The Employment Law & HR Summit: New York

September 17, 2025
New York
The Employment Law & HR Summit
New York | September 17, 2025

 

New York remains one of the most dynamic and complex legal environments for employers in the nation. At the Employment Law & HR Summit: New York, senior in-house legal and HR leaders will come together for a full day of practical guidance, strategic insight, and peer-to-peer learning focused on the state’s rapidly evolving workplace laws and compliance requirements.

This summit is built to equip employers with the tools and strategies they need to stay compliant, mitigate legal risk, and lead confidently in 2025 and beyond.

The program will address New York’s most urgent employment law and HR challenges—from ensuring compliance with pay transparency and equity mandates, to minimizing wrongful termination and retaliation claims, and supporting mental health in the workplace. Attendees will explore how to manage overlapping leave laws, implement effective employee training policies, and navigate legal and ethical concerns surrounding automated hiring tools under NYC’s AI bias audit law.

Designed for General Counsel, HR Leaders, Employment Counsel, Corporate Legal Executives, and Senior HR Professionals, this summit offers exclusive access to expert legal perspectives, compliance guidance, and real-world strategies. It’s a vital opportunity to benchmark with peers, stay ahead of policy shifts, and shape workplace strategies that are compliant, equitable, and built for the future.

NY CLE Pending Approval

Key Topics
  • Navigating Leave Laws: Coordination and Compliance in NY
  • Discrimination, Harassment & Retaliation: Complying with NY’s Expansive Protections
  • Pay Transparency & Pay Equity in New York: Building Trust While Minimizing Risk
  • Wrongful Termination & Retaliation Risks: What Employers Must Know
  • Automated Hiring Tools: Legal and Ethical Risks
  • Training Mandates & Best Practices in Workplace Education
  • Non-Competes, Restrictive Covenants, and Trade Secrets: Navigating the Legal Frontier

 

Attendees
  • Chief Legal Officer
  • CHRO
  • C-Suite Executives
  • SVP Human Resources + Legal
  • General Counsel
  • Associate + Assistant General Counsel
  • VP, Human Resources + Legal
  • HR Director
  • Senior Employment Counsel
  • Corporate Counsel
  • Counsel

Agenda

7:50 am
Registration Opens + Breakfast + One-to-One Meetings

One-to-One Meetings begin. If interested in participating, email info@centerforceusa.com

8:50 am
Opening Comments
9:00 am
Navigating Leave Laws: Coordination and Compliance in NY

With overlapping entitlements under NY Paid Family Leave, paid sick leave, FMLA, and ADA accommodations, employers face a growing challenge in leave administration. Add mental health-related absences, remote work complications, and evolving manager expectations, and the risk of noncompliance escalates quickly. Legal and HR leaders must ensure consistent, compassionate, and lawful approaches to handling leave—before a misstep turns into a lawsuit. This session will offer clear strategies to streamline coordination and stay compliant.

This panel will explore:

  • How to effectively coordinate NY Paid Family Leave, FMLA, and city sick leave laws
  • Legal obligations around leave for mental health and stress-related conditions
  • Common pitfalls in managing intermittent leave and how to avoid them
  • Training strategies for frontline managers navigating sensitive leave conversations
Madison Hart-Susser
Manager, People Operations
RapidSOS
9:45 am
Discrimination, Harassment & Retaliation: Complying with NY’s Expansive Protections

New York State maintains some of the most employee-friendly anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation laws in the country. As remote and hybrid work environments complicate oversight and communication, retaliation claims have spiked—particularly from employees asserting rights related to disabilities, harassment, or workplace fairness. Employers must stay ahead of rapidly evolving legal interpretations and overlapping claims to reduce liability and preserve culture. Attendees will gain actionable strategies to strengthen internal protocols and stay ahead of legal pitfalls.

