Employment Law Training for Managers
Our employment law training for managers teaches your managers and supervisors what to say and do when an issue comes up in hiring, leave requests, complaints, pay, or discipline, and when to bring in HR. Each session is a live, customized half-day or full-day workshop for managers from one organization.
ERC partners with employment law experts and attorneys to bring the workshop onsite anywhere in the country, come to our training center, or join a live virtual session.
Class size is typically from a few managers up to 25, and virtual sessions can take larger groups. For one or two managers, we also run a public online class.
What Managers Learn in Employment Law Training
Before training, we assess what your organization needs and recommend which topics to emphasize. We can customize every topic for your managers and your policies.
- The laws managers run into most, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
- What a manager is responsible for under those laws, and how to tell when a situation needs HR.
- What counts as discrimination, harassment, and bullying at work.
- How managers prevent discrimination, harassment, and bullying, starting with the way they hire and treat their teams.
- What to do when an employee raises a complaint, and how to avoid retaliating afterward.
- Federal and state leave rules, including FMLA.
- How to handle short absences and long leaves within the law and your company policies.
- How to set clear criteria for judging applicants before the first interview.
- Which questions to ask, which to leave out, and how to explain a hiring decision in job-related terms.
- How to communicate expectations and address performance problems fairly.
- How to keep clear, accurate documentation through reviews, coaching, and corrective action.
- Overtime, exempt and non-exempt roles (who earns overtime and who doesn’t), and tracking the hours people work.
- Wage and hour questions that come with remote work.
What Managers Learn to Do When an Employment Law Issue Comes Up
Each situation in this table matches a part of the course. “HR” means whoever handles employee issues at your organization, including an owner or office manager.
| What happens at work | What managers learn to do |
|---|---|
| An employee mentions a medical condition or treatment without using the words “FMLA” or “accommodation.” | Recognize that leave or accommodation rules may apply, then tell HR promptly. |
| An employee misses work and the manager wants to know why. | Ask in general terms and confirm when the employee will be back. If the reason involves health or family care, pass it to HR and leave any medical questions to HR. |
| An employee reports harassment and asks the manager to keep it quiet. | Take the report seriously, explain that it has to go to HR and will be kept as private as possible, and tell HR right away. |
| A manager wants to write up someone who recently requested leave or made a complaint. | Talk to HR before acting. Make sure the facts are documented and job-related. |
| A candidate brings up their kids or their health during an interview. | Steer back to the job, keep it out of the hiring decision, and send any accommodation request to HR. |
| An hourly employee works through lunch or answers email after their shift. | Make sure that time gets recorded and paid, and set the expectation that all work time gets reported. |
Employment Law Training Options for Managers and Supervisors
A single course for your group
Best for managers who need employment law training on its own.
A public online class for one or two people
Find upcoming sessions on our events calendar.
Part of our Supervisor Training series
Employment law is one of twelve modules in Supervisor Training. Choose the series when your supervisors need more than employment law.
Training HR staff instead? See our Employment Law Training for HR professionals.
What Drives the Cost of Employment Law Training for Managers
The quote for this course depends on how many managers attend and the setup you choose. Send us your group size, the format you want, and your timing. We’ll reply with a quote and options. You can handle the whole process by email.
Session length
Half-day or full-day.
Topics
Which topics you want to emphasize.
Delivery and locations
In-person or live virtual, for one group or several.
Pre- and post-tests
Optional.
What Employment Law Training Do Managers Need?
Managers need enough employment law to spot an issue, take the right first step, and know when to hand it off. They can leave the legal analysis to HR and your attorneys.
New managers and supervisors
Need the basics before their first leave request or complaint.
Experienced managers with no formal training
Need a refresher on rules that may have changed since they started managing.
Organizations with little or no HR staff
Need managers who can handle the first conversation about an employee issue.
Discrimination Training for Managers
Our employment law course teaches managers to recognize unlawful discrimination and apply the same job-related standards to hiring, discipline, and day-to-day decisions. For a session on harassment alone that can include your whole workforce, see Harassment Prevention Training.
Frequently Asked Questions About Employment Law Training for Managers
Yes. Before training, we assess what your organization needs and recommend where to put the emphasis. We can customize the topics for your managers and the situations they face.
The course covers federal employment law and state leave rules. Tell us where your employees work so we can plan around those states. Some states set their own requirements for harassment training, so let us know if any of yours do.
The course is one session, half-day or full-day. A full day leaves more time for discussion. We can run related topics as their own sessions, such as FMLA Training for Managers.
Yes, as a live virtual session for your group or through our public online class. Both are taught live.
Yes. We encourage those questions. The training explains how employment law generally applies and what a manager should do next. For legal advice on a specific situation, talk to your employment attorney.
During the needs assessment, we’ll work out who handles employee issues at your organization. The course then teaches managers to go to that person. If you’re that person and you’d like backup, our Fractional HR experts can handle day-to-day HR needs without a permanent hire.
The course includes a needs assessment before training and the live session. Pre- and post-tests are available if you want to measure what managers learned.
Our public online class is built for one or two people. Check our events calendar for upcoming dates, or use the form on this page and we’ll suggest the closest fit.
Yes. We can deliver the course onsite at each location or run live virtual sessions that bring managers from different sites together. Tell us how many groups you have so we can quote them together.
We reply by email with a few questions about your group and what you want the training to fix. Then we send a quote. You can stay on email the whole way or set up a short call with us.
Employment Law Training for Managers at a Glance
| What it is | A live, customized workshop where managers and supervisors learn what to say and do when an employment law issue comes up, and when to bring in HR. |
|---|---|
| Who it is for | Managers and supervisors from one organization. A public online class serves one or two people. |
| Topics | Employment law basics, discrimination and harassment, leaves of absence, interviewing, performance and documentation, wage and hour. |
| Length | Half-day or full-day. |
| Group size | Typically from a few managers up to 25 in a classroom. Larger groups run virtually. |
| Delivery | In-person or live virtual. |
| Where | Onsite at your location anywhere in the country, a location you choose, our training center in Beachwood, Ohio, or online. |
| What is included | A needs assessment before training and the live session. |
| How pricing works | Priced per program by group size, session length, topics, delivery, and optional tests. Request a quote through the form on this page. |
| Who teaches it | Employment law experts and attorneys who partner with ERC. |
| About ERC | ERC has served employers since 1920. |
Let’s Plan Employment Law Training for Your Managers
Tell us about your managers and the situations they run into. We’ll recommend a setup.
