Master’s Degree Tracks
Human Resources Track

This course provides a deeper examination into the issues that arise when negotiating and interpreting contracts. We will cover the fundamentals of business contracts, with a practical lens, and examine how to draft them to avoid disputes. We will learn about the UCC and its role in contract enforcement, as well as warranties, defenses, remedies, third party interests, and choice of law decisions. Emphasis will include tools of negotiation that help ensure the intentions of the parties are upheld.

The legal landscape governing employee pay and benefits, broadly defined with a focus on ERISA governed plans, including life, health and disability insurance, retirement plans, educational programs, flexible spending accounts, wellness programs, and other forms of compensation. Students explore employee leave policies, health care reform, and executive compensation.

An overview of cyber risks, along with the laws and regulations that apply to the rapidly changing threat landscape of cybersecurity. We will explore the impacts of data breaches, data privacy challenges, cyber-criminal motives, and common strategies used to combat cyber warfare.  After studying the strategies and challenges of preserving the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive information such as personally identifiable information (PII), financial information, and protected health information (PHI), you will develop a cybersecurity risk mitigation strategy for your workplace or personal data.

An introduction to the detection of wrongdoing in the workplace, with an emphasis on the following key methods: investigations, monitoring, and auditing. Coverage includes essential investigation components and pitfalls, as well as the use of auditing and monitoring to detect and prevent misconduct.

An analysis of the relevant laws that regulate hiring, classification, evaluation, development, and discharge of employees.  Covers the law prohibiting workplace discrimination on any basis under state and federal statutes and regulations, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Equal Pay Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Students will also explore the EEOC administrative process.

An introduction to U.S. labor history and federal legislation, administrative decisions and court rulings that shaped U.S. labor relations and collective bargaining in the private and public sectors. The course covers legal rights and obligations of employers, employees, and unions under the National Labor Relations Act, along with Union/Management relations topics including: collective bargaining, grievance administration and arbitration, and union organizing and representation. Also covered are recent shifts in legal precedent and emerging issues, and an overview of international labor relations issues, practices, and trends.

Today's employees must understand public policy and how it impacts their constituents. This is particularly true when navigating the state and federal responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This course will study the development and implementation of public policy with a focus on pandemic relief legislation.

This course will introduce students to a variety of sources commonly used in legal research (statutes, cases, administrative regulations, etc.). Students will learn how to perform efficient searches in a variety of free and subscription services available via the Wake Forest Law Library's website. Topics that will be covered include: statutory research, both state and federal; federal and state case law; administrative codes and regulations, state and federal; municipal codes and ordinances; legislative history, primarily at the federal level; secondary sources.

The changing landscape of how we pay for health care, consisting of Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and health insurance reform. This course will examine the current fee-for-service system and its alternatives, as well as the policies behind these models.

This course is an introduction to the legal landscape governing the use of digital information and telecommunication technologies in patient care delivery. Coverage will include licensing and credentialing, technology, business models, contracts and governance issues impacting the rapidly growing global digital health industry.

An exploration of the federal and state wage and hour laws that impact today's business operations, including laws impacting timekeeping, overtime, wages, and equal pay, and how laws around meal/rest breaks, leaves, and scheduling impact an employer's obligations to pay wages. Students analyze how failure to comply with these laws increase risks around litigation, agency charges, and internal compliance audits. Throughout, students consider how to address the day-to-day scenarios HR professionals face in the workplace.

Throughout history, women in male-dominated fields or positions of authority have often been perceived as violating well-established (albeit socially constructed) sex and gender norms, which at times, has resulted in sex discrimination. This interdisciplinary, asynchronous course holistically explores the intersection of women, law, leadership, and character, illuminating the barriers faced and progress made by and for women. First, it examines what character is, why it matters, and how it is taught. Next, it explores how leadership is defined, theories and strategies for effective leadership, and how leadership skills can be developed. Then the course moves into a basic exploration of anti-discrimination frameworks that aim to prohibit discrimination against and sexual harassment of women. It also explores unconscious sex bias, privilege, and sex stereotyping, which are concurrently both the cause and effect of discrimination against and sexual harassment of women. After providing this foundation, the course then takes a weekly deep dive into specific hypermasculine spheres. Each unit will highlight specific character traits and leadership attributes necessary to overcome the barriers women face when navigating male-dominated fields.