New Market-Town / “Shtetl” Open-Air Museum To Be Built In Rumsiskes, Lithuania

By Elliot Matz, BACC Board Member and Creator Of The Rumsiskes Market-Town Museum

Coordinated by John Lostys

Tuesday, April 15th, 2025

7:00 PM ET (Eastern Time / New York)

Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88287009112?pwd=EGrtxLrjt6ZG7I4quYXuCIs5e5L0Xo.1

This project will create an addition to the existing Open-Air Museum of Lithuania at Rumsiskes, and will focus on recreating and portraying how Christians, Jews, and other minorities lived in traditional Lithuanian market-towns/"shtetls" during the centuries prior to World War I.

Prior to WWI, there were more than 1,500 market towns in Eastern Europe. The two largest populations were Christians (Russian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox or Roman Catholics) and Jews. The daily life and cultures of these residents was complex, rich, and fraught with issues that are ripe for exploration and understanding. Prior to the two World Wars, for a variety of reasons hundreds of thousands of people emigrated from these towns, and there are millions of their descendants in diaspora. During World War II the Jewish populations that had remained were eviscerated and the traditional market town life was destroyed.

The museum will be the only open-air museum in the world that offers visitors the opportunity to see and understand the daily life of the residents of such towns.  In addition, in collaboration with Yeshiva University in the United States and Vilnius University in Lithuania, the museum will engage in research on how individuals and distinct communities interacted, including the role of ethnic, religious, gender, and other distinct identities in everyday life.

 Please join us!

Tuesday, April 15th, 2025

7:00 PM ET (Eastern Time / New York)

via Zoom

Join us for an engaging panel discussion featuring the European Permanent Representatives to the United Nations. They will explore the latest geopolitical, social, and economic shifts influencing the future of international commerce, peace, and security.

Speakers include:

• Ambassador Hector Gomez, Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations

• Ambassador Maurizio Massari, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations

• Ambassador Evangelos Sekeris, Permanent Representative of Greece to the United Nations

Moderator: Deborah Baron, Market Manager for the Global Families Group, J.P. Morgan Private Bank

This event is organized by J.P. Morgan Private Bank and LEAP Atlantic, the umbrella organization for all bilateral European Chambers in New York City. The Baltic American Chamber of Commerce (BACC) is a proud member of this organization.

Attendance Fee:

• BACC Members: Free. Not a member yet? Join and become a BACC member here

• Non-members: $45 per person. No refunds will be issued. No walk-ins will be allowed.

Event is sold out. Please email us at info@bacc.nyc to join the waiting list. We'll notify you if spots become available.

AGENDA:

8-8:40 a.m.: Registration and Breakfast Reception 

8:40-8:45 a.m.: Welcome and Introductions by Chairman of LEAP  

8:45-9:35 a.m.: Panel Discussion with the Ambassadors Permanent Representatives to the United Nations 

9:35-9:45 a.m.: Q&A

We look forward to seeing you and having a great discussion!

Wednesday, April 9th, 2025
8:00 a.m. - 10 a.m. ET
J.P. Morgan  
383 Madison Avenue, Floor 2, New York, New York 10017 (Directions)

Littler presents a highly engaging, practical roundtable series geared toward the hospitality industry. These roundtables are interactive forums designed for you and your industry colleagues to share how your businesses are handling certain legal challenges. Participants will be asked to collaborate and explore practical and out-of-the-box approaches to address complicated compliance issues. In addition, participants will explore challenges they have faced, sharing ideas and strategies that have proven successful.

Topics to be discussed at this roundtable may include:

• What to expect from the Trump Administration

• Immigration concerns

• How to react to employees who want to wear clothing that makes a political statement

• Labor update and increased organizing activities

• Predictive scheduling/fair workweek laws

• Staying up to date with legal changes to release agreements and arbitration agreements

• New pay transparency laws

• Managing overtime

• Compliance challenges related to food delivery

Time:
9:30 - 10:30 a.m. PT
10:30 - 11:30 a.m. MT
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CT
12:30 - 1:30 p.m. ET

Are you ready to ride into the untamed frontier of California's complex employment landscape? Presenting an exciting and informative webinar, “Hiring in the Wild West: Navigating California's Employment Frontier," where we'll help you lasso the latest California compliance issues and wrangle your way through the hiring process. 

