Concurrent Session

Eartha Jean Johnson is President and Chief Executive Officer of LegalWATCH, an international training and staffing company she formed in 1997 after practicing law for a Fortune 100 company, and working for the United States Department of Justice and an international law firm.  She uses the knowledge and expertise she acquired practicing law to help companies avoid mistakes that can often force them into settlements, regulatory compliance sanctions or litigation.  She has conducted numerous training courses, spearheaded governmental audits, designed compliance programs and negotiated settlements with third parties and governmental regulators across the United States.  In addition to her Juris Doctorate Degree, she holds a Masters Degree in Energy, Environmental and Natural Resource Law, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice.  Eartha is certified in Training and Development and is a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).

Eartha serves on the Forum of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council and is a member of the Women Business Enterprise Alliance of Texas and Houston Minority Business Council.  Eartha is a Past President of the Houston Lawyers Association and Past Chair of the African American Law Section of the State Bar of Texas. Eartha also served on the boards of WIPP ("Women Impacting Public Policy") and NISH ("National Institute for the Severely Disabled") and completed an eight year term as Chair/Vice Chair of the Women's Lawyers Division of the National Bar Association.   She also served on the National Women's Business Council, a bi-partisan Federal government council that advises the President, Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues important to women. 

John Polson is a partner in the Irvine, California office of Fisher & Phillips LLP where he has worked since graduating from Loyola Law School in 1991. He represents employers in all aspects of labor and employment law, including litigation, compliance, employment tax, and transactional matters. He has particular expertise representing staffing and HR outsourcing companies. John is licensed in both California and Texas. John has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 2007. He is a frequent lecturer and author regarding labor and employment related matters.

Penny Wofford is a South Carolina Supreme Court Certified Specialist in Employment and Labor Law. She concentrates her practice in the area of employment litigation and employee benefits. She advises and defends employers, employer sponsored plans, and plan fiduciaries against all types of claims under ERISA and employment discrimination laws. Penny not only provides proactive counseling and legal advice to employers and management regarding human resources issues but also assists employers with the design, drafting, and administration of welfare benefit plans. Penny is a frequent speaker on employee benefits and employee leave topics and regularly provides company and supervisor training on employment discrimination, documentation and confidentiality.

Lynn has been practicing employment law exclusively on the management side for over 20 years. She began her legal career in San Francisco at Littler, Mendelson, the renown leader in the field of employment law. She later moved to Fisher & Phillips LLP, where she became an equity partner in 1995.

 Lynn has conducted hundreds of face-to-face employment law training programs for both supervisors and employees, specializing in all forms of employee and managerial employment law-related training. Lynn has also represented many private and public entities in harassment and discrimination charges and litigation.  She has testified as an expert witness in unlawful harassment matters, and frequently conducts “remedial” training for supervisors or executives who have been accused of harassment or discrimination.

Tammy D. McCutchen is a senior affiliate with Resolution Economics, providing expert services in the Company’s Wage & Hour and Human Capital Strategy groups.

McCutchen became affiliated with Resolution Economics in 2021. She is a nationally recognized expert in all aspects of wage and hour law. Her experience includes regulation drafting and enforcement, conducting internal compliance audits, defending agency investigations, designing compliance applications using smart technology, and serving as a consulting and testifying expert in wage and hour class and collective actions.

Prior to joining the DOL, she served as Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the U.S. Department of Labor. Nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she was the country’s top enforcer of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and wage laws affecting government contractors (the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act). She managed an annual budget of $160 million and 1,400 employees, represented by two unions, in more than 250 offices across the country. She was responsible for the issuance of opinion letters and set enforcement policy. She also was the principal architect of the 2004 revisions to the overtime exemption regulations, the most significant overhaul of the regulations in 50 years. Since leaving DOL, she has been the principal author of numerous comments on proposed changes by DOL to the FLSA regulations, including on overtime and independent contractors. She also has defended dozens of employers facing DOL investigations of FLSA, DBA, and SCA compliance.

After serving at the DOL, she practiced law with Littler Mendelson, PC and was a founding vice president and managing director of ComplianceHR. At CHR, she directed the development of the only on-demand suite of intelligent compliance applications focused on helping employers address the ever-changing federal and state employment law requirements on minimum wage, overtime, independent contracting and more. Her Navigator IC and Navigator OT apps assess the risks of classifying workers as independent contractors and employees as overtime exempt as quickly as it takes to fill out an on-line questionnaire. She remains a Strategic Advisor for the company.

Previously, she was in-house counsel for employment at the Hershey Company, practiced law at Skadden Arps, and clerked for Honorable Daniel A. Manion on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

John Fay is an attorney and technologist with a deep applied knowledge of business immigration, I-9 compliance and E-Verify rules and procedures.  During his twenty-plus year career, John has advised corporations, educational institutions, and individuals on a variety of U.S. immigration and I-9 issues.  At the same time, he has also been uniquely involved in information technology, having designed several immigration and I-9 management software applications.

As Director of Product Strategy at Equifax, John provides strategic leadership and direction in the development and support of Form I-9, E-Verify, and immigration case management software solutions.

Mr. Wilkinson is the Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc. - a leadership training and strategy consulting firm specializing in group facilitation. He is considered a national leader in the facilitation industry. • Author of The Secrets of Facilitation and The Secrets to Masterful Meetings. • Board member of the International Institute for Facilitation. • Founder of the FindaFacilitator database. • One of the first five Certified Master Facilitators in North America. • Named Facilitator of the Year in 2003 by the Southeast Association of Facilitators. Active in both the private and public sectors, he has provided leadership training and strategy development assistance to such diverse organizations as The Coca-Cola Company, Unisys, Sears, EPA, CDC, KPMG Peat Marwick, and the American Cancer Society. Mr. Wilkinson is a much sought after facilitator, trainer and speaker, both in the U.S. and around the globe. He has completed international assignments in Bangkok, Brisbane, Glasgow, Hamburg, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Milan, Singapore, Sydney and Wellington. Past participants have commented that his dynamic presentation style, combined with his unique insights, make for an intense, power-packed session. Prior to Leadership Strategies, Mr. Wilkinson spent six years with ADP and eight years in the information technology practice of Ernst & Young's Manage¬ment Consulting Group. He is a High Honors graduate from Dartmouth and resides with his wife and two children in Atlanta.