HRComplianceOnline's Contributing Editors and Authors

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Our approach is simple. We constantly monitor regulatory trends affecting business and government. As new developments occur, we act quickly to provide authoritative compliance insights to our customers. We do this via a growing line of 120 books, loose-leafs, specialty newsletters, audio conferences, web subscription products and email advisory alerts. These insights are provided by our national network of authors -- all of whom are recognized leaders in their fields – and our team of accomplished in-house editorial experts. Working together, they bring you the very best in analysis and “how to” compliance tools. This approach is the major reason why our products are widely-acknowledged to be the best in their fields.

Meet Our Experts

Our employment law experts are the authorities in their fields. They not only write in their respective fields, but also practice in all areas of employment law for top firms in the nation.

HRComplianceOnline’s Contributing Editors and Authors

Daniel B. Abrahams

is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the international law firm of Brown Rudnick LLP, where he represents employers before the U.S. Department of Labor and the courts. His areas of specialty include government contracts, construction and labor standards law. Mr. Abrahams is author and contributing editor of the Fair Labor Standards Handbook for States, Local Governments and Schools; Employer's Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the FLSA Employee Exemption Handbook and the Public Employer's Guide to FLSA Employee Classification.

Kathryn Bakich

is a vice president and the national director of health care compliance for The Segal Company in Washington, D.C. She specializes in research and analysis of federal laws and regulations affecting health coverage, such as HIPAA, COBRA, the Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act, the Mental Health Parity Act and the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act. Previously, she was an attorney in private practice representing multi-employer health plans and was an appellate administrative law judge. She is a 1985 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Law. Ms. Bakich is a co-contributing editor of the Employer's Guide to HIPAA Privacy Requirements.

David B. Berry

is the labor counsel for the American Trucking Association in Alexandria, Va. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland at College Park and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law. Mr. Berry is author of the Family and Medical Leave Handbook.

Sandra J. Boyd

is the director of employment policy at the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington, D.C. Ms. Boyd has served as an attorney at the Washington, D.C., law firm of McGuiness and Williams, where she practiced labor and government contract law. Ms. Boyd is author of the Employer's Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act; FLSA Employee Exemption Handbook; and Public Employer's Guide to FLSA Employee Classification.

Sharon A. Campbell

is a principal of Performance Management Institute in Silver Spring, Md., a consulting company specializing in growing small businesses. Ms. Campbell is author of the FLSA Employee Exemption Handbook and the Public Employer's Guide to FLSA Employee Classification.

William Connors

is the President and CEO of Risk Management Advisors, a major business continuity planning firm and a global provider of comprehensive security solutions. Mr. Connors has worked extensively with clients on post 9-11 emergency preparedness planning. He also writes and lectures frequently on risk management, business continuity planning, response and recovery, pandemic preparedness and security issues. Mr. Connors is also a featured presenter in the Thompson Avian flu audio conference series.

Tracey A. Cullen

is an associate in the New York office of Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. She holds an undergraduate degree from Boston College and a juris doctor from St. John's University School of Law. Ms. Cullen represents management in various aspects of labor and employment law, including discrimination, harassment, wrongful discharge, and wage and hour matters.

David R. Fuller

is partner in Morgan Lewis' employee benefits and executive compensation practice in Washington, D.C. Mr. Fuller's primary practice areas are employment tax, fringe benefits, employee benefits and contingent workforce matters. Mr. Fuller is a graduate of Anderson University, the University of Cincinnati College of Law and New York University School of Law. From 1990 to 1995, Mr. Fuller served in the Internal Revenue Service Office of the Associate Chief Counsel-Employee Benefits and Exempt Organizations (EBEO), and from 1992 to 1995 was Assistant Chief of Branch 2 in EBEO. Mr. Fuller also served as an attorney-advisor to the Hon. Perry Shields of the U.S. Tax Court, and was formerly with the law firm McDermott, Will & Emery LLP. He is a frequent seminar speaker and writer on issues involving fringe benefits, employment taxes and the contingent workforce. Mr. Fuller is a contributing editor of the Employer's Guide to Fringe Benefit Rules and the Employer's Handbook: Complying With IRS Employee Benefit Rules.