Topics we will cover include:

• Pre-hire compliance issues: Pay transparency requirements, job applications, background screenings, interviewing, offer letters

• Onboarding: Key policies and required notices, essential onboarding documents, mandatory training requirements

• During employment: Unique wage and hour considerations, pay data reporting

Don't miss out on this golden opportunity to become a true employment law trailblazer. Whether you're a seasoned HR professional, expanding your business to California, or beginning your entrepreneurial journey, this webinar will equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to navigate the wild terrain of California employment law.

Time:
9:00 - 10:30 a.m. PT
10:00 - 11:30 a.m. MT
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CT
12:00 - 1:30 p.m. ET

Littler attorneys and in-house counsel from some of the nation's top retailers present a highly engaging roundtable discussion. This interactive forum will allow industry colleagues to share how businesses are handling current legal challenges. Participants will explore practical and out-of-the-box approaches to address challenges they have faced, sharing ideas and strategies that have proven successful.

Topics that we expect to be discussed at this roundtable include:

• NY Prenatal Leave

• NY Retail Worker Safety Act

• Predictions for changes in NLRB, EEOC and DOL Enforcement in Trump Administration

• Addressing religious accommodation requests including prayer time and requests for Sabbath off

• Issues arising from mandatory return to office policies

• How retailers are making use of AI

• Best practices for EEOC position statements

Registration and Breakfast: 8:30 - 9:00 a.m.
Program: 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.

This event is part of a partnership between Yale University and the University of New Haven.

Speakers

Shota Gvineria, Faculty, Baltic Defence College

Olena Lennon, University of New Haven

Holger Roonemaa, Head of the investigative desk at Delfi.ee / Knight-Wallace fellow 2024-25

Matthew Schmidt, University of New Haven

Inga Springe, Co-founder of the Baltic Centre for Investigative Journalism Re:Baltica

Michael Weiss, The Insider

This webinar will focus on immigration-related challenges and considerations for employers since President Trump took office and provide guidance on outcomes ahead. We will cover Trump's new executive orders on immigration and anticipated changes, immediate impact on employers, possible hiring challenges, employer preparedness for I-9 audits and other crisis management, as well as future trends in U.S. immigration law.

Time:
10:00 - 11:00 a.m. PT
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MT
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. CT
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. ET

Join us in this fireside chat with Ambassador Audra Plepytė, Lithuanian Ambassador to the US, and Dovydas Špokauskas, Consul General of Lithuania in New York. Moderated by Dr. Bradley Woodworth.

Please join us for our update on important issues affecting public companies for the upcoming proxy season and beyond. Hodgson Russ attorneys and invited speakers from the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche LLP will present on SEC reporting and enforcement, accounting, executive compensation, ESG/sustainability, and other timely topics of note.

Who should attend: In-house counsel, board members, CEOs, CFOs, CAOs, finance and external reporting managers, and anyone interested in current issues facing public companies.

This is a hybrid event. Choose to attend in-person at the Guaranty Building or join us remotely via webinar.

In-person check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. Continental breakfast and box lunch will be provided for in-person attendees.

This seminar is complimentary.

The ball has dropped, the clock has turned, and a new year is upon us. Start the new year with a bang by ensuring your HR and legal teams are up to date on the latest legal developments impacting the workplace.

During this one-hour presentation, Littler attorneys Rocio Blanco Garcia and Lizzy Stewart will provide attendees a refresher on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and walk through the latest guidance from the EEOC and the developing case law. Attendees can expect to walk away from this training with a better understanding of the PWFA, practical tips to mitigate legal risk, and real-life scenarios that illustrate common issues employees face and pitfalls to avoid.

