Parsons Behle & Latimer will host its 14th annual Idaho Employment Law Seminar on Sept. 22, 2026, geared toward business owners, human resource professionals and corporate counsel.
Event Details and Agenda
Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026 | 8 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Boise Centre East, 195 S. Capitol Blvd., Boise, Idaho
Cost
Early bird registration: $125 (through Sept. 1)
Regular registration: $150 (on or after Sept. 2)
Breakfast and lunch are included. Seating is limited.
Approved for three HRCI credits. Idaho CLE credits pending.
Agenda
7-8 a.m. – Registration and breakfast
8-8:20 a.m. – Welcome remarks, Jason R. Mau
8:30-9:30 a.m. – Breakout session one
9:45-10:45 a.m. – Breakout session two
11 a.m.-noon – Breakout session three
12:15-1:15 p.m. – Keynote panel and lunch
Presenters & Breakout Topics
Breakout Sessions: 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Social Media, Free Speech and Employer Liability
Balancing employee free speech rights with employers’ rights (and needs) to manage their workplaces is becoming increasingly complex. Add in a social media environment that allows employees to express their various beliefs far and wide, and the result is a legal minefield for employers. This session will help you understand employer and employee rights (in both public and private sectors), identify potential legal risks and ensure your policies are clear, compliant and enforceable.
Presenters:
The Power of the Paper Trail
Companies benefit from consistent, clear documentation of employee issues – especially in front of a jury. Elena and Liz will walk you through best practices for creating, maintaining, and using documents to protect from employee claims.
Presenters:
Are You Hip to HIPAA? Protecting Health Information in the Workplace
Protecting health information in the workplace is a critical concern for all employers. HIPAA applies to many employer-sponsored health benefit plans, yet it is one of the least understood, and most often ignored, federal laws. This presentation will help employers understand whether they have HIPAA compliance obligations, and if so, what those are. We will address what steps employers need to take to comply with HIPAA and the risks if they fail to do so. Finally, the presentation will also address how other laws impact privacy of employee health information.
Presenters:
Breakout Sessions: 9:45-10:45 a.m.
Investigations: Lessons from the Trenches
Recent court cases demonstrate how critical employment investigations are to protecting a company from a large jury verdict. Using these cases as background, Christina and Susan will discuss elements of a defensible and effective investigation so that you can confidently minimize your company’s legal exposure.
Presenters:
“Don’t Be the Test Case” -- Developments in Accommodation Requirements under the ADA, Title VII, and the PWFA
Liz and Sean will talk about surprising developments and lessons learned in the ever-complex matrix of accommodating disabilities, religion and pregnancy in the workplace.
Presenters:
Threading the Needle: How to Find the Middle Ground and Avoid Tricky Employment Law Traps
Employment law is full of gray areas. That’s why lawyers’ favorite refrain (and response to most questions) is: “It depends!” Join Elena, Kristen and Garrett to review the latest caselaw and explore potential pitfalls in areas ranging from ADA accommodations to investigations and discrimination. You’ll come away with an understanding of how to thread the needle in a variety of HR contexts, including hiring, discipline, termination and more.
Presenters:
Breakout Sessions: 11 a.m. - noon
Trends at the Idaho Human Rights Commission
The Idaho Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has experienced a substantial increase in filings in 2026. Jason and Ben will discuss the recent IHRC trends and share related economic data from the last 20 years from the Department of Labor. Ben (and maybe one of his senior investigators) will also discuss how the IHRC is managing this increase in filings.
Presenters:
- Jason R. Mau
- Ben Earwicker, J.D., Ph.D. - Director and Administrator at the Idaho Human Rights Commission
Ask Us Anything (About Employment Law) – Panel Discussion
In this session, you can pick the brains of our employment attorneys with your burning employment questions. The topics for this presentation will be audience choice through requests. And the best part? You’ll never receive a bill! You are welcome to ask our panelists questions from prior sessions or about other unrelated employment law matters on your mind. But a little disclaimer: As with our other sessions, this session is not legal advice, so the panelists will assume that all questions are purely hypothetical.
Managing Problem Employees
Every workplace has problem employees. They consume disproportionate time, they create conflict, and they leave managers asking, “What do we do with this person?” This presentation examines how to address those situations decisively while protecting the organization from retaliation, discrimination, wage, leave and wrongful-termination claims, with a focus on the practical choices that make the difference between a well-managed problem and an expensive one.
Presenters:
Lunch & Keynote: 12:15-1:15 p.m.
War Stories
The best thing about being a lawyer is the stories we get to tell! (Keeping client confidences, of course). Join with four seasoned Parsons’ employment law attorneys during the lunch hour as they discuss the most interesting cases they have been a part of and the lessons that we can all learn.
Presenters:
This program has been pre-approved for (Number of recertification credit hours & credit type) toward aPHR®, aPHRi™, PHR®, PHRca®, SPHR®, GPHR®, PHRi™ and SPHRi™ recertification through HR Certification Institute® (HRCI®).
Capabilities
