Need help deciphering the multitude of laws regarding hiring and firing employees? Attorneys with Kunkel, Miller & Hament, a management labor law firm with an office in Fort Myers, and The Chamber of Southwest Florida are offering a one-day seminar this month on employment law. Human-resource professionals, managers, supervisors and business owners are expected to attend the event in Fort Myers.

The seminar will cover current developments in employment law and provide practical advice and real-life solutions involving labor issues. With an explosion of litigation in the past five to eight years involving workplace harassment, discrimination and retaliation in local companies, such suits are a "huge threat nowadays to businesses," says attorney Daniel Kunkel, who represents private and public sector employers in legal issues. "It's an unscheduled expense and something that can be a very big expense. A lot of plaintiffs' lawyers who used to chase ambulances are now chasing employers."

Kunkel and John Hament, also a partner in Kunkel, Miller & Hament, chatted about why this topic is crucial for businesses of all sizes.

Gulfshore Business: What is the thrust of the seminar?

John Hament: Keeping employers out of trouble. We bring the lessons that become obvious in the litigation that we defend for employers. It helps alert them to courses of action that could get them in trouble.

GB: Do most owners and HR managers understand the laws regarding hiring and termination?

Daniel Kunkel: A good number of the lawsuits we defend involve employers who had no idea what they were doing was in violation of a law.

GB: What have been some of the new developments in employment law?

JH: One jumped out there as a result of 9-11. Our federal and state anti-discrimination laws outlaw discrimination based on national origin. Because of the heightened sensitivity about people of Middle Eastern origin, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has come out with new guidance that highlights the issue of discriminating against job applicants and employees-they're reaffirming the prohibition.

DK: They're focusing on this because at the same time that one branch of the government is emphasizing to employers not to discriminate, government is passing new regulations saying such individuals have to check in and take extra steps to work here. Employers hear about the government imposing stricter requirements against people from different countries and they think, "I don't want to get in trouble with the government. I don't want to have this person working for me."

GB: What is a common legal misunderstanding regarding employees?

DK: Overtime pay is widely misunderstood. Categories of employees are exempt from overtime. Some employers think if they pay a salary, it can make them exempt from paying overtime. The four categories of employees that are exempt are: executive, administrative (high-level people like a human-resources director), professional level (can include artists, scholarly work, teachers and registered nurses) and salespeople who don't work out of an office.

GB: How often do employers need to review their hiring and employment processes?

DK: At least once a year. We suggest that employers try to make sure the policies in their employee handbook are policies they're actually using.

We also suggest that employers have a copy of the handbook at their fingertips, and that they make a note whenever something happens regarding a particular policy. Once a year, look back at what happened and see if the policies are working.

Before his presentation at this month's Greater Fort Myers Beach Area Chamber luncheon, Standard & Poor's chief economist, David A. Wyss, gave a preview of his forecast for the national economy.

He says that during the first half of the year, growth is expected to hold near three percent. The expected fiscal stimulus package and possible war expenditures may accelerate growth in the second half of the year. The recovery will retain its strong resemblance to the economic upturn of 1991-92. In that expansion, the unemployment rate did not peak until 18 months into the recovery. The unemployment rate is now expected to peak in late spring near 6.5 percent. "We expect a moderate recovery in 2003; if that fails to materialize, economic growth could be even lower than we expect," he says.

Wyss, based in New York, is responsible for S&P's economic forecasts and publications.

Wyss adds that the "risk remains outside the economy. The United States is unlikely to generate either a double-dip recession or deflation on its own. However, a failed war in the Middle East, resulting in sharply higher oil prices or major terrorist activity, could shove the economy back into recession this year. If deflation spreads from Japan to Europe, the United States could get sucked into the bog."

Chamber contacts

The Florida Employment Law Trilogy

When: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., March 6

Where: Corbin Auditorium, Edison Community College, Fort Myers

Speakers: Attorneys Daniel Kunkel, John Hament, Nick Joshi and Jennifer Fowler-Hermes and private wage and hour consultant Travis Campbell.

Cost: $125 (includes lunch and labor law reference manual).

Contact: The Chamber of Southwest Florida, (239) 278-4001 or

www.chamber-swflorida.com.

Economic Forecast Luncheon

When: Noon, March 28

Where: Diamondhead Beach Resort, 2000 Estero Blvd.

Cost: $15

Contact: The Greater Fort Myers Beach Area Chamber, (239) 454-7500 or

www.fortmyersbeach.org.