Staying abreast of employment law is one of the most important — and often most stressful — aspects of managing people. This year has been particularly tumultuous, with managers wondering what changes to COBRA, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and anti-discrimination laws mean for them.
One possible resource I came across recently: JDSupra. While it’s designed primarily for lawyers to share their work with each other, it could also be a helpful tool for HR leaders and managers. The site is a repository of legal documents, uploaded by lawyers themselves, that anyone can access for free. The self-policing nature of the profession means the content is very high quality, says Aviva Cuyler, founder and managing director. “None of the content is anonymous.”
Playing around on the site for the past couple of weeks, I’ve found three ways that the site could be helpful for a typical HR leader or manager:
- Learn more about specific issues. Search all of the published documents, filtering by keyword, location and broad topic areas.
- Find the right lawyer. Should you find yourself in need of legal counsel, the JD Supra profiles can help you find someone. Many of the lawyers who use the site complete very detailed profiles, giving you a good sense of their area of expertise. The search tool to find contributors is easy to use.
- Stay on top of the news. I follow JDSupra’s Twitter feed on labor law. You can also subscribe to RSS feeds from top labor lawyers.
How are you keeping up with the law? What do you think of JDSupra?
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