March 16, 2020

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On behalf of CalGovHR, I first want to express the Board’s sincerest gratitude to the many attendees and agencies that have attended last week’s Annual Conference & Expo in Sonoma Valley.  Despite the constantly evolving COVID-19 situation, many of our attendees worked remotely while engaging in professional development throughout the Conference (including a special legal updates by Boucher Law to discuss immediate action steps to address COVID-19 issues in the workplace), and collectively, we continued to provide invaluable services to our agencies and employees during such a difficult time.  We hope to return to Sonoma Valley stronger than ever at the 2021 Conference & Expo, which is scheduled to take place between March 10 – 12, 2021.

 

As a completely volunteer-run, not-for-profit organization, CalGovHR pledges to support our public agency constituents by immediately implementing the following initiatives:

 

Leading HR Through COVID-19 Webinar Series

 

We have launched a Leading HR Through COVID-19 Webinar Series, which will be conducted by practitioners and experts from various fields to discuss the rapidly evolving matters related to COVID-19 issues and how they impact the workplace.  Below is a list of our current series (with additional topics to be added as needed in the near future):

 

• Addressing Union Meet-and-Confer Issues Due to COVID-19
  Presented By: Gene Boucher, President, CalGovHR & Christopher Boucher, Esq., Boucher Law
  Recorded webinar available for view here.
  Training slides and materials available for download here.
   

• Workers’ Compensation COVID-19 Presumption: Strategies for Employers (Updated 5/11/20)
  Presented By: Thomas A. Richard, Esq., RTGR Law
  Recorded webinar available for view here.
  Training slides and materials available for download here.

 

• Mental Health and Disability Compliance Issues Related to COVID-19
  Presented By: Rachel Shaw, Shaw HR Consulting
  Recorded webinar available for view here.
  Training slides and materials available for download here.
   

• COVID-19 Pandemic Response – Handling Potential Workplace Exposure Issues & Questions to Ask
  Presented By: Gene Boucher, President, CalGovHR & Christopher Boucher, Esq., Boucher Law
  Recorded webinar available for view here.
  Training slides and materials available for download here.
  Updated EPSLA & EPMLEA Leave Table available for download here (updated 4/3/20).
   

• Everything HR & Employers Need (or Want) to Know About the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)
  Presented By: Gene Boucher, President, CalGovHR & Christopher Boucher, Esq., Boucher Law
  Recorded webinar available for view here.
  Training slides and materials available for download here.
   

• April 3 Virtual Townhall Meeting & HR Superstars Reunion
  Moderated By: Gene Boucher
  Presenters: Melissa Asher, Christopher Boucher, Jerry Greenwell, Michael Hurwitz, Theresa Maher, Christina Ro-Connolly, Tom Richard, Rachel Shaw.
  Recorded webinar available for view here. 
  Materials: EPSLA & EPMLEA Leave Approval Chart; RTGR Law Articles
   

• Bargaining in the "New Reality" - Is Remote Labor Negotiations and Mediation the Way of the Future?
  Moderated By: Gene Boucher
  Presenters: John Bakhit, Christopher Boucher, Kimberly Murdaugh, Loretta van der Pol
  Recorded webinar available for view here.
  Training slides and materials available for download here.
   

• April 17 Virtual Townhall Meeting & Mega HR Training 
  Moderated By: Gene Boucher
  Presenters: Christopher Boucher, Dayla Cabeza de Vaca, Alycia Leach, Michael Leytem, Laurie Lofranco, Tina Pruett, Rachel Shaw.
  Recorded webinar available for view here.
  Training slides and materials available for download here.
   

• Remote Testing - Moving Towards Unproctored Assessments
  Moderated By: Alisa Gordon
  Presenters: Alisa Gordon, Alycia Leach, Tina Pruett
  Recorded webinar available for view here.
  Training slides and materials available for download here.
   

