with the interplay of GINA, mandatory and voluntary employer wellness programs, and the EEOC’s wellness rules to provide an overview of this important and developing area of the law.
Project Hope Awards Presentation, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 2018
Title: You Are Your Ancestors’ Wildest Dream
Description: As the Keynote Speaker of the awards presentation, I provided an educational history of the slave trade from Africa and noting how many African people survived the Middle Passage. The purpose of the presentation was to enlighten the youth about how special they are because of what their ancestors went through but survived and encourage them to never let go of their dreams because their ancestors persevered.
American Bar Association, 11th Annual Labor & Employment Law Section Conference, November 2017
Title: How to Prepare and Win and/or Defend a Single Plaintiff Discrimination Suit: Top 20 Tips from an Associate’s Perspective
Description: Employment law leaders of the future will discuss the most effective way to handle a single plaintiff case, including at trial, and the valuable lessons they have learned in the trenches. The panelists will discuss tactics that minimize hours spent in preparing and trying a case, discovery tips, summary judgment preparation and overall strategies that work and don’t work.
American Bar Association, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee, March 2017
Title: : Managing and Litigating the Investigation: Perspectives from Competing Interests
Description: An employer or a government entity undertakes a workplace investigation. Attorneys converge. Litigation is imminent. The various lawyers, each with competing but sometimes overlapping interests, give you a glimpse into their strategy, thought process, advice to clients, and tactics they employee during your investigations. Focusing on different scenarios, these lawyers will provide you with a point - counterpoint discussion of what happens "behind the scenes;" including issues and advice they give related to the interview preparation, participating in the interview; documents (their clients' and the investigator's), as well as the issues at deposition and trial.
American Bar Association, 10th Annual Labor & Employment Law Section Conference, November 2016
Title: Witness Examinations
Description: An effective witness examination or cross-examination can be the difference between winning or losing a case. This skills-based panel will demonstrate effective examination techniques and discuss best practices for preparing for and conducting an examination.
American Bar Association, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee, March 2016
Title: Breakfast Roundtable I: Gab with the Government
Description: Join a panel of government agency attorneys who will discuss the newest developments and provide the latest updates from their respective agencies. Come prepared to ask questions and learn about matters currently of interest to the federal government in the labor and employment law context. This session is open to all meeting attendees.
American Bar Association, 9th Annual Labor & Employment Law Section Conference, November 2015
Title: Managing Sensitive Workplace Complaints
Description: Approaching the bad habits or poor hygiene of an employee is a difficult area, as HR runs the risk of violating discrimination laws or offending the employee in question. However, overly powerful perfumes/colognes, bad breath, irritating coughs, poor bathroom habits and foul body odor are all drains on productivity and potentially pose health risks for other employees. This session will discuss how to delicately resolve these sensitive issues without running afoul of the ADA, collectively bargained rights, privacy laws, religious or national origin discrimination laws or other potential legal liabilities.
American Bar Association, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee, March 2015
Title: Breakfast Roundtable II: Gab with the Government
Description: Come hear the newest developments at our government agencies from attorneys at the Department of Justice, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board.
American Bar Association, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee, March 2014
Title: One Size Doesn’t Fit All: How Far Should Internal Investigations Go?
Description: How far an internal investigation should go depends on the circumstances and goals. This program will explore issues regarding the scope of investigations, including: conducting investigations, even where the conduct complained of may not implicate legal concerns (e.g., bullying); expanding the scope of the investigation as it progresses; and, in a unionized setting, having a shop steward present during interviews. The panel also willaddress the question: if the goal is to eradicate conduct, does it make sense to deal with all potential issues rather than limit the investigation to the precise complaint raised?
American Bar Association, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee, March 2012
Title: : Breakfast Roundtable I: Gab with the Government
Description: : Join a panel of government agency attorneys who will discuss the newest developments and provide the latest updates from their respective agencies. Come prepared to ask questions and learn about matters currently of interest to the federal government in the labor and employment law context.
EEOC – Charlotte District Office (“CTDO”), Internal Training for CTDO Trial Attorneys
Title: How to prove and litigate retaliation claims (Summer 2010)
EEOC – Charlotte District Office (“CTDO”), Internal Training for CTDO Trial Attorneys
Title: How to properly evaluate and analyze religious discrimination claims (Summer 2013)
EEOC – Charlotte District Office, Internal Training for Charlotte Investigators
Title: How to investigate and analyze class claims (Summer 2012)
EEOC – Charlotte District Office, Internal Training for Charlotte Investigators
Title: How to determine whether a claim has merit or should be dismissed (Fall 2010)
EEOC TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM SEMINAR (“TAPS”), PRESENTER (Charlotte, NC and Durham,NC). Frequent presenter at the EEOC’s seminar for various stakeholders.
Title: Religious and National Origin Discrimination: Issues & Intersection (May 2016)
EEOC TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM SEMINAR (“TAPS”), PRESENTER (Charlotte, NC andRaleigh, NC). Frequent presenter at the EEOC’s seminar for various stakeholders.
Title: EEOC’s National Enforcement Priorities: What’s Ahead in FY 2015? (February 2015)
LAWLINE.COM (January 2012, New York, NY)
Title: EEOC Practices and Enforcement Procedures
Description: Leadership academy for women attorneys licensed in the State of Georgia. The panel discussed successfully navigating between different practice groups, areas, and types of employers.
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE COLLEGE OF LAW (November 2011, Knoxville, TN)
Title: Career Path and Career Trajectory of UT Graduates 10 Years Out
Description: Join Alumni Council Chair, Kyle Williams and Alumni Council Member, Stephanie Jones in a frank discussion about their career path and trajectory ten years out from graduating law school. This panel will provide guidance and answer questions for students from 1L to 3L.
NAACP LEGAL DAY (January 2011, Charlotte, NC)
Title: What is the EEOC and How Can It Help You?
Description: Join Trial Attorney Stephanie M. Jones who will give an overview on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, how the agency can help you, and what you should do if you feel you have been subjected to discrimination.
2007 ARNALL GOLDEN GREGORY EMPLOYMENT LAW SEMINAR (May 2007, Atlanta, GA)
Title: New Rules. New Challenges. Managing a Diverse Workforce
2006 ARNALL GOLDEN GREGORY EMPLOYMENT LAW SEMINAR (June 2006, Atlanta, GA)
Title: How can Dress Code Enforcement in the Workplace Lead to Title VII Claims?
