A general counsel says she lost her new job last month after asking her boss to comply with stay-at-home orders.

That's what Amy Reggio claims in a wrongful termination lawsuit, alleging that her employer of three months, commercial real estate development firm Tekin & Associates near Dallas, refused to let her fulfill her GC duties from home after the area was ordered to shelter in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Unfortunately, although employees want to abide by the legal restrictions and protect the health of their families and communities, some employers are flouting the restrictions and threatening (whether implicitly or explicitly) with termination unless they agree to violate the law with criminal consequences," the suit states.

The novel coronavirus has many employees working from home, including in-house counsel, so this lawsuit begs the question: Will companies be open to telework when everything returns to normal?

Corporate Counsel recently spoke with Mark Smolik, GC and chief compliance officer of DHL Supply Chain Americas, who said his company is constantly making decisions on who can stay home and who can't in order for work to get done, an issue many employers are handling now.

"Those orders have to be reviewed and evaluated to decide who can go to work and under what circumstances," he said. "We need to make sure we can continