FMLA Leave Abuse: Managing, Correcting, Preventing 

Presenters' Bios:

Heather A. Bailey
Partner
SmithAmundsen

Heather is a partner in SmithAmundsen’s Chicago office and a member of the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group. Heather focuses her practice on employment and labor litigation, including discrimination and trade secret/non-compete lawsuits, FLSA class actions, labor negotiations, labor arbitrations, Affirmative Action, OFCCP/DOL audits, and FINRA matters. She also provides advice and counsel to her clients on a daily basis, strategizing on many employment topics such as protecting trade secrets, termination decisions, and accommodating disability determinations. Heather successfully defends many cases at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission along with its state agency counterparts all over the United States. In addition, she works with clients on training employees and management on the do’s and don’ts of disciplining, sexual harassment, Union avoidance, and the ever-changing statutes such as the FMLA and ADA. She works with clients to prepare affirmative action plans and employee handbooks, practices, and policies.

Heather has emerged as a thought leader in the labor and employment industry and is a frequent contributor to the Illinois Chamber of Commerce’s HR Advisory blog and the NAMA Quarterly In-Touch magazine for the vending industry, co-author of the 2011 Illinois Chamber of Commerce’s Illinois Guide to Hiring and Firing, and presenter at the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the Chicago Bar Association, Lorman Education Services, and NAMA-related conventions across the U.S.

In 1992, Heather received her bachelor’s degree in interpersonal communications from Bowling Green State University, where she was an avid member of the Student Court Team as a prosecutor and the chief justice of Traffic Court. In 2001, Heather received her J.D. from The John Marshall Law School and was admitted to the Illinois bar.  Heather is also admitted in the District of Colorado and Western District of Michigan.