Additionally, Stephanie Zielinski, Marketing Director of ComplianceHR, will walk you through PolicySmart™, the Reference Center, and the Document Center. These solutions can help you simplify the complexity of employment law and make your compliance strategy become proactive instead of reactive.

Time:
10:00 - 11:00 a.m. PT
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MT
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. CT
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. ET

Businesses with multistate activities face considerable compliance challenges for state tax purposes -- especially with regard to sales tax and nexus. This webinar will cover nexus rules and nexus-triggering events along with protections under Public Lay 86-272 which restricts a state from imposing a net income tax on interstate sales of tangible, physical goods. Our presenter will cover various approaches to compliance and other practical considerations when working with sales tax and nexus activities.

​Littler presents a highly engaging, practical roundtable series geared toward the nonprofit industry. These roundtables are interactive forums designed for you and your industry colleagues to share how your organizations are handling certain legal challenges.

Participants will be asked to collaborate and explore practical and out-of-the-box approaches to address complicated compliance issues. In addition, participants will explore challenges they have faced, sharing ideas and strategies that have proven successful.

Topics to be discussed at this roundtable may include:

• Talent retention and competition with for-profit organizations

  • Volunteer and employee classification issues

  • Hiring, onboarding and training complications

  • Leadership changes

  • Tight labor markets and funding issues, including managing overtime

• How to react to employees who want to wear clothing that makes a political statement

• Labor update and increased organizing activities

• Staying up to date with legal changes to release agreements and arbitration agreements

• New pay transparency laws

• 2025 wage and hour updates

Time:
6:00 - 7:00 a.m. PT
7:00 - 8:00 a.m. MT
8:00 - 9:00 a.m. CT
9:00 - 10:00 a.m. ET

Business Breakfast: New U.S. Administration – Impacts and Opportunities for Lithuanian Businesses. A Conversation with Michael J. Breen, BACC member and Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania in Florida

The event will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania, at the Vilnius Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts, located at T. Kościuskos 30, Vilnius.

AGENDA

9:30 AM – 10:00 AM | Business Breakfast
10:00 AM – 10:05 AM | Welcome Remarks
Dr. Almantas Danilevičius, Director General, Vilnius Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts

10:05 AM – 11:00 AM | Presentation: The US Situation and Opportunities for Baltic Businesses

• Anticipated economic conditions under the new US administration: What changes can Baltic region businesses expect?

• Strategies to mitigate the risk of high tariffs when selling to the US market.

• Opportunities in the US defense industry and the growing potential for US-Baltic cooperation.

• Key advice for entering the US market: Understanding market dynamics, leveraging trade agreements, and building successful business relationships.
  Speaker: Michael J. Breen, BACC member and Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania in Florida

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM | Networking

11:30 AM | End of Event

Presenter: Michael J. Breen, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania in Florida. BIO here

RSVP by January 7th, 2025

For more questions email at kamila.lubyte@cci.lt

This event is organized in partnership with: Vilnius Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts

As 2024 comes to a close, the 2025 compliance strategy planning season begins. With 2025 already presenting a potential onslaught of employment law updates, it's critical for employers to know what changes to expect in the new year.

During this 60-minute webinar, Michelle Devlin, Maureen Lavery, Amy Mendenhall and Hannah Stilley, attorneys from the knowledge management and legal research teams at Littler, will discuss a variety of employment law areas and potential updates coming in 2025. Some topics covered include:

• New legislation and anticipated legal trends for 2025, including AI, noncompete agreements, mandatory employer-sponsored meetings and child labor

• The impact of the 2024 election on state-level regulation of employment and labor standards

• Handbook updates to get you ready for the new year

• Major NLRB decisions impacting both union and nonunion workforces in 2025, including on employer-sponsored meetings about unionization, and precedent and regulatory shifts expected from the NLRB under the new administration

• The Securities and Exchange Commission's focus on whistleblower protections in separation, settlement and other employment agreements

Additionally, Stephanie Zielinski, ComplianceHR marketing director, will walk you through PolicySmart™ and the Reference Center. These compliance essentials help simplify the complexity of employment law and make your organization's compliance strategy proactive instead of reactive.

