Trouble in the Suez: An Employer's Duty of Care to Employees Based Overseas
An employer's duty of care to its employees in the U.S. and overseas goes beyond the usual health benefits and 401(k) plan. Even when U.S.-based employees travel overseas, the company has a heightened duty of care to ensure their safety, especially if they are being sent to areas of the world currently experiencing political unrest or instability. Identify and understand the basic obligations of the company and best practices for ensuring employee comfort and safety.
Learning Objectives:
- The most common risks to U.S. employees living or traveling overseas.
- How HR can minimize those risks.
- How to respond in the event of a crisis.
Kelly Dobbs Bunting
Kelly Bunting, Co-Chair of the Greenberg Traurig, LLP's Labor & Employment Practice's Workplace Compliance & Counseling Group, and member of its Artificial Intelligence Law Group, has considerable experience defending class and collective wage and hour litigation and misclassification claims, having defended employers in Title III ADA access litigation and litigation alleging race, sex, pregnancy, age, disability discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. She is deeply experienced in virtually all aspects of employment litigation, including wage and hour, labor, Title VII, harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, non-competition and non-solicitation, trade secrets, SOX and Dodd Frank whistleblower claims, CEPA, ADEA, FMLA, NJLAD, and failure to accommodate issues. She has identified and managed employment issues in M&A deals and appeared before the EEOC, NLRB, and DOL in many states, as well as state agencies in DE, NY, NJ and PA. Kelly has represented many clients in mediation and settlement negotiations, and created HR and compliance training modules. She is regularly sought after as a workforce trainer for issues related to harassment and discrimination, FCPA compliance, good management techniques, and union awareness.
Kelly focuses much of her practice on international L&E issues, including employment/secondment contracts, data privacy, and global anti-corruption compliance. She advises clients on national and international handbook policies, procedures, and strategic HR issues, and provides day-to-day counsel in hiring, employee relations, employee discipline, and termination. She also conducts and advises on internal investigations.