ct flagIf you don’t have plans this afternoon, I recommend joining me over at a panel discussion at the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities headquarters in downtown Hartford.

There, the CHRO will be holding an informational session for attorneys to discuss its practices and procedures. As described by the CHRO:

The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) will be holding a training and informational session at 2:00 pm on November 29, 2016 for firms and attorneys who regularly appear before us. You and anyone else in your firm are invited to attend. The session is free of charge. The goal of the session will be to better explain the Commission’s complaint process so that attorneys for both complainants and respondents can better represent their clients.

The event will last two hours and will give an overview of the CHRO’s complaint process with a particular focus on Case Assessment Review, Early Legal Intervention, and investigations. Training exercises for each process will be presented to explain how the Commission comes to its decisions. There will also be an opportunity to provide feedback on your experience practicing before the Commission which will be used to help improve our processing.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP to Spencer.Hill@ct.gov. Please include the names, email addresses, and phone numbers for any individuals who will be attending.

I’m thankful to the CHRO for an invitation to speak on the panel at the event to share management lawyers’ perspectives on the CHRO.   I applaud the CHRO for its major outreach to stakeholders in the CHRO process.  Through discussions like these and others, the CHRO has shown itself to be responsive to constructive criticism and open to change. Moreover, the CHRO has allowed more transparency in the process as well.  It’s also been active on social media, with a blog and Facebook posts.  All good things.

That said, it should come as no surprise to attendees that I expect to be critical of the CHRO’s Case Assessment Review process which seemingly keeps every case now for investigation and mediation. This escalates the costs for employers.  Even the CHRO investigators that we’ve dealt with seem flummoxed by the process.  The intentions of the CAR process were notable, but it still needs tweaking.

If you have an interest in the CHRO process, I recommend this program later today.