On October 15, 2025, ECBAWM Partner, Zoe Salzman, will co-chair a panel on psychological issues in the workplace at the Practicing Law Institute. This panel will explore how psychological factors impact employment law claims such as harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and disability accommodations. The program will bring together legal experts and mental health professionals to provide insights into the intersection of law and psychology in the workplace.  The panel will dive into the current state of DEI and elimination of bias in the legal field. For more information on the event, see the blurb below, or click on this link here. 

Psychological Issues in the Workplace 2025: Overview

“Change is ever-present in the American workplace, accelerated by legal, regulatory, technological and political initiatives. Coupled with macro-economic developments, these changes are affecting operations and employees from the shop floor to the C-Suite, to different degrees and in varying ways. Understanding the role psychological issues play in the genesis, prosecution and defense of employment law claims is critical for employee rights and defense attorneys alike.

This program will address in a clear and pragmatic way key employment law issues at the intersection of law and psychology. Harassment, discrimination and retaliation claims, among others, are profoundly impacted by the range of emotions that motivate employees and employers. So, too, are frequent claims involving disabilities and failure to accommodate. This program brings together a representative of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, prominent practitioners from the employee rights and management bars, psychologists, and a former federal magistrate judge to address the creation and litigation of today’s employment law claims. They will identify key legal issues and ways in which psychological factors influence the employees, managers and employers engaged in conflict. Speakers will transcend jargon, identify practical ways of working together, and describe effective strategies to avoid, pursue and resolve litigation.

Additionally, this program will focus on the current status of DEI and elimination of bias programs in the legal profession. Given the stress inherent in many legal practices, this program will focus on the challenges facing attorneys who are neurodivergent or experiencing secondary trauma or a mental disability and the resources available to them.

Employment lawyers often work with mental health professionals, sometimes aligned and at other times adverse. Our legal and psychiatric experts will also consider the ethical and professional responsibilities of attorneys and mental health professionals (forensic and treating) when they are involved in employment litigation. Our panelists will discuss ethical tips and traps when employment lawyers and mental health professionals engage in discovery of psychiatric records, mental examinations, and depositions and trial testimony from expert and treating therapists.”