Gilbert J. Ginsburg

is an attorney, and counselor-at-law and former partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Epstein, Becker and Green, P.C. Gilbert J. Ginsburg is author of Fair Labor Standards Handbook for States, Local Governments and Schools; and Employer's Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
 

Rich Glass

is Chief Compliance Officer for Infinisource, Inc. He is a licensed attorney and brings more than 15 years of legal expertise, specializing in benefits, human resources and related regulatory compliance. He has testified before the IRS and has provided comments on regulations issued by several governmental authorities. Mr. Glass is a member of the Health Plan Advisory Panel at Thompson Publishing Group and contributing editor of the Flex Plan Handbook. He is a frequent speaker and author on benefits, employment law and compliance issues.

Abbey G. Hairston

is a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Epstein, Becker and Green, P.C. Ms. Hairston represents both management and employees in employment discrimination litigation, involving such issues as the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act, title VII, state employment laws, collective bargaining and grievances. Named one of "Washington's 50 Best Lawyers" by Washingtonian magazine, Ms. Hairston is a frequent lecturer on various employment laws and is a member of the Litigation and Labor and Employment Law sections of the American Bar Association. Formerly, Ms. Hairston was a partner and chair of the litigation department in the law firm of Alexander, Bearden, Hairston and Marks. Prior to entering private practice, she was general counsel for the Palm Beach County, Fla., School Board. Ms. Hairston received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Drake University and her law degree from the University of Iowa. Ms. Hairston is author of The Leave and Disability Coordination Handbook.

Paul M. Hamburger, P.C.,

is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm McDermott, Will & Emery LLP. Mr. Hamburger has more than 20 years of experience in advising employers and administrators, and is the author of numerous articles and publications on COBRA and other employee benefits issues affecting pension and welfare plans. He is a 1983 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. Mr. Hamburger is author and contributing editor of Mandated Health Benefits: The COBRA Guide; Pension Plan Fix-It Handbook and Guide to Assigning and Loaning Benefit Plan Money.

Jack B. Helitzer

is an attorney in private practice. He helped draft the 1985 coordination of benefit (COB) rules as a member of the COB task force of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Helitzer went into practice after more than 35 years at Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., where he headed a group specializing in employee benefit plan issues. Mr. Helitzer is contributing editor of Coordination of Benefits Handbook and the Employer's Guide to HIPAA.

Jerry E. Holmes

serves as senior counsel in Morgan Lewis' employee benefits and executive compensation practice in Washington, D.C. He concentrates his practice in the fringe benefits and payroll tax area and has extensive experience on information reporting, wage withholding, working condition fringe benefits, employee discounts, wage minimization techniques and worker classification issues. Before joining Morgan Lewis, Mr. Holmes was of counsel with McDermott, Will & Emery, LLP; prior to that he was IRS chief of Branch 2, Office of the Associate Chief Counsel's Employee Benefits and Exempt Organizations, now known as the office of Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TEGE). His work involved all major initiatives and litigation in the area of employment tax, fringe benefits and worker classification issues for 15 years. Mr. Holmes attended George Washington University and the University of Maryland, where he earned a bachelor's degree; he earned a J.D. from The American University. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Maryland Bar. Mr. Holmes is a contributing editor to the Employer's Guide to Fringe Benefit Rules.

Terry Humo

is a benefits consulting attorney based in Missoula, Mont. Humo is a board of directors member of the Wye River Group on HealthCare, a health care policy group in Washington, D.C. Humo formerly was a vice president and benefits consulting attorney with Sedgwick Noble Lowndes, corporate counsel with Intermountain Administrators and assistant vice president and benefits consulting attorney for Marsh, Inc. Mr. Humo is the author of numerous publications on health and other welfare benefits, including the Employer's Guide to HIPAA and the ERISA Health and Welfare Handbook, and is the contributing editor of the Employer's Guide to Self-Insuring Health Benefits.

Shlomo D. Katz

is counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of the international law firm, Brown Rudnick. Mr. Katz practices wage and hour law and advises clients on employee classification and salary basis issues. He has successfully litigated before federal, state and local courts and the General Accounting Office and Boards of Contract Appeals. Mr. Katz is also a co-author of Thompson Publishing Group's four FLSA publications.