This panel will explore:

  • How to manage rising retaliation claims in remote and hybrid settings under NYC/NYS Human Rights Laws
  • Legal and HR best practices for handling complex complaints involving harassment, bullying, and disabilities
  • Recent case law and liability trends employers need to learn from
  • Proactive recordkeeping and response protocols to reduce legal exposure
Michael Golland
General Counsel
UPROXX STUDIOS
Keith Halpern
SVP, Employee & Labor Relations
Frontier Communications
Nicholas Corsano
Shareholder
Greenberg Traurig
Lindsay Ditlow
Partner
McDermott Will & Emery
Tracy Udell
Chief EEO Officer
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Grace Margaret O’Donnell
Counsel
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
10:30 am
Networking Break + One-to-One Meetings

If interested in participating, email info@centerforceusa.com

11:10 am
Pay Transparency & Pay Equity in New York: Building Trust While Minimizing Risk

New York’s Pay Transparency Law now mandates salary range disclosures in job postings, even for remote roles that could be performed in the state. With enforcement efforts ramping up in 2025, employers must not only comply with technical requirements but also address internal pay equity gaps that may come to light. In a labor market that demands fairness and openness, how organizations communicate compensation will directly affect retention, reputation, and risk. This panel unpacks how legal and HR teams can proactively align internal practices with external expectations.

This panel will explore:

  • What the NY Pay Transparency Law requires for job postings and how enforcement is evolving
  • How to conduct internal pay equity audits across race, gender, and disability categories
  • Preparing for potential state audits and responding to employee or public inquiries
  • Strategies for framing compensation conversations to build employee trust and reduce legal exposure
Eric Topel
Head of Legal
Perchwell
Maria Papasevastos
Partner
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
11:55 am
Wrongful Termination & Retaliation Risks: What Employers Must Know

As employers contend with layoffs, RTO policies, and growing concerns around “quiet firing,” wrongful termination and retaliation claims are on the rise across New York. Courts are closely scrutinizing how terminations are handled—particularly when tied to prior complaints, leave requests, or protected activities. Legal and HR teams must ensure that workforce decisions are not only business-driven but legally sound and sensitively executed. This session offers a timely look at evolving risks and how to mitigate them through documentation, training, and process integrity.

This panel will explore:

  • Key elements of a compliant termination policy under NYS and NYC employment laws
  • Managing risk when terminating employees following protected complaints or accommodations
  • Best practices for conducting respectful, lawful offboarding conversations
  • Recent NY case studies that highlight what to avoid—and what courts are flagging
Katie Dugan
Vice President & Sr. Counsel - Global Labor & Employment
Match Group
Sarah A. Westby
Partner
Shipman & Goodwin LLP
Graphic of a person.
Ricardo Granderson
First VP & Chief HR Officer
Carver Federal Savings Bank
12:40 pm
Lunch + Networking + One-to-One Meetings

If interested in participating, email info@centerforceusa.com

1:30 am
Fireside Chat on Immigration with Lehigh Valley Immigration Law's J. Alexander Short
J. Alexander Short
Founder & Managing Member
Lehigh Valley Immigration Law LLC
2:00 pm
Automated Hiring Tools: Legal and Ethical Risks

As companies increasingly rely on AI-driven tools to screen, hire, and promote candidates, scrutiny from lawmakers, regulators, and advocacy groups is intensifying. New York City’s Local Law 144 has led the charge by requiring bias audits and transparency for automated employment decision tools (AEDTs), but similar proposals are emerging in states like California, Illinois, and at the federal level. With compliance no longer optional, employers must implement robust oversight to ensure these tools are fair, lawful, and aligned with business goals. This session will help in-house legal and HR teams evaluate risk, manage vendors, and stay ahead of the regulatory curve.