Time:
9:00 - 10:00 a.m. PT
10:00 - 11:00 a.m. MT
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. CT
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. ET

As employers increasingly require employees to return to the office, remote work accommodation requests have followed. After having sent many of their employees’ home to work during the pandemic, employers now face an onslaught of remote work requests. During the pandemic, employers wondered whether the pandemic would make remote work a permanent “thing” required by the ADA. Several years out, we are beginning to see how the courts are treating remote work requests – and it’s a mixed bag for employers seeking a return to office.

In this complimentary webinar, Littler Shareholder Jeff Nowak and ComPsych’s Matt Morris will analyze the current remote work landscape, help make sense of where the courts are heading on this issue, highlight relevant studies on the issue, and offer practical suggestions on how employers should approach remote work requests after the pandemic. Through the use of case studies (and a tiny bit of humor), we will cover:

• What precisely is the playing field these days when it comes to remote work arrangements? Did the pandemic change the entire remote work analysis?

• How data about modern working arrangements could (and in some instances, should) affect your remote work accommodation analyses

• How this data and other anecdotal evidence can bolster the arguments employers make to strengthen their “return-to-office” position and/or refine their expectations for at-home workers

• Dealing with employees who request remote work because they can’t commute to work

• Where and when does it end: Can an employee work from home indefinitely?

Time:
10:00 - 11:15 a.m. PT
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. MT
12:00 - 1:15 p.m. CT
1:00 - 2:15 p.m. ET

During this webinar you will learn more about the recently held exclusive Latvia-US Drone Symposium in Washington DC, participant feedback from Latvijas Mobilais Telefons SIA, Origin Robotics, and SAF Tehnika JSC.

State Secretary of the Ministry of Defense, Mr. Aivars Purins, will share more about the Latvia-led Drone Coalition.

To close your, you will hear from George Straubs on how to prepare yourself to do business with U.S. Department of Defense - a version of the presentation he shared during the symposium last month.

The Baltic American Chamber of Commerce warmly invites our members and friends to join us in a joyous Christmas celebration! Together with our colleagues from the Luxembourg American Chamber of Commerce, we’ll gather at the enchanting Luxembourg House for an evening filled with holiday spirit and camaraderie.

Date: Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Time: 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Location: The Luxembourg House, 17 Beekman Place, New York, NY 10022

Once the home of Irving Berlin, this charming venue will be alive with Christmas carols, festive music, and traditional fare. Enjoy Glühwein, Luxembourg wines, Crémant, and a delicious meal as we celebrate together.

Tickets: $85 per person

Event is sold out, but email us to join the waiting list at info@bacc.nyc

Dress code: Cocktail attire (a balance between formal and casual)

Come and spread the holiday cheer with us!

Due to popular demand, a second webinar is being offered, ffocused on the employment lifecycle and the risk spectrum created by cultural or leadership issues that go unaddressed.

Morreen and Matt will discuss the current state of employment from an HR and legal perspective, with topics including leadership, culture, challenges created by remote work, noncompetes and many more. They will then open the floor to the audience for a Q&A – so come prepared with your questions.

Time:
9:30 - 10:30 a..m. PT
10:30 - 11:30 a.m. MT
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CT
12:30 - 1:30 p.m. ET

Littler Texas (Austin, Dallas and Houston offices) presents a post-election webinar assessing the priorities of the incoming administration and how it will likely impact federal, state and local activities and trends in labor and employment law.

Time:
10:00 - 11:00 a.m. PT
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MT
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. CT
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. ET

1st event of a new annual tradition. Leaning on the global audience that Slush attracts, we aim to attract a small sub-set to Tallinn, on 18 November Monday afternoon/evening - conveniently before the main Slush event (20-21 November).

The content will showcase the business attractions of Estonia. While Slush has about 15,000 people who descend onto Helsinki each year, the very-short Ferry between Tallinn and Helsinki is a great opportunity to draw top international guests to Estonia.