Handling Major Employment Law Challenges Sparked by the Economic Downturn

In this difficult and uncertain time of economic crisis, businesses across the country and in virtually every industry are confronting serious strategic and operational challenges. Increasingly, employers must make myriad, tough decisions on an array of critical personnel matters. From downsizing and benefit reductions to protecting intellectual property, the issues facing employers in the current economic downturn are complex and fraught with legal peril. Clearly, this is not the time to unwittingly invite potentially costly and time-consuming litigation. Indeed, it is more important than ever for employers to have the legal information and practical guidance required to make the right decisions in the right way. In this special EBG briefing, we target the key issues ignited by today’s new economic realities, including layoffs and reductions-in-force, cost-cutting measures and protecting proprietary and confidential information. Our experts provide specific suggestions for minimizing the legal risks inherent in making the hard decisions that your company currently faces or may soon confront.

Speakers:
Peter Altieri, Member of the Firm, Litigation and Labor and Employment Practice, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.

John Kosciusko, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, New York Region Employee Benefits Division, Sumitomo Life Insurance Agency America, Inc.

William Milani, Member of the Firm, Labor and Employment Practice, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. Presenter & Moderator:
Michael Levine, Member of the Firm; Head of CSR/Sustainability Practice, Epstein Becker & Green P.C.

Register here

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Taking the Guesswork out of Gift Giving on Administrative Professionals Day

iStock_000004151367XSmall_1_.jpgby Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

Few holidays cause as much gift-giving angst for bosses as Administrative Professionals Day, which falls on Wednesday, April 22nd this year. In an effort to remove the guesswork, American Express surveyed members of the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) on their experiences and opinions about this day of recognition. Of the 400 administrative professionals who answered the survey, 79 percent would prefer $25 to spend any way they want over a $40 floral arrangement (19 percent) or $30 worth of chocolates (one percent). Further evidence that cash is king: 48 percent of those surveyed ranked money as their first choice gift over lunch with their coworkers (38 percent), flowers (9 percent) or a trinket for their desk (3 percent).

“Flowers, a card, candy, and a lovely lunch are all terrific-and I would never, ever discourage a boss from doing these kinds of things in honor of Administrative Professionals Day. However, these are not the things that admins want most,” says Janet Smith, an employee morale consultant. “What they really want-and what will make them feel extremely valued and appreciated-are opportunities for professional development and career growth.” Offering career advancement and professional learning opportunities sends the message that the administrative staff is making a valuable contribution, according to Jennifer Bergeron, Human Resources, Training Specialist for Summit County Government in Breckenridge, Colorado.

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City Women’s Network: Imagining India & India’s Global Powerhouses

CWN members, their guests and non-members are invited to join the London Business School and the Aditya Birla India Centre for an evening on India today.

Talking about their new books Imagining India and India’s Global Powerhouses, Infosys Co-Chairman Nandan Nilekani and LBS Professor Nirmalya Kumar will join a panel discussion hosted by LBS Dean Robin Buchanan.

To register for this free event please go to https://forms.london.edu/form.asp?id=11321.

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100 Women in Hedge Funds – Guardian for a Well Endowed Future: A Conversation with Jack R. Meyer, co-founder, Convexity Capital Management

Endowments exist to provide sustainable and reliable support to the organizations they fuel. Universities largely see their missions as producing capable citizens who are prepared and proactive in stewarding sustained human and economic development.

Jack Meyer, former president of Harvard Management Company and current chairman of Asian University for Women’s Support Foundation Board of Directors, will share his experiences from Harvard and with AUW, highlighting how investment skills can play an important role in public service.

If you have any questions about this event, please contact asiapacific@100womeninhedgefunds.org

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Voice of Experience: Grace Leiblein, President and Managing Director, GM de Mexico

Grace_photo_1[1]_1.JPGby Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

Grace Leiblein has been working for GM since she was 18 years old. While attending college at General Motors Institute (now called Kettering University), she worked with GM as a co-op student in a manufacturing plant. She worked her way up through assignments and ranks, with her last position before her recent promotion being the global chief engineer responsible for overseeing the engineering of all several hundred engineers (internal and supplier engineers) working on crossover vehicles like the Acadia and Chevy Traverse.

