COVID-19 Protocol for Employers How to Navigate the Workplace and Establish a Compliant Framework for Vaccines & Testing

COVID-19 Protocol for Employers
How to Navigate the Workplace and Establish a Compliant Framework for Vaccines & Testing

Presented by: Carla Hartley, Scott Toothacre, Elyssa Kulas, Thomas Paschos

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

3:00 PM EDT

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Employers must consider legal implications prior to mandating COVID-19 vaccinations in the workplace, including accommodations, business necessity, and how to address employees refusing to comply with mandatory company policies. Join our panelists and moderator as they discuss building a compliant framework in the workplace and navigating the new vaccine recommendations.

Live Interactive Q&A

Bring/Submit Your Questions

Time will be reserved to answer specific questions from attendees and we encourage those in attendance to come with questions prepared. If you would like specific questions addressed, you are invited to submit questions in advance.

Panelists

Carla Hartley

Carla Hartley represents employers in jury trials, appeals, arbitrations and before agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, and Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

In addition to litigation, Carla provides human resources advice and a full range of services to assist her clients in remaining compliant with the complicated web of laws applicable to California employers.

Her areas of expertise include wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblowers, leaves of absence, disability and religious accommodation, wage and hour, trade secrets, privacy rights, reductions in force, severance negotiations, compensation and commission plans, and class and collective actions.

In addition to healthcare-related employment issues, Carla's expertise includes the Affordable Care Act, Stark and Anti-Kickback compliance, and peer review.

Elyssa Kulas

Elyssa Kulas is an associate in the Litigation Department of Ferris & Britton in San Diego, California.

Elyssa’s practice focuses on labor and employment law. Elyssa counsels clients regarding a broad range of employment matters, including wage and hour compliance, performance management issues and termination decisions, disability accommodations and leaves of absence. She drafts employee policies and handbooks, employment agreements, and other employment contracts. As part of Elyssa’s litigation practice, she drafts substantive motions, handles both fact and expert discovery, and prepares experts and clients for depositions. Elyssa has defended employers against single-plaintiff, class action and PAGA claims involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, and alleged wage and hour violations.

Elyssa graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law, where she was the editor-in-chief of the Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot team and a member of the International Law Journal. Elyssa clerked for the United States Attorneys Office in the Civil Division and volunteered for the University of San Diego’s Small Claims Clinic.

She received B.A. degrees, magna cum laude, in Political Science and Spanish and a B.S. degree, cum laude, in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago. Elyssa spent all four years as a member of Loyola’s NCAA Division I women’s soccer team.

Scott Toothacre

Scott H. Toothacre joined the firm in 2015. He is an experienced trial attorney. His practice focuses primarily on civil litigation, with a stint of cases dealing with family law and criminal defense. After graduating from Western State University School of Law in 1989, he immediately began working as an associate attorney for the the law firm of Toothacre & Pederson, which eventually became Toothacre & Toothacre.

Prior to law school he was an intern at the San Diego County District Attorney’s office. While in school he was a member of Law Review and the President of the Delta Theta Phi law fraternity.

Scott has successfully tried over 30 jury trials, primarily civil, but also criminal. His ability to connect with jurors has resulted in favorable outcomes for both his civil and criminal clients. Scott is admitted to practice in all California State courts; the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the California Supreme Court, where he has appeared and argued resulting in a published opinion.

Thomas Paschos

Thomas Paschos specializes in the defense of professional liability matters, premises liability matters, insurance coverage, employment matters, products liability and commercial litigation. He represents, amongst others, major retail corporations, corporate officers, physicians, dentists, nursing homes, lawyers, accountants, product manufacturers, insurance agents and brokers, architects and engineers, contractors, transportation companies and insurance companies. An experienced trial attorney, with over 35 years of litigation experience, his trial and arbitration skills were enhanced with his LLM degree in Trial Advocacy in 1998 from Temple Law School, which was an advanced one year trial advocacy program taught by preeminent attorneys and trial advocacy professors. He has also been successful in the appellate courts in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

He has been awarded an AV Preeminent rating by Martindale-Hubbell, which identifies a lawyer with a very high to preeminent legal ability. As the managing partner of Thomas Paschos & Associates, P.C., he is responsible for managing the firm's offices in Haddonfield, NJ and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The firm is a member of the International Society of Primerus Law Firms, and Tom is the former Chairman of the Professional Liability Practice Group, and also serves as the current chair of Primerus' Employment and Labor Group. Also, he was formerly the chair for the Lawyers Professional Practice Group of the Professional Liability Defense Federation. He previously served as the Chair of CLM’s Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter. He was first selected as one of Pennsylvania's Super Lawyers in 2004 and continues being part of this select group of attorneys at this time. He was formerly an ARIAS –U.S. Certified Arbitrator.

Tom is the author of numerous insurance industry publications and the presenter of in-house presentations for insurance clients. He advises insurance companies and private corporations in loss prevention strategies and has provided in house presentations in preventing and defending bad faith actions in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He has been a moderator and/or a presenter in the field of professional liability, defense strategies to plaintiff’s reptile theories, and employment practices liability matters for Primerus, PLUS, CLM, major corporations, and the Professional Liability Defense Federation. In addition, he is the co-author of one of the chapters, on “Valuations”, of the recent book entitled: Insurance Agency Risk Management; E & O Exposures in the Sales Process, 2014 Edition, Series 2, published by Thomson Reuters, 2014, and the co-author of one of the chapters, on “Umbrella Policies-Personal and Commercial”, of another book entitled: Insurance Agency Risk Management; E & O Exposures By Line of Business, 2014 Edition, Series 3, published by Thomson Reuters, 2014.

Tom is a graduate of Temple University School of Law, from where he received his J.D. in 1985, and L.L.M. in Trial Advocacy in 1998, and Drexel University where he received his B.S. in 1982. He is admitted to practice in the federal and state courts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, and has a statewide practice in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.