Legal Landscape: Public Sector Labor Relations - 2010 Video Webcast

5.0 MCLE Credits
(4.0 areas of professional practice, 1.0 ethics)

Labor-management issues continue to dominate the agendas of municipalities, school districts, and other governmental entities throughout the State of New York.  The laws and contracts covering public employees are increasingly the subject of news articles, editorials, blog posts, legislative hearings, and forums of public comment. From pension reform and the rising cost of health insurance to government employees’ rights of free speech, public sector labor law (and labor-management relations) has grown immensely in importance and scope.  This should come as no surprise as public employees now constitute more than fifty percent of all union members nation-wide, with New York leading the way in both the union membership number and rate for government workers. 

This intermediate-to-advanced level program provides an in-depth look at some of the issues that have recently dominated the public discourse regarding government employees.  The topics that will be discussed include: pensions, health insurance, employee speech, and a discussion of recent cases and hot topics in courts and administrative agencies.  There will also be a discussion of ethical considerations for attorneys engaged in online social networking, blogging, and other new communication technologies.

Speakers include representatives from the New York State Comptroller’s Office, Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), and the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining (OCB).  Joining them are judges and advocates who represent management and labor in sharing their wealth of knowledge, insight, and expertise in the areas presented. 

Agenda

• Introduction and Overview
• Pensions: Past, Present and Future
• Health Insurance Bargaining: Negotiability, Trends and Strategies
• Case Updates: Federal and State Courts, PERB (and OCB)
• Legal Ethics: Social Networking, Blogging and More
• Employee Speech (Revisited): The Future of Garcetti
  

Program Faculty

Overall Planning Chair

Seth H. Greenberg, Esq., Greenberg Burzichelli Greenberg P.C., Lake Success

Co-Chairs, Labor and Employment Law Section Committee on Continuing Legal Education

Ronald G. Dunn, Esq., Gleason Dunn Walsh & O’Shea, Albany
Stephanie M. Roebuck, Esq., Keane & Beane, P.C., White Plains

Speakers (in alphabetical order)

* John F. Black, Esq., Hinman Straub, P.C., Albany
* Robert E. Coughlin, Esq., Counsel, New York State Retirement Systems, Office of the NYS Comptroller
* John M. Crotty, Esq., Attorney at Law, Delmar
* Matthew J. Fusco, Esq., Chamberlain D’Amanda Oppenheimer & Greenfield LLP, Rochester
* Seth H. Greenberg, Esq., Greenberg Burzichelli Greenberg P.C., Lake Success
* William A. Herbert, Esq., Deputy Chair and Counsel, New York State Public Employment Relations Board
* Lance J. Klein, Esq., Keane & Beane, P.C., White Plains 
* Monte A. Klein, Esq., Director, Office of Public Employment Practices and Representation, New York State Public Employment Relations Board
* Nathaniel G. Lambright, Esq., Blitman & King LLP, Syracuse
* Norma G. Meacham, Esq., Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, Albany
* Kevin F. Murray, Deputy Comptroller, Retirement Services Division, Office of the New York State Comptroller
* Peter J. Spinelli, Esq., Harris Beach PLLC, Albany
* Paul J. Sweeney, Esq., Coughlin & Gerhart, L.L.P., Binghamton

2010 NYSBA CLE Webcast Archive

This program was recorded on May 20, 2010.

This archived webcast is a video online program that you will view and listen to on your computer screen. The program code for each topic that you write on the included MCLE Form only appears on the screen and is not announced by audio.