0 (0s):
Welcome back to all the listeners of Radio. Entrepreneurs. My name is Jeffrey Davis and we are streaming more stories than ever on entrepreneurship and how to deal with this new economy, get getting to business, supporting business, uh, pulling together and uh, in general keeping people working, which is what's best for all of us. Uh, our next guest is Tim Kenneally attorney at Foley and Foley. Welcome. Tim.

1 (28s):
Thank you for having me.

0 (31s):
Well, why don't you first tell us a little bit about, uh, Foley and Foley and, and your practice and then a little bit getting into what's been going on during covert for your firm.

1 (40s):
Well, our firm is based in Falmouth, Massachusetts, but we have attorneys that have remote offices. I have a remote office in Foxborough and we focus our practice in several areas. One employment law. We help employers exclusively with their employee related issues. We also handle contract matters, a lot of contract related, uh, employment related contracts. And we litigate related to those two areas of the law.

1 (1m 11s):
Uh, we're a smaller firm, but we actually have clients all across the country and about 30 States.

0 (1m 19s):
Wow. So you, so how has life changed for your firm over the last six weeks?

1 (1m 26s):
Well, we do, uh, we have a program called counsel on call where we answer a client issues related to their employees either by phone or email. And as you might imagine over the last month and a half, the, the Questions I've been exclusive to COBIT, 19 related matters, whether it's leave laying off people for lows, people refusing to come to work because of fear. So we've been pretty busy. Our practice actually is fairly economy proof.

1 (2m 1s):
So, um, you know, we've been busy but it's been difficult because we're handling a lot of questions from people that are scared or upset or, or not sure about the future.

0 (2m 13s):
Uh, is there a general categories or buckets that those questions fall into that you could share?

1 (2m 19s):
Sure. So the, the primary issues that we've been dealing with of late are the Families First Coronavirus relief act, which is a temporary law that is in place through the end of this year. And it provides either sick leave or family medical leave. And we've had a lot of questions there because it was issued very quickly by the government and there wasn't a considerable amount of understanding about what the law meant and how you apply it in regulations and guidance have been coming out from the department of labor sporadically over the past several weeks.

1 (2m 53s):
So we've had a lot of questions on that and we, we've offered a lot of guidance on how people qualify for that. Leave what you, how you pay for that. Leave employers have the right to take tax deductions related to pay that leave. And we've been explaining how that process works and how they can recoup the money that they pay to their staff under these leaves. And so we've had a lot of situations where people have been, um, either telling their employees they don't want to come to work at all because they're afraid to contract the virus.

1 (3m 31s):
Uh, or they, they have a qualifying reason and we've had to educate our clients on the difference between the two. Simply being afraid to come to work on doesn't qualify you for these leaves. And it's a hard message, I think for our clients to give to some of their staff, but they, if they're essential to their work, they have to force them to come into work. Some people don't want to come. So, uh, we've had to educate our staff.

1 (4m 1s):
I mean our clients on terminations as well, which is, which is hard in this environment. You don't want to fire people that are just afraid to come to work. But yeah. And is it Act potentially a, a point of litigation after covert is over. It is, uh, so if somebody legitimately has a belief that they're entitled to one of these leaves, even if they're wrong, um, they can, uh, file a claim for retaliation if they were terminated for trying to exercise a right to what of these leaves.

1 (4m 36s):
And so you have to be very careful when you're an employer about how you react to somebody's request for relief. If you, if you believe and you have evidence to believe that that person doesn't have a good faith reason for requesting this leave, let's say they just want to take advantage of the paid time off. Uh, you have the right to, to take action against them, whether it's disciplinary or termination, but it is very tricky decision to make because you open yourself up potentially to her claim for retaliation in a future lawsuit.

1 (5m 15s):
So you mentioned, uh, that businesses almost, you know, it's the same for you. Most of you, did you move remote? Well, I actually have been a remote worker for the past seven, eight years. So for me it's not a tremendous change. I just don't go to my local office because there's other people that share that space with me and they were using it. Um, but I have remoted into our office for years, uh, and a lot of our other attorneys do as well.

1 (5m 47s):
We're spread out. We, we just don't go to the main office much. Uh, well he did you put your tie on for us. That was very nice of you. I have one a time, well, two weeks. So this is, this is a nice choice.

0 (5m 59s):
Hi. I've seen in a long time. So I thought the tie went with working in offices.

1 (6m 7s):
Yeah. I just don't want it to look the part today in case, uh, you, uh, had some people out there wondering what lawyers look like

0 (6m 15s):
looking like an attorney.

1 (6m 16s):
That's right. That's just, this is my court appearance right here.

0 (6m 20s):
Right, right. So, uh, you know, uh, you know, I mentioned to you litigation maybe, uh, changing, uh, the next, uh, six months to a year. I'm expecting a, you know, a dramatic change. And what are some of the things you're preparing for in terms of litigation?

1 (6m 38s):
Well, we do a lot of work at the Massachusetts commission against discrimination and we do a lot of trial work. So my expectation is that claims at the Massachusetts commission against discrimination will dramatically increase related to, uh, issues of discrimination, uh, related to the sleeve law that we were just talking about. So my, my thought is that I'm going to have to be prepared to handle it. A significant number of cases at the commission and then related lawsuits.

1 (7m 12s):
Yeah. In the courts. Uh, there's also, uh, number of wage and hour issues that present under this, uh, federal law. And I think that there'll be a lot of claims made to the, yes, use the attorney General's office associated with this failure to pay wages, the one of them. And um, we hit a lot of those claims as well. So we're probably going to have to deal with a lot of issues with the attorney General's office, with the Massachusetts commission against discrimination and in the courts it could get very busy I think in the fall.

0 (7m 46s):
So it Tim if somebody is looking for to connect with you or to uh, you know, speak with someone at Foley and Foley, how would they do that?

1 (7m 55s):
So my, uh, my direct cell phone, which I use for work is, is uh, where I get most of my calls is (508) 369-2894. And I also have email@timatfoleylawpractice.com and those are the best ways to get in touch with me and I generate my own practice for the firm. So, yeah, that's what I would do, ask people to do if they have questions about either of these leave laws or any employee related issue and we, all of the other employee issues continue to go on.

1 (8m 28s):
I've had to handle some terminations related to disciplinary issues. Okay. We handle on a daily basis when we're not dealing with covert 19 too. So any questions we would be able to help an employer with at this time.

0 (8m 43s):
Thank you. I appreciate that. Uh, we've been speaking again with Tim Kenneally attorney at Foley and Foley thanks. And, uh, stay healthy and stay well. Tim

1 (8m 52s):
thank you very much. It was nice meeting you and I had pleasure coming along to your show. Thank you.

0 (8m 56s):
This is Radio Entrepreneurs we'll be right back with more stories.