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Tracey Diamond

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Tracey is an experienced member of the firm’s Labor + Employment Practice Group. She counsels clients on workplace issues; provides harassment training; conducts internal investigations; drafts policies and procedures; negotiates employment and severance agreements; and advises on independent contractor, FMLA, and ADA compliance issues. She partners with clients to structure their workforce in the most efficient and effective way possible to help them achieve their business goals.

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In this episode of Payments Pros, host Carlin McCrory teams up with Hiring to Firing hosts Tracey Diamond and Emily Schifter to explore the emerging world of earned wage access (EWA), or on-demand pay, through the lens of the reality TV show Shark Tank. They examine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s evolving approach, rapidly developing (and sometimes conflicting) state laws, and the wage-and-hour and payroll challenges that can arise when employees access their pay early. The discussion also covers how EWA can serve as a powerful recruitment and retention tool, the risk that a well-intentioned benefit can be viewed as a “loan in sheep’s clothing,” and practical steps HR and in-house counsel can take when vetting vendors or considering in-house EWA programs. Tune in to decide whether EWA is the kind of pitch your HR “sharks” should back — or one that should prompt, “And for that reason, I’m out.”

In this episode of the Hiring to Firing Podcast, hosts Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs are joined by Josh Riggs, owner of Social Cannabis, based in Denver, CO. They delve into the complexities of managing employee conduct in the highly regulated cannabis industry and reflect on the evolution of the industry, highlighting its unexpected sophistication and the challenges of compliance with various laws. Tune in for a unique discussion featuring clips from Dave Chappelle’s Half Baked.

Published in Law360 on July 19, 2023. © Copyright 2023, Portfolio Media, Inc., publisher of Law360. Reprinted here with permission.

While many individuals are excited about the proliferation of state laws providing for medical and recreational use of marijuana across the country, inconsistencies in these state laws have made it difficult for employers to put in place consistent policies and practices on testing for marijuana as a condition of employment, upon reasonable suspicion, and post-accident. Employers are being forced to revisit their drug-testing policies not just because of changes to their state’s laws regarding medical and recreational use of marijuana, but also because it is becoming increasingly difficult to find employees who have not used, or do not use, marijuana. If employers want to continue testing for marijuana in states where use is legal, policies must be drafted carefully to account for the continued evolution of the law in this area.