The session will provide a brief overview of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and what constitutes unlawful discrimination in PA and how PHRC processes and investigates complaints. The majority of the presentation will review the PHRA, ADA, ADAAA and PWFA and what is required of employers in providing reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities or individuals who are pregnant. Actual case examples will be used to illustrate the right and wrong way under the law to handle these situations.
Presenter:
Heather joined the PHRC in January of 2013 as the Regional Director for the Harrisburg region. The Harrisburg Regional office serves 34 counties in PA. Roth's role is to direct and manage the investigative work of the staff as well as to conduct outreach and training for the communities in which the office serves. Roth and her tea handle the areas of employment, housing, commercial property, public accommodations, and education. Roth also serves on several special project committees and is a trainer for new investigators.
Prior to this role, Roth spent 15 years in the field of Human Resources Management. Roth has served in multiple senior manager roles and has directed the human resources functions for multi-site and multi-state organizations.
Roth holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Penn State University where she studied Public Relations. Roth has held professional certifications in human resources since 2004. She obtained her SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources) certification from the Human Resource Certification Institute in 2010 and still holds it today.
Roth was accepted as a member of the Mid Atlantic ADA Leadership Network in 2016 and assists with providing ADA training on behalf of the Mid Atlantic ADA center.
Roth received two awards from the Commonwealth in 2016 including a “Transformation Award” from the Governor’s Office of Innovation for her role in developing the Commission’s on-line questionnaire and the “Education and Outreach Award” from the Commission for her work in educating the public. Roth also received the” Executive Director’s Excellence Award” in 2021,” from the Commission. She received another “Executive Director’s Excellence Award” in 2025 from the Commission. She has received various other awards for her work planning the Commission’s Disability conferences and her speaking engagement at the Commission’s Sexual Harassment Conference.
Location
Setting: In-Person Technology Center at Innovation Park - Room 243 200 Innovation Boulevard State College, PA 16803 UNITED STATES
