Teresa Burke Wright | Jackson Lewis P.C.

Teresa Wright is a principal in the Washington, D.C. Region office of Jackson Lewis P.C.

She is a seasoned litigator, having represented employers ranging in size from eight to 18,000 employees in litigation, and administrative proceedings. She helps clients on a daily basis to comply with state and federal employment laws and navigate challenging workplace law issues. She provides practical business advice based on “best practices” and is a sought-after speaker and trainer on employment law topics.

Teresa was the litigation manager of the Washington, D.C. Region office of Jackson Lewis from 2005 until 2014. As the litigation manager, she served as the office’s local expert on litigation questions, monitored litigation trends, educated the D.C. office attorneys on developments in workplace litigation, and assigned and tracked litigation within the office, while managing her own caseload.

Teresa also is active in the firm’s Disability, Leave and Health Management practice group. In that capacity, Teresa acts as a regional and national expert on employee health and leave issues facing employers, including issues arising under the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, and similar state and local laws, such as the D.C. Sick and Safe Leave Act and Maryland Healthy Working Families Act.

Teresa counsels employers daily regarding such employment issues as employee discipline and termination; discrimination and harassment; preparation of employment contracts; drafting personnel policies and handbooks; and investigation of employee misconduct. She is an expert on issues arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and similar state and local laws, and is part of her firm’s task force on independent contractor misclassification.

Teresa is a popular lecturer on a wide variety of employment-related topics, including employee accommodations and leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and state/local leave laws; conducting workplace investigations; avoiding unlawful harassment; and avoiding liability through appropriate performance evaluations, discipline and discharge practices. Teresa is a frequent speaker for such groups as the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), and the Virginia Bar continuing legal education (“CLE”) programs. She contributes regularly to Jackson Lewis updates and special reports, including on LGBTQ+ issues affecting the workplace; regulatory developments under the FMLA and ADA and similar state and local laws; and managing outside investigators.

Teresa also serves as co-leader of Jackson Lewis’ Out Professionals and Allies in Law (OPAL) attorney resource group.

Melanie O. Baker | Jackson Lewis P.C.

Melanie O. Baker is an associate in the Washington, D.C. Region office of Jackson Lewis (JL). Melanie also represents employers in Florida and works closely with the Jacksonville, FL office of JL. Her practice is a blend of complex and single plaintiff litigation, as well as preventive advice and counseling and conducting workplace investigations.

Melanie is no stranger to any forum where her clients find themselves faced with litigating plaintiffs’ claims, as she focuses on representing employers in cases filed in both federal and state courts, as well as equal opportunity employment matters pending before federal and state administrative agencies. Melanie defends claims involving discrimination, harassment, hostile work environment, retaliation, wrongful discharge, whistleblower claims, breach of contract issues, and other matters. She is involved in every step of the litigation process, from conducting initial fact investigations through preparing strong dispositive motions.

Despite her willingness to go head-to-head with an adversary, Melanie is equally passionate about building partnerships of trust and confidence with her clients. She understands that a lawyer-client relationship does not exist solely in the context of a litigation but develops by way of communication and transparency. She works closely with clients to provide legal support and counsel, partners with them to provide training in all areas of employment law, and advocates for proactive risk management and litigation avoidance. Her enthusiastic and thorough approach seeks to help clients feel at ease and confident with their decisions before, during, and after a dispute may arise.

Prior to joining JL, Melanie clerked for Judge Puig-Lugo of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for approximately two and a half years. Judge Puig-Lugo presided over a Civil Calendar, which contained a variety of civil matters, ranging from employment disputes to constitutional claims. She returned to her home state of Florida following her clerkship where she focused her first two years of practice in the area of complex commercial litigation before ultimately pivoting to build a career in employment law. While Melanie’s love for Florida is unwavering due to being raised and starting her family there, exciting and welcomed opportunities in the D.C. Region beckoned her family to return thereto in early 2025.

Melanie brings the above background and perspective to her work as an employment lawyer. She strives to connect with clients in order to truly understand their story, their people, and their mission. Her experience as a whole, including practicing in different jurisdictions with a variety of different personalities and preferences, has taught her the value of analyzing a dispute from all angles and confirmed her interest in and aptitude for employment law.

I. Hiring | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

• New EEO and antidiscrimination law
  • The CROWN Act
  • Protection for victims of domestic violence
  • “Reverse” discrimination
• Pre-employment background checks
  • “Ban the box”
  • Credit checks
• Medical marijuana, cannabis, and drug testing
• AI and recruitment
• Interview trends
  • Panel interviews
  • Consistent questions
  • Behavioral questions
  • The “STAR” method
• Wage transparency laws
  • Prohibition on asking applicants for their existing salary or compensation
  • Requiring salary ranges in job postings
• DEI
  • Trump Executive Orders
  • The state of the law on DEI
• Wage theft
  • Forms/notices due at hiring

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

II. Discipline | 2:10pm – 2:40pm

• Whistleblower protections
• Stericycle and “work rules”: What activities are protected under the National Labor Relations Act?
• Reasonable accommodation
  • Religion
  • Pregnancy (federal and state/local)
  • Neurodiversity and learning disabilities
  • Domestic violence
• Investigation do’s and don’ts
• Is the employee allowed to have a representative in a disciplinary meeting?

III. Termination | 2:40pm – 3:10pm

• Required payout of PTO/Vacation/Personal leave
• Deductions from final pay
• Forms, notices at separation
• Access to personnel files
• State restrictions on noncompete agreements