• May 1 Virtual Townhall Meeting & Mega HR Training 
  Moderated By: Irene Barragan-Silipin & Gene Boucher 
  Presenters: Irene Barragan-Silipin, Christopher Boucher, Esq., Gene Boucher, Isaac Garibay, Thomas A. Richard, Esq., Shawn Sherburne, Sharlene Shikhmuradova, Dr. John Swartzberg
  Recorded webinar available for view here.
  Training slides and materials available for download here.
  City and County of San Francisco's DHR COVID-19 website here.
   

• August 21 Virtual Townhall Meeting & Mega HR Training 
  Presenters: Dr. Fiona Wilson, Gene Boucher, Desmond DeMoss, Christopher Boucher, Esq.
  Webinar available for view here.
  City and County of San Francisco's Contact Tracing & Providing A Clinical "Warmline" Support to Employees Who Test Positive training slides available for download here.
  Port of Oakland's "Is Your Organization Prepared? What's Ahead for Emergency Planning & Operations for COVID-19" training slides available for download here.
  Boucher Law's "Legal Updates on COVID-19 - What's New with the FFCRA and the CDC?" training slides available for download here.
  Johns Hopkins Contact Tracing Course information here.
   

• September 25 Virtual Townhall Meeting & Mega HR Training (Featuring Rachel Shaw) 
  Presenter: Rachel Shaw. 
  Recorded webinar available for view here.
  Training slides available for download here. Additional FAQs available for download here.
  Live Q&A chat archive available for download here.
  Download the free Shaw HRC COVID-19 Digital Toolkit (with forms, flowcharts, scripts and sample letters) here.
   

• April 2, 2021 Virtual Townhall Meeting & Mega HR Training - Vaccines, Leaves and Quarantine – What’s New for California Employers?
  Presenters: Gene Boucher & Christopher Boucher, Esq. 
  Recorded webinar available for view here.
  Training slides available for download here.
  Additional supplemental materials for download here. 

 

As the situation continues to evolve, we will be scheduling additional webinar sessions as needed.  Each webinar session is intended to be 45 minutes to one hour in length, and will address the latest information as we learn about them.  If you have any topic suggestions for us to develop additional series, please email us at info@CalGovHR.org.  Although we regret not being able to respond to every email sent, we will review every suggestion and develop training sessions as needed to assist you in responding to COVID-19 issues at work.

 

Due to the unique nature of this unprecedented pandemic, we will not be sending email announcements to announce the date and time of the webinars, as they may be scheduled with short notice.  Please follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter in order to stay up-to-date with new webinar session announcements. As these programs are being developed quickly and on demand, regrettably, we are unable to offer SHRM, HRCI or MCLE credits for these trainings.

 

In adhering to our three decades of legacy in providing leadership to California public sector and nonprofit HR, the Leading HR Through COVID-19 Webinar Series will be offered to all public agency and nonprofit organization attendees at no cost.  We will post a link to each webinar on LinkedIn and Twitter, and you can simply sign on at the designated times to participate in the live interactive sessions.  In addition, the webinar sessions will be recorded to the extent feasible, and we will provide playback links using the same social media platforms for those who cannot make the live webinars. 

 

Lastly, CalGovHR is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with HireStory, a nationally recognized recruitment video production company to help organizations enhance their talent brand to better attract candidates, to explore the option of using live streaming technology to provide high quality, production grade live training sessions in the future.  This will provide alternative methods for our constituents to participate in our exceptional training opportunities, and further allow us to meet our mission of serving the needs of public sector and nonprofit HR professionals throughout the state of California.

 

During these difficult times, it is more important than ever to remember HR’s important role in serving our employees and the communities of which we live and work in.  While this is a global pandemic, your hard work and diligence at the local level will provide the much critically needed leadership and response to lead us through all of this together.  I am humbled to serve as your President, and to continue ongoing dialogues with the many HR heroes that are working hard to support their agencies.  Remember, you can’t spell “hero” without HR – thank you for all that you do!

 

Sincerely,

 

Gene Boucher, President