About Us - The Authors and Editors Behind SmartHRManager.com

SmartHRManager.com is the product of contributions from authors and editors who bring their many years of expertise to the analysis and solution of day-to-day problems that HR faces. Here's our all-star lineup:

Ronald J. Kramer, a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, has been advising and representing private and public sector employers in a wide range of labor and employment issues, including but not limited to employment discrimination charges, investigations, settlements and lawsuits; employee benefits (ERISA) litigation matters including benefits claims and multiemployer withdrawal liability assessments; and traditional labor matters such as positive employee relations, union organizing drives, unfair labor practice charges, collective bargaining, strikes, interest arbitration, grievance and arbitration matters. Mr. Kramer has given numerous speeches and authored articles and chapters on a variety of employment-related topics. Most recently, Mr. Kramer has spoken at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service’s 12th National Labor-Management Conference, presented at the Government Operations hot topics roundtable at the ABA’s Section of State & Local Government Law Conference and authored Chapter 3 "Obligations Under the National Labor Relations Act," Labor and Employment Issues in Transactions, Business Restructuring, and Workforce Reductions (Ill. Inst. for CLE 2005).

Camille A. Olson is a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP and a member of its Labor and Employment Law Steering Committee and chair of its Class Action Discrimination Practice Group. She is the immediate past chairperson of the Labor and Employment Practice Group. In 20 years of practice, she has concentrated in all areas of labor and employment law, representing companies nationwide in challenge to the independent contractor status of workers, employment discrimination and harassment matters, issues related to a unionized environment, union election campaigns, and wage and hour matters. She is also a key member of Seyfarth Shaw’s inter-disciplinary task force on FLSA issues. Ms. Olson, along with the Newspaper Association of America and other Seyfarth labor attorneys, co-authored "What Every Newspaper Needs to Know about the FLSA and its Updated Exempt Status Regulations." She regularly represents the Newspaper Association of America, Inland Press Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Society for Human Resource Management and other employer organizations with respect to all areas of labor and employment law. Ms. Olson is a frequent speaker on all issues relating to the use of independent contractors, and has published numerous articles and chapters on various labor issues. Ms. Olson received her juris doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1983 and a bachelor of arts, with high honors, from the University of Michigan in 1980.

William P. Schurgin is a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, engaged in a broad-based labor and employment practice and is involved in the representation of employers in a variety of industries throughout the United States. Mr. Schurgin’s areas of expertise include issues arising under federal labor laws, disability discrimination laws, employment discrimination laws, collective bargaining, corporate campaigns, union representation, independent contractor issues and wage and hour laws.

Mr. Schurgin has given numerous speeches and papers on a variety of employment- related topics, including presentations to the Society for Human Resource Management, the Conference Board, the National Employment Law Institute, the Southwestern Legal Foundation, the American Hospital Association, and the American Health Lawyers Association. He is the author of a number of publications including recent articles in Corporate Counsel and Executive Counsel magazines and the Journal of Health and Hospital Law. Mr. Schurgin also has developed and presented training programs for employers on such issues as workplace harassment, wage and hour compliance, maintaining a positive work environment, collective bargaining and employment discrimination. Mr. Schurgin is a part-time faculty member at DePaul University College of Law and Loyola University College of Law. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Thompson’s Employer’s Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act as well as the Fair Labor Standards Handbook for States, Local Governments and Schools. Mr. Schurgin is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and has been selected as a member of the 2006 Leading Lawyers Network and the 2006 Illinois Super Lawyer.

  Barbara S. Magill, Esq., was a senior managing editor at Thompson Publishing Group when she authored Guide to Workplace Accommodations. She has written and edited numerous books on employment law during the last 20 years and is a recognized expert on the Americans With Disabilities Act. She served as an HR generalist prior to joining Thompson, with responsibility for benefits, equal employment opportunity and the company's affirmative action plan. Before moving to the Washington, D.C., area, she was in private law practice in Illinois. She received her law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law and her B.A. in journalism from Baylor University.

 Burton J. Fishman, Esq., is of counsel with Fortney & Scott, LLC, a Washington, D.C., firm specializing in labor and employment law. A former U.S. Labor Department deputy solicitor, he is co-chairman of the American Bar Association's Federal Legislative Development Committee. He is a fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and was named a Washington, D.C., Super Lawyer 2007 in the employment and labor practice by Washington Law & Politics magazine. He devotes his practice to developing the "law of the workplace," an interdisciplinary approach that offers employers counsel and representation on a broad range of matters growing out of government regulation of business. He has written more than 70 books and articles on employment law.

