Northeast Ohio Regional Library System

Human Resource/Fiscal Officer Networking Meeting-Via Zoom
06/07/24
9:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Here is an opportunity to share your challenges and successes with your peers. This meeting will be held through Zoom which is user friendly to all devices. You will receive a link in your email when you register and 1 hour before the meeting. We hope you will join us. Please send agenda items/questions to Yvette Wasko.

Morning Session: Managing Behavioral Health Issues under the ADA and FMLA

Learning Objectives:

How to identify behavioral health issues in your workforce.
Assessing when a behavioral health issue is a serious health condition under the FMLA and/or a disability under the ADA.
How to manage the unique challenges presented by mental health issues, including the accommodation process under the ADA.

Presenters:

Jim P. Wilkins, Shareholder, OSBA Certified Specialist in Labor & Employment Law, Kastner Westman & Wilkins, LLC
Jim began his law career more than thirty years ago when labor law – dealing with unions -- was in full bloom, and employment law was still emerging. As a result, he has a depth and breadth of experience in labor law that many younger lawyers won’t have because of the decline in the unionized segment of the American workforce.

Throughout his career, he has devoted significant time to representing and counseling employers on union relations matters, including collective bargaining negotiations, arbitration proceedings, and maintaining non-union status. He has negotiated countless labor contracts in both the private and public sectors, both blue collar and white collar. He regularly represents employers before the National Labor Relations Board and Ohio’s State Employment Relations Board in representation and unfair labor practice proceedings.

At the same time, Jim is as much an employment lawyer as he is a labor lawyer. He has been around from the outset of such landmark legislation as the ADA and FMLA. Both have a tremendous impact on the day-to-day advice he provides to employers who look to him to keep them out of trouble. When discrimination claims arise, Jim represents employers in state and federal courts and before the EEOC and state fair employment practice agencies. Jim also assists employers who have federal contracts with their affirmative action obligations, including the preparation of affirmative action plans.

Amanda S Smith, Shareholder, OSBA-Certified Specialist in Labor and Employment Law, DE&I Officer , National Diversity Council Certified Diversity Professional, Kastner Westman & Wilkins, LLC

Amanda’s unusual path to becoming a labor and employment attorney began with earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in neuroscience at Allegheny College and Kent State University, respectively. After determining that a career in science ultimately was not for her, she took a job as a legal assistant following her graduate studies, and immediately fell in love with law.

That first position at a plaintiff’s side labor and employment firm quickly evolved into enrolling in classes at the University of Akron School of Law, where she eventually earned her juris doctor degree, summa cum laude. Her experience to-date as a management-side labor and employment attorney has led to some lively discussions at the dinner table back home with her father (a police chief) and mother (a former union president).

Amanda has found the work to be both fascinating and fulfilling. She represents employers in many types of labor and employment matters, including charges before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Ohio Civil Rights Commission and other state fair employment practice agencies. She also counsels employers on litigation, arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution matters, as well as wage/hour compliance, performance and leave management, discipline, and workplace policies.

Location: Online via Zoom