Ronald J. Kramer,

a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, has been advising and representing private and public sector employers in a wide range of labor and employment issues, including but not limited to employment discrimination charges, investigations, settlements and lawsuits; employee benefits (ERISA) litigation matters including benefits claims and multiemployer withdrawal liability assessments; and traditional labor matters such as positive employee relations, union organizing drives, unfair labor practice charges, collective bargaining, strikes, interest arbitration, grievance and arbitration matters. Mr. Kramer has given numerous speeches and authored articles and chapters on a variety of employment-related topics. Most recently, Mr. Kramer has spoken at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service's 12th National Labor-Management Conference, presented at the Government Operations hot topics roundtable at the ABA's Section of State & Local Government Law Conference, served as the supplemental co-author for Employment Discrimination Law, 40-2nd C.P.S. (BNA 2004), and authored Chapter 3 "Obligations Under the National Labor Relations Act," Labor and Employment Issues in Transactions, Business Restructuring, and Workforce Reductions (Ill. Inst. for CLE 2005).

Mark Lies

is a partner in the Chicago office of the nationally-recognized law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Mr. Lies' practice specialty is in Labor Employment Law, and Occupational Safety and Health. He has extensive experience working with clients in the aftermath of the September 11th World Trade Center attacks, the SARS outbreak, anthrax attacks and post-Katrina business recovery. Mr. Lies is a featured presenter in the Thompson Avian flu audio conference series. He holds a Bachelor in Arts from the University of Notre Dame and received his law degree from DePaul University School of Law.

Lisa K. Loesel

is an associate in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the firm's Chicago office. She is a member of the Employee Benefits Department. She is a co-contributing editor of The Guide to Assigning & Loaning Benefit Plan Money.

Barbara S. Magill, Esq.,

is a senior managing editor at Thompson Publishing Group. She has written and edited numerous books on employment law and has particular expertise on the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. She served as an HR generalist prior to joining Thompson, with responsibility for benefits, equal employment opportunity and the company's affirmative action plan. Before that she was in private law practice in Illinois.

Arris R. Murphy

is a private practice attorney specializing in employee benefits and executive compensation. She has assisted clients with plan administration, testing failures and corrections in compliance with IRS and DOL programs, and has experience designing and drafting qualified and nonqualified plans, as well as cafeteria plans. Ms. Murphy has negotiated trustee, investment management, agency and service agreements for public and privately held companies, and served as in-house counsel for a major service provider. She has conducted seminars on fiduciary responsibility, electronic notices and disclosures, plan loans, and Puerto Rico plan compliance. Ms. Murphy has also been involved in resolving matters for plan investments, such as brokerage options, life insurance, IPOs, and company stock proxies and tender offers under qualified retirement plans. Ms. Murphy is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, National Bar Association / Women Lawyers Division, Widener Women's Network, IRS Mid-Atlantic Pension Liaison Group and the Philadelphia Employee Benefits Lawyers Group. Ms. Murphy earned her juris doctor degree from the Widener University School of Law, and a BS in Marketing Education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Ms. Murphy is the contributing editor of the 401(k) Handbook.

Susan M. Nash

is a partner in the employee benefits department in McDermott, Will & Emery's Chicago office. Her practice focuses primarily in the area of health and welfare benefit plans, including compliance with COBRA, HIPAA, ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. She has extensive experience, and has represented a wide variety of clients in negotiations, with the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Labor and in contracting with HMOs and third party vendors for welfare plans. She also has extensive experience working with employers to design and implement a variety of tax-qualified and welfare plans, with a focus on life, cafeteria, health and disability plans. Ms. Nash is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Northwestern University School of Law, where she also served as a legal editor. Ms. Nash is a member of the Chicago Bar Association Employee Benefits Committee and the Tax Committee of the American Bar Association. She is also currently an adjunct professor for the LL.M Program in Employee Benefits at the John Marshall Law School. Ms. Nash is a contributing editor of Employer's Handbook: Complying With IRS Employee Benefit Rules.

Natalie Nathanson

is an associate in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the firm's Chicago office. As a member of the Employee Benefits Department, her practice is concentrated primarily on designing, amending and administering pension plans, profit sharing plans, 401(k) plans, cafeteria plans, welfare benefit plans and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. She counsels privately and publicly held corporations and tax-exempt entities regarding fiduciary issues under ERISA, employee benefits issues involved in corporate transactions and executive compensation matters. Ms. Nathanson is a co-contributing editor of The Guide to Assigning & Loaning Benefit Plan Money.