Susan Knöbl has worked in the field of human resources as a recruiter, trainer, benefits manager and director for over 20 years. She has extensive experience designing, developing and executing HR initiatives in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations such as Ford Aerospace, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Madeira School and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. She spent five years teaching abroad at the American International School in Vienna, Austria, served as a faculty facilitator at the University of Phoenix, and has worked as a financial advisor/retirement plan specialist for Morgan Stanley and Syndicated Capital. She is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management.

 Judith E. Kramer, Esq., is of counsel with Fortney & Scott and is primarily engaged in counseling management on employment-related compliance and enforcement issues involving the U.S. Department of labor and other federal agencies. She has over 25 years of experience with the Labor Department, where she served for 16 years as Deputy Solicitor for Planning and Coordination. She provided legal advice to Labor Department officials on matters relating to wage and hour laws, civil rights and affirmative action, occupational safety and health, mine safety and health, black lung and longshore benefits, and administrative law. She provides clients with extensive expertise on compliance and enforcement matters involving the Labor Department and other federal agencies.

 Kathleen J. Raynsford, Esq. is of counsel with Fortney & Scott. Her employment law expertise includes wage and hour, state and federal employment discrimination and workplace harassment. She helps management develop and administer affirmative action plans, workforce reductions and equal employment opportunity training programs. She also handles Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs audits. Before joining Fortney & Scott, she was the associate general counsel, Labor-Personnel at the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak).

Patricia A. Wise is an Ohio State Bar Association Board Certified Labor and Employment Law Specialist, and has been Special Counsel for the Ohio Attorney General since 2003. She is a co-founder of the law firm of Wise & Dorner, Ltd., in Toledo, Ohio, and the founder of Wise People Management, Inc., a human resources consulting firm. In addition to her law practice, she has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Toledo College of Law since 2006, and was an Adjunct Professor from 1999 to 2006. She is also on the faculty of The Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Angela Bradbery is director of communications for Public Citizen, a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. A former newspaper reporter, she worked at the Sun-Sentinel, The Palm Beach Post and the Chicago Tribune. She has written about a wide array of topics, including sexual harassment in the workplace.

Rosemarie Lally, Esq., is a managing editor for global content at Mercer. She has reported and written extensively about a variety of employment law topics, including sexual harassment, family and medical leave, employment discrimination, retaliation, and wage and hour law. At the time of her work on Investigating Sexual Harassment: A Practical Guide to Resolving Complaints, she was a senior editor at Thompson.

David R. Fuller is a partner in the employee benefits and executive compensation practice of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP's Washington, D.C. office. Fuller's primary practice areas are employment tax, fringe and employee benefits and contingent workforce issues.

Fuller is a graduate of Anderson University, the University of Cincinnati College of Law and New York University School of Law. From 1990 to 1995, Fuller served in the Internal Revenue Service Office of the Associate Chief Counsel-Employee Benefits and Exempt Organizations (EBEO), and from 1992 to 1995 was Assistant Chief of Branch 2 in EBEO. Fuller also served as an attorney-advisor to the Hon. Perry Shields of the U.S. Tax Court. He is a frequent seminar speaker and writer on issues involving fringe benefits, employment taxes and the contingent workforce.

Susan M. Nash is a partner in the employee benefits department in McDermott Will & Emery's Chicago office. Her practice focuses primarily in the area of health and welfare benefit plans, including compliance with COBRA, HIPAA, ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. She has represented a wide variety of clients in negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Labor and in contracting with HMOs and third-party vendors for welfare plans. She also has extensive experience working with employers to design and implement a variety of tax-qualified and welfare plans, with a focus on life, cafeteria, health and disability plans.

Nash is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Northwestern University School of Law, where she also served as a legal editor. Nash is a member of the Chicago Bar Association Employee Benefits Committee and the Tax Committee of the American Bar Association. She is also currently an adjunct professor for the LL.M Program in Employee Benefits at the John Marshall Law School.

Lynn Taylor, monthly columnist for SmartHRManager.com, is a nationally recognized workplace expert and author of the newly-released book, Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant™ - TOT (John Wiley & Sons). Taylor is also an online workplace contributor to Psychology Today and BusinessWeek. As the CEO of Lynn Taylor Consulting, she provides research-based, lively seminars to leading organizations on how to establish a more productive management team and workforce. She has been interviewed on Fox and ABC News and quoted in The Washington Post, BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and The New York Times.

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 Joe Lustig is manager of online products at Thompson Publishing Group and editor of SmartHRManager. A law school graduate, he has been editing and publishing HR regulatory compliance products for 25 years. Before becoming online products manager, he edited and published a variety of analytical texts and newsletters in benefits administration, including Thompson Publishing Group's Flex Plan Handbook and Guide to Assigning and Loaning Benefit Plan Money. He received his law degree from the Washington College of Law, American University, in Washington, D.C.