March 30, 2020

SUMMARY

COVID-19 has taken over the world as we once knew it, and almost nowhere is the brunt being absorbed like the employer and employee sectors. Countless employers – who just weeks ago were likely having a normal or strong year – have had the rug pulled out from under them, through no fault of their own. And the same goes for employees and the self-employed.

In the U.S., what does new federal legislation portend for employers?

What should they be thinking about, bracing for and – to the extent possible – getting out ahead of, to survive?

Employment law Attorney Chad Hatmaker of Woolf McClane joins Kelly and Mary Beth to break down the technical as well as the strategic points of employer considerations . . . as well as how management teams must coordinate between both the Legal and PR sides to ensure that C-Suites are acting in good faith, on the best information and wise counsel possible.

SHOW NOTES

Chad Hatmaker’s on-point advice for employers – which PR teams must bear in mind as well as they think through employee-focused communications strategies – spans a diverse gamut, tied to passage of recent COVID-19 Aid legislation.

Included in the discussion:

• How remote work / virtual team transitions are impacting workplaces in critical ways
• How the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) (signed into law March 18 and taking effect April 1) is already impacting the workplace, in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic, with caregiver and emergency paid sick leave components. (FFCRA “provides for expanded FMLA and Emergency Paid Leave in certain limited circumstances related to the Coronavirus pandemic,” as noted on Chad’s blog – tnemploymentlawblog.com)
• The law of unintended consequences?… How the funding of these mandates expected by employers with fewer than 500 employees will impact companies in the short-term versus long-term
• Aspects of consideration for those who are self-employed
• How much risk employers may be in for, relative to employee lawsuits down the pike
• Anti-retaliation considerations and potential employee claims that employers must bear in mind to avoid legal risk
• A cursory overview of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act
• Recent Pew Research statistics on teleworkers and how the COVID-19 “new normal” on Work from Home #WFH arrangements may permanent change the workplace landscape
• Discussion of whether working from home may or may not be a part later of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), relative to a “reasonable accommodation”
• How the public relations profession is well-suited to telework platforms and how the new-normal of work-from-home arrangements may unleash an upending of traditional workplaces, both in the PR profession and in countless other knowledge-based fields
• The Legal Side vs The PR Side: Chad’s take on how both disciplines need to work together, whether in response to COVID-19 or in any crisis
• And much more.

Links:

· Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag

· Follow Chad Hatmaker of Woolf McClane

o    Twitter: @JChadHatmaker

o    Chad Hatmaker’s blog, “Tennessee Employment Law”

o    LinkedIn

· Discover Fletcher Marketing PR

· Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR 

· Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher 

·  Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest

WHAT IS MS. INTERPRETED?

Public Relations stands as one of the most misunderstood, misinterpreted areas of business and organizational management. With Fletcher Marketing PR Founder and CEO Kelly Fletcher and Senior Strategist Mary Beth West, we’re here to turn around PR’s own bad PRess, cut through the nomenclature, and demystify public relations as the best pathway to create, grow and amplify the roots of positive management, communications, culture and careers — for success that matters.