Camille A. Olson

is a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP and a member of its Labor and Employment Law Steering Committee and chair of its Class Action Discrimination Practice Group. She is the immediate past chairperson of the Labor and Employment Practice Group. In 20 years of practice, she has concentrated in all areas of labor and employment law, representing companies nationwide in challenge to the independent contractor status of workers, employment discrimination and harassment matters, issues related to a unionized environment, union election campaigns, and wage and hour matters. She is also a key member of Seyfarth Shaw's inter-disciplinary task force on FLSA issues. Ms. Olson, along with the Newspaper Association of America and other Seyfarth labor attorneys, co-authored "What Every Newspaper Needs to Know about the FLSA and its Updated Exempt Status Regulations." She regularly represents the Newspaper Association of America, Inland Press Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Society for Human Resource Management and other employer organizations with respect to all areas of labor and employment law. Ms. Olson is a frequent speaker on all issues relating to the use of independent contractors, and has published numerous articles and chapters on various labor issues. Ms. Olson received her juris doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1983 and a bachelor of arts, with high honors, from the University of Michigan in 1980.

Kaye Pestaina

is vice president, national health care compliance with The Segal Company. She specializes in research and compliance issues on federal laws and regulations affecting group health plans. Previously, she was an attorney in the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Health Plan Standards and Compliance Assistance, where she helped develop legislation and regulations on various group health plan issues. Prior to that, she helped enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act as a senior trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, and was also in private practice as a litigation associate. She is a 1991 graduate of Harvard Law School. Ms. Pestaina is co-contributing editor of the Employer's Guide to HIPAA Privacy Requirements.

David Safon

is a partner in the New York City law firm of Benetar Bernstein Schair & Stein. Mr. Safon is author of Workplace Privacy: Answers and Practical Solutions.

William P. Schurgin

is a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, engaged in a broad-based labor and employment practice and is involved in the representation of employers in a variety of industries throughout the United States. Mr. Schurgin's areas of expertise include issues arising under federal labor laws, disability discrimination laws, employment discrimination laws, collective bargaining, corporate campaigns, union representation, independent contractor issues and wage and hour laws. Mr. Schurgin has given numerous speeches and papers on a variety of employment- related topics, including presentations to the Society for Human Resource Management, the Conference Board, the National Employment Law Institute, the Southwestern Legal Foundation, the American Hospital Association, and the American Health Lawyers Association. He is the author of a number of publications including recent articles in Corporate Counsel and Executive Counsel magazines and the Journal of Health and Hospital Law. Mr. Schurgin also has developed and presented training programs for employers on such issues as workplace harassment, wage and hour compliance, maintaining a positive work environment, collective bargaining and employment discrimination. Mr. Schurgin is a part-time faculty member at DePaul University College of Law and Loyola University College of Law. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Thompson's Employer's Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act as well as the Fair Labor Standards Handbook for States, Local Governments and Schools. Mr. Schurgin is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and was selected as a member of the 2006 Leading Lawyers Network and the 2006 Illinois Super Lawyer.

Dean L. Silverberg

is a shareholder in the New York office of Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. He holds an undergraduate degree from Binghamton University of the State University of New York, a juris doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School, and an LLM degree from the New York University School of Law with a specialization in labor law. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Silverberg was Deputy Counsel to Mayor Edward I. Koch of New York City, where he served as an advisor to the Mayor's Office. Mr. Silverberg represents management in employment and workplace tort litigation, collective bargaining negotiations, wage and hour audits, and human resource management. He frequently lectures on issues related to harassment and discrimination, wage and hour and best practices for human resources administrators. Mr. Silverberg is a regular contributing author to newsletters for various chapters of the Association of Legal Administrators.

Todd A. Solomon

is a partner in the Chicago office of the McDermott, Will & Emery law firm. His practice includes a wide variety of employee benefits matters, including drafting and amending profit-sharing plans, 401(k) plans, pension plans, welfare plans, and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. Mr. Solomon received his law degree from the University of Chicago School of Law. Todd A. Solomon is author of Domestic Partner Benefits: An Employer's Guide.

Peter A. Susser

is a partner in the Washington, D.C., law office of Littler Mendelson, where he represents employers and trade associations in labor and employment matters. He holds an undergraduate degree from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, a J.D. from the law school of the College of William and Mary and an L.L.M. in labor law from the Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Susser is author and contributing editor of the Family and Medical Leave Handbook.

Worklaw Network

is a coast-to-coast affiliation of independent law firms that represent management in all facets of labor, employment and employee benefits law. Worklaw Network is author of Workplace Privacy: Answers and Practical Solutions.