Session Description: This session is being offered as a follow up to the previous webinar which introduced us to the medical and religious exemption process associated with COVID vaccine mandates. This session will focus solely on medical exemptions and how public agencies can navigate key considerations. Those who did not attend the first webinar introducing exemption issues on 9/23 can view the recording on the PARMA website, under the Education/ Webinars tab.

Speakers:

Katy Suttorp
Burke, Williams and Sorensen, LLP
KSuttorp@bwslaw.com

Katy Suttorp, a partner in the Orange County office of Burke, Williams and Sorensen, LLP, represents and counsels a wide range of employers, including municipalities, special districts, school districts, community college districts, and private entities, in numerous labor and employment law matters. These include disability accommodation and interactive process, employee discipline and due process, leaves and benefits, state and federal wage and hour audits and disputes, wrongful termination, workplace investigations, Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act/Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act, employee speech and privacy, workplace violence, pre-employment and privacy issues, including drug and alcohol testing, HIPAA/California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, and CalPERS and CalSTRS audits and disputes. In connection with that representation, Katy has drafted and revised a variety of personnel rules and employee handbooks, personnel-related ordinances and resolutions, board policies and administrative regulations, collective bargaining agreements/memoranda of understanding, and employer-employee resolutions/local rules.

Kelly Trainer Policky
California Joint Powers Insurance Authority
Employment Practices Manager

Kelly Trainer Policky serves as the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority’s Employment Practices Manager. A licensed California attorney, Kelly has worked as an advisor, trainer, investigator, and negotiator for public agencies for almost 20 years. She has a passion for the preventative side of the practice of law, and oversees the Authority’s Employment Hotline, providing advice and counsel support to over 120 member agencies on complex, high-risk employment law issues. In this capacity, she works directly with members on issues such as reasonable accommodation and the interactive process, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, discipline, freedom of speech and association, privacy, and social media. Kelly is also a highly regarded trainer, and regularly conducts a variety of seminars and workplace trainings for employees on matters such as harassment prevention, disability discrimination, implicit bias, workplace investigations, managing difficult employees, workplace violence, discipline and termination, social media, performance evaluations, creating effective documentation, and leaves of absence.