This panel will explore:

  • What NYC’s Local Law 144 requires—and how it signals future state and federal trends
  • How to conduct and interpret bias audits to ensure legal defensibility and fairness
  • Vendor management and audit obligations: what questions to ask and what red flags to watch for
  • Strategies for embedding equity, transparency, and governance into AI hiring practices
Noga Rosenthal
General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer
Ampersand
Nathaniel M. Glasser
Member of the Firm
Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
2:45 pm
Training Mandates & Best Practices in Workplace Education

New York’s training mandates continue to expand, with annual anti-harassment training remaining compulsory and NYC’s AI bias audit law requiring employers to rethink how hiring and promotion decisions are made—and taught. In an increasingly remote and tech-driven world, companies must modernize their training methods while maintaining legal rigor and meaningful outcomes. This discussion will spotlight how employers can meet regulatory standards and foster a learning culture that drives compliance, inclusion, and retention.

This panel will explore:

  • Tactics for delivering engaging and legally compliant anti-harassment training across formats
  • Integrating findings from AI bias audits into hiring, promotion, and manager training
  • Using technology and e-learning platforms to scale and track workforce education
  • Building documentation systems to demonstrate compliance and support defense in disputes
Nicole Levine
Senior Corporate Counsel, Labor and Employment
Clario
Tricia Wencelblat
Executive Director, Employee/Staff Relations and People Services
Amgen
3:30 pm
Non-Competes, Restrictive Covenants, and Trade Secrets: Navigating the Legal Frontier

Non-competes and restrictive covenants are facing increased legal scrutiny across the country, with California already having some of the strictest limitations and new federal restrictions under consideration. At the same time, protecting trade secrets and proprietary knowledge remains a top concern for employers navigating talent mobility and hybrid work environments. As enforcement avenues tighten, companies must get creative—strengthening internal policies, rethinking onboarding/offboarding processes, and embedding protections deeper into their organizational culture. Panelists will share practical, California-compliant strategies for safeguarding IP and employee knowledge while remaining competitive in the labor market. Expect a mix of litigation trends, compliance tactics, and real-world risk mitigation approaches.

This Panel Will Discuss:

  • How to adapt restrictive covenant strategies amid expanding federal and California state limitations
  • Alternatives to non-competes NDAs, non-solicits, and confidentiality agreements that hold up
  • Trends in trade secret misappropriation and what enforcement looks like post-employment
  • Best practices for minimizing risk during hiring, onboarding, and employee exits
4:15 pm
Networking Break + One-on-One Meetings

If interested in participating, email info@centerforceusa.com

4:25 pm
Cocktail Roundtables

Rotating, 20-minute discussions hosted by a topic expert

Roundtable 1: Wage & Hour Issues Impacting New York Employers
Hosted by: Kyle Winnick, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw, LLP

Roundtable 2: Training Mandates & Best Practices in Workplace Education

Kyle D. Winnick
Partner
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
5:45 pm
Closing Comments

Speakers

Michael Golland
General Counsel
UPROXX STUDIOS
Eric Topel
Head of Legal
Perchwell
Katie Dugan
Vice President & Sr. Counsel - Global Labor & Employment
Match Group
Noga Rosenthal
General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer
Ampersand
Nicholas Corsano
Shareholder
Greenberg Traurig
Keith Halpern
SVP, Employee & Labor Relations
Frontier Communications
Nicole Levine
Senior Corporate Counsel, Labor and Employment
Clario
Nathaniel M. Glasser
Member of the Firm
Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
Sarah A. Westby
Partner
Shipman & Goodwin LLP
Lindsay Ditlow
Partner
McDermott Will & Emery
Maria Papasevastos
Partner
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Kyle D. Winnick
Partner
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Graphic of a person.
Ricardo Granderson
First VP & Chief HR Officer
Carver Federal Savings Bank
Madison Hart-Susser
Manager, People Operations
RapidSOS
Tricia Wencelblat
Executive Director, Employee/Staff Relations and People Services
Amgen
J. Alexander Short
Founder & Managing Member
Lehigh Valley Immigration Law LLC
Tracy Udell
Chief EEO Officer
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Grace Margaret O’Donnell
Counsel
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Sponsors

Venue

TBA
New York City, NY

Pricing

Register By In House Counsel Law Firms & Vendors
September 17th $395.00 Contact info@centerforceusa.com
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