Ellen McLaughlin

Meeting of June 8, 2011 - EEOC to Examine Use of Leave As Reasonable Accommodation

Ellen E. McLaughlin is a partner in the firm of Seyfarth Shaw, LLP and is former national chair of the Firm's 300 member Labor and Employment Practice Group. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School and received her undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Notre Dame, cum laude. She is engaged in a broad-based employment law practice, specializing in federal and state court and administrative agency employment litigation. She is a member of the trial bar for the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, and the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Circuits. Ms. McLaughlin also regularly advises employers on how to avoid litigation through the effective use of employee education and training and employment policies. Ms. McLaughlin has been a Chambers USA rated attorney since 2005 and is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. She is rated as a Leading Lawyer in the State of Illinois and is one of the Top 50 Women Super Lawyers in the State of Illinois. She is a National Employment Law Institute (NELI) Advisory Board Member and on the American Arbitration Association's Employment Law Advisory Board. She is the National Chair of her Firm's Women's Affinity Group, Seyfarth Women's Network, Board Member of the Coalition of Women's Initiatives in Law Firms, and on the Anti-Defamation League's Women of Achievement Committee.

Ms. McLaughlin is a frequent lecturer on a wide variety of employment law topics. She has served as a guest lecturer for the American Bar Association, NELI, ALI-ABA, Society for Human Resource Management, Corporate Counsel Institute, American Arbitration Association, American Hospital Association, Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, and Illinois State Bar Association. In addition, she is on the Editorial Board, Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance Guide, Thompson Publishing, Editorial Board, The Leave & Disability Coordination Handbook, Thompson Publishing. She has written extensively on employment issues and co-authored "A Client's Guide to the ADA, FMLA and Workers' Compensation," The Journal of the American Corporate Counsel Association as well as "Training Becomes Important Step to Avoid Liability," The National Law Journal. She also co-authored the "Employee Selection Procedures," "The Americans With Disabilities Act" and "The Family and Medical Leave Act" chapters in Federal Employment Laws and Regulations and Employment Discrimination — How to Comply, both R.A. Apland publications.

Ms. McLaughlin has been actively involved in following the developments of the Americans With Disabilities Act ("ADA") since its passage in July, 1990 and regularly advises employers on this law. In early 1991, she co-authored comments to the EEOC's proposed regulations on behalf of a national employer coalition. Again in 2009, she drafted comments to the proposed regulations under the ADA Amendments Act on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and SHRM. Ms. McLaughlin has been closely following the Family and Medical Leave Act since its passage in early 1993. On behalf of national employer groups, she edited and co-authored comments to the Department of Labor's interim final rules and final rules. Most recently, she assisted a national employer coalition group in drafting comments to the DOL's proposed regulations that became effective in 2009. She lectures extensively on the ADA and FMLA, and provides advice and training to organizations on how to comply with these laws.