Maria Rodriguez commented on what HR professionals should expect from the next Department of Labor Secretary. “You get people in these roles who sit in ivory towers,” Rodriguez said. “They have to understand business, employer challenges with complying with certain laws and have a more realistic approach than prior heads of the DOL when it comes to enforcement of laws, compliance with laws and practicality of some laws.”

McDermott has opened a new office in Wilmington, Delaware with the arrival of Ashley Altschuler as partner in the Litigation Practice Group. “We have a number of hires in the pipeline,” said Mike Poulos. “I think we’d be surprised if we didn’t have 10 to 15 lawyers pretty quickly.”

McDermott has opened a new office in Wilmington, Delaware with the arrival of Ashley Altschuler and Ben Strauss. “We very much saw Wilmington as a critical component of the offering we wanted to have available to our clients,” said Mike Poulos.

Maria Rodriguez commented on recent changes to the stated intent of California’s discrimination statute. “This brings clarity or supports that notion that a single incident can be harassment, and when I read things like the notion that harassment cases are rarely appropriate for disposition on summary judgement, I think you have to read it in context.”

Maria Rodriguez discussed the use of bystander intervention training as part of settlements and at the requirement or recommendation of new laws. “What we’re also seeing now is more bystander reporting,” Rodriguez explained.