Immigration
LawCornell Law School

Certificate Program

As an employer, how much control or influence do you have on what your employees say or do at — or outside of — the workplace? What does it mean to defame someone in the context of the workplace and how can you avoid doing so? And where is the line between an individual employee's rights and the rights of workers to advocate as a group for better employment?

Using case studies, this course explores the tension between an employee's rights to privacy and autonomy and the employer's business interests through examination of the legal concept of privacy in the workplace. You will have the opportunity to apply your understanding of this and related concepts to actual cases and compare your assessments with those of the judges.

By the end of this course, you will be better able to make informed decisions as you develop and implement appropriate employee privacy policies that fall within the zones of legal discretion available to your organization.

You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Employment Law in Practice

Employee wages and benefits account for a significant percentage of the operating expense budget of most workplaces. Wages and benefits are highly regulated and there is considerable detail involved. This course will give you the background you need to anticipate and avoid potential pitfalls surrounding the wage and benefit laws that affect your organization.

This course cuts through a mass of available information and provides what you need to know about these topics within the context of employment law. You will explore wages and employer-provided benefits, including health insurance, vacation, sick pay, and retirement. Through your coursework, you will have the opportunity to investigate how these concepts apply to the organizations with which you are familiar. At the end of this course, you will be better positioned to assess workplace situations so you can determine when and why you might need to consult with an HR professional or an attorney, and you will be better prepared to discuss issues with these professionals.

Note: The information provided in this course is for educational purposes and should not be used as a substitute for legal advice.

You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Employment Law in Practice

How can you protect your company from having former employees divulge trade secrets or take customer relationships to competing firms? How does the law regard inventions and copyrights; who owns them?

Answers to these questions will vary depending on the status of the employee. There are specific protections for rank-and-file employees, as well as certain expectations of executives when it comes to misappropriation of company assets and non-compete contracts. This course will help you understand the rationale behind these laws and how they play out in real-life situations.

You begin with a focus on the employee's obligations to their employer: When is it acceptable to compete with a former employer, when is it not acceptable, and how can you tell the difference? The course proceeds with an exploration of the variety of contracts that employers can use to protect themselves from employees competing in various ways. You will have a chance to evaluate restrictive covenants and reflect on the question of what constitutes legitimate business interests. You will gain familiarity with aspects of the reasonably tailored tests. The course ends with a look at the legal responsibilities that apply to copyrights and inventions and introduces the role that a well-crafted holdover clause can play in protecting the interests of a business.

You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Employment Law in Practice

Leading across cultures is about adapting, communicating, thinking critically, and understanding your own biases. Dr. Jan Katz of Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration will help you explore the five key dimensions of cross­-cultural leadership: culture, context, risk, linear/parallel hierarchy, and individualism/collectivism . After defining and sharing examples of each, Professor Katz will help you explore their impacts on business and how you can adapt to variations in different cultures. This course gives you the tools you need to continuously improve your cross-cultural leadership skills.

In the course project, you will examine the cultures and dimensions you work in, explore how compensation relates to risk, examine the hierarchy at your company, and evaluate your own leadership style as it relates to the cultures you work in. You will also get to investigate the 2015 Greek financial crisis and interview an international colleague before creating an action plan for your own future education around the impact of cultural variation on leadership.

The workplace is filled with employees, clients, and leaders from different backgrounds and cultures. Your Social Style® plays a role in how you communicate and behave in the workplace. This course will prepare you to communicate effectively, efficiently, and empathetically with different cultures no matter your Social Style®.

In this course, you will practice becoming more aware of how your Social Style® is interpreted by others and how that impacts your interactions with others at work. You will also develop strategies for overcoming social blind spots in order to mitigate the risk of ineffective communication in cross-cultural settings. Finally, you will discover the ways you can adapt your Social Style® without compromising your core values for effective communication. By the end of this course, you will have gathered the tools needed to communicate appropriately and effectively in a cross-cultural environment.

Social Style, Social Style Navigator and TRACOM are registered trademarks of the TRACOM Corporation. Social Style Model is a trademark of the TRACOM Corporation. Related content is used with permission from The TRACOM Corporation.