Employment Law and Immigration

Local experts talk about changes in immigration and employment law and how they could affect local businesses and the local economy.

•  Legal implications of Recent Executive Orders on DEI initiatives for private employers

•  How can companies adjust their DEI initiatives under current scrutiny and directives

•  Preparing for increased ICE workplace enforcement and proper I-9 handling – including use of new I-9 forms

•  The current state of the law on non-compete agreements and enforcement

To learn more about sponsor panel packages for our Virtual Panel Discussions, contact [email protected]

Panelist – Raymond G. Lahoud

Chair
Lahoud Law Group, P.C.

Raymond G. Lahoud has established himself as a preeminent immigration lawyer with a global practice focused on corporate and employment immigration issues as well as immigration litigation.

As Chair of Lahoud Law Group, P.C., Ray represents individuals and families, domestic and multinational businesses and corporations, employers, international employees, investors, students, professors, researchers, skilled professionals, athletes, and entertainers. He skillfully assembles a team to strategically work together, including the firm’s immigration attorneys, employer immigration auditors, and other immigration professionals to help domestic and foreign clients navigate every type of immigration or deportation defense matter. Ray has distinguished himself as an attorney who provides tailored solutions and valuable guidance to his clients, based upon his in-depth knowledge of immigration law. Ray’s extraordinary creativity, distinguished advocacy skills, and true passion for his immigration practice have helped countless individuals, families, and organizations of all types and sizes to resolve the most complex of immigration concerns.

Panelist – Jacob M. Sitman

Chair, Employment Law and Labor Relations
Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba

After graduating from college and law school with honors, Jacob M. Sitman spent a year learning about what it means to be successful in a courtroom by clerking for a civil trial judge. Since that time, he has honed his skills practicing, almost exclusively, Labor and Employment law. He worked at a labor and employment boutique firm, and then at a large Philadelphia law firm for more than a decade. Mr. Sitman is also the former Northampton County Assistant Solicitor for Labor & Employment Matters.

Now as a Shareholder and the Chair of the Firm’s Employment Law & Labor Relations Group, Mr. Sitman represents employers and executives in a wide array of employment law and traditional labor matters. A skilled litigator, Mr. Sitman often represents employers in federal and state court in defense of claims of discrimination, harassment, whistleblower, breach of contract, wrongful discharge and workplace safety claims filed in state and federal courts, with administrative agencies and in arbitration (union grievance, Act 111 and
private employment claims), including but not limited to matters filed with the U.S. Department of Labor, EEOC, PHRC, NLRB and OSHA. He has also been successful in wage and hour, noncompete and trade secret litigation and appeals.

Mr. Sitman also counsels and trains business owners, executives and human resource managers in ways to reduce the risk of legal claims and how to make smart, strategic and cost-effective personnel-related decisions. He relies on his varied experience in matters of wage and hour compliance, reductions in force, family and medical leave, sexual harassment avoidance and investigations, employee benefits, disability accommodations, employee health and workplace safety, and labor-management relations, including collective bargaining, alleged unfair labor practice charges and union grievance arbitrations. Mr. Sitman drafts employment and severance agreements, noncompete agreements, employee handbooks and personnel policies of all kinds, including those dealing with social media and employee use of technology in the workplace.

He is an author and frequent speaker on labor and employment law topics for various chambers of commerce and industry trade groups, has been awarded a “preeminent” rating, and is regularly recognized by his peers as one of Pennsylvania’s leading attorneys practicing labor and employment law.

Panelist – David M. Steckel

Special Counsel
Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba

Bringing more than 25 years of experience, David M. Steckel serves public and private employers, counties, townships, and municipalities in a wide array of matters, including labor and employment law, business and commercial litigation for employers.

A skilled litigator, Mr. Steckel has successfully defended clients in jury trials in Pennsylvania’s state and federal courts against claims of harassment, discrimination and retaliation, as well as contract and tort issues, defamation, and grievance arbitrations. With deep knowledge in labor law, he has conducted collective bargaining negotiations on behalf of counties and public employers with respect to court-appointed units, court-related units, residual units, meet and discuss units, professional and non-professional units. Mr. Steckel has also conducted hearings before the State Civil Service Commission and Pennsylvania Labor Relations Commission.

Mr. Steckel provides counsel on a full range of labor and employment law matters, including EEO matters, wage and hour matters, FMLA and other leave matters, employee policies and manuals, OSHA and other safety matters, employment agreements, non-compete and nondisclosure agreements, and employee discipline and termination matters.

Mr. Steckel enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, as well as golfing, hiking national parks and spending time at the Disney parks.