Says Leiblein, “I remember when I got that assignment. It was a huge challenge—much larger than I had ever experienced—but it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I grew a tremendous amount both personally and professionally. To be on a project like that and able to start from scratch basically and have your fingerprints all over some products – I’m very proud of the way they turned out, and when I see one of my vehicles on the road I feel personally responsible for them.”

She was appointed President of GM de Mexico at the end of 2008. Although Leiblein has a personal connection with Latin America—her father is Cuban and her mother is Nicaraguan—she has never worked in Latin America in her professional career and is thrilled about the new opportunity. “I’ve always loved Mexico…it is one of my favorite places to be. And it is a great opportunity to lead an entire business unit for a country. To have that kind of responsibility and authority and challenge is wonderful. And the team there is a proven, experienced team of professionals—nationals as well as expats from different countries—so it will be fun to learn from them as well.”

Leiblein advises women not to be afraid to take that stretch assignment, something she has done quite often over the course of her career. “Women in particular have a tendency to shy away from opportunities out of their comfort zone, whether that be moving into an area that they haven’t worked in before or moving to a different city or moving to a different country. If you really want to progress in an organization you have to take on those opportunities because that is (1) how you grow personally and professionally and (2) it is how leadership really looks at your adaptability for progression (watching how you do in situations where what you are doing is different from what you know).”

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Third Annual Conference Global Transfer Pricing

Due to globalization Transfer Pricing is becoming more important and complex by the minute. The more cross-border transactions have been made within international corporations the more strategic planning and fast reactions are needed. Corporations are facing company audits by different national fiscal authorities, which increases the risk of double taxation. The credit crunch and the current financial situation have produced challenges of how to deal with capital loss instead of gain.

Join our 3rd international transfer pricing conference and

Hear about recent OECD and EU discussion drafts relating to Business Restructuring, Permanent Establishments and Transactional Profit Methods
Discuss the new transfer pricing regulations in China and find out how they will influence your business
Learn about dealing with royalties on an international level and how to set and negotiate rates
Manage tax audits internationally and on multiple fronts by handling transfer pricing systems effectively
Handling Business Restructurings in Asia and Eastern Europe – special focus: contract manufacturing and marketing companies
This international congress is developed for Directors, Heads of Department and Project Managers in the areas of Tax, Tax Planning, Transfer Pricing, Finance and Corporate Controlling.

Register now

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Greening Your Office: Saving Money While Saving the Planet

Increased environmental consciousness and a heightened attention to the bottom line are driving a new green movement among law firms and other businesses. Our panelists will discuss ways in which businesses are assessing and reducing energy and resource consumption in their offices and saving money in the process. The program will be targeted to lawyers, business professionals, office and facilities managers and others who are concerned about these issues.Moderator:
EDNA SUSSMAN, SussmanADR LLCSpeakers:
BILL BLACKBURN, William Blackburn Consulting, Ltd.; JENNIFER HOGAN, Arnold & Porter LLP; SUSAN LoPICCOLO, Pfizer Global Engineering; FRANK NAPOLI, Con Edison Solutions; DAN PETERS, IBM Global Energy Conservation Process Integration; JOHN ROUSAKIS, O’Melveny & Myers LLP; BRUCE THORPE, WSP Environment & Energy LLC

Co-sponsored by:
U.S. Green Building Council, NYC Chapter

To register, please contact Judith Wallace at wallace@clm.com.

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In Case You Missed It: News Round-up

martin.jpgContributed by Martin Mitchell of the Corporate Training Group

In case you were too busy to have kept up with all the news, contributor Martin Mitchell has gathered some important market events from last week to help you start this week well informed:

Mergers and Acquisitions

  • The auction of the scandal-hit Indian company Satyam Computer Services was won by Tech Mahindra. The bid will involve Tech Mahindra paying Rs29bn ($585m) for 51% and is considered risky because of the uncertain financial situation at Satyam after its former chairman admitted to fixing the books, plus class action suits from disgruntled US investors in Satyam’s ADRs. Tech Mahindra is planning to use a mix of cash, debentures, bonds and bank debt to fund the acquisition.
  • Rio Tinto’s $19.5bn fundraising from Chinalco saw disgruntled shareholders questioning the board at the AGM. The deal involves Rio selling stakes in a number of assets to the Chinese group, plus a bond paying a 9% coupon that is convertible into equity. The shareholders are concerned that the stake sales amount to selling the ‘company silver’ and that they would like to have been offered to participate in the bond issue. The Chairman told them that he hoped to be able to ‘offer something that pleases everyone’.
  • Japan’s NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology are in talks about a merger that would create the world’s third largest chipmaker by sales. NEC Electronics is a listed company 65% owned by its parent NEC, Renesas is a joint venture that is 55% owned by Hitachi and 45% owned by Mitsubishi Electric.
  • Zurich Financial Services is purchasing AIG’s Personal Auto Group for $1.9bn. Personal Auto is a US business that deals in car, motorcycle and commercial vehicle insurance. The deal will contribute to AIG repaying the $100bn received in federal aid.
  • HSBC and Standard Chartered are among those talking to Royal Bank of Scotland about buying its Asian assets. The assets embrace 170 branches employing 7,000 staff and could be worth £500m to £1bn. Morgan Stanley is leading the sale process for RBS.

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2009 Summit on the Future of Pensions: From Crisis to Sustainability

Times have changed for Canada’s pension leaders.

In our 2008 pensions survey, most pension managers felt they had put their major funding issues behind them, and were anticipating plan surpluses that would address many of their remaining challenges. What a difference a year makes! Once again pension funding has moved to the top of the corporate agenda, and CFOs and other senior executives have renewed concern about this issue and its impact on their organizations’ long-term outlook. Learn how leading organizations are responding to the current crisis.Benefit from the insights of Canadian and international experts, and learn how they’re dealing with the current funding crisis, and participate in the discussion of longer term strategies you’ll need once the immediate crisis abates.

Learn about upcoming regulatory changes and their impact. Provincial and federal changes may have a huge impact on the near-term outlook for your pension and, combined with the business and financial environment, may necessitate a complete reassessment of your long-term pension strategy. Meet the regulators, discuss the issues with your peers, and refine your long-term perspective.

Register here

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Greening Your Home Office

iStock_000004780659XSmall_1_.jpgBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

Being a professional in the working world today is tough. Between clients, business meetings, and family, very few women have the time or energy to take on extra projects. Recent surveys have shown that the green movement is slowly finding its way into corporate offices. If major corporations can find the time and resources to “greenovate” during these trying economic times, there’s no excuse as to why your home office can’t get an eco-friendly facelift of its own.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20 million Americans work from home a couple of days a week. Essentially, that means the added energy use from lights and office equipment and extra paper consumption from faxes, sticky-notes, and computer printouts is taking its toll on the environment as we speak. The idea of turning your home office into an efficient, eco-friendly workspace may seem overwhelming at first, but rest assured it’s not as difficult or time-consuming as you may think. Taking the time to consider a few minor adjustments will make a big difference in your life and to the lifespan of the planet.

Greening your home office doesn’t have to entail an entire overhaul that takes weeks to complete. As a matter of fact, getting rid of your old things is wasteful and defeats the purpose of greening. You don’t have to rip out your carpet and replace it with cork flooring or ditch all of your office furniture for new hemp furniture. Kelly LaPlante, celebrity interior designer, owner of Organic Interior Design in Venice Beach, CA, and author of écologique: The Style of Sustainable Design, knows green design inside and out and says one of the biggest misconceptions is that you have to throw out all of your non-green items and start from scratch. “You can’t green your office from the perspective that you’re going to buy all new eco-products. The greenest thing you can do is nothing at all. Keep what you already have and don’t send things off to a landfill and contribute to the environmental impact that new production has on the environment. Start with the principal of reusing or repurposing already existing items in new and interesting ways,” LaPlante said. Bookshelves can be painted, existing chairs can be upholstered in organic fabrics, walls can be painted with low VOC paints- you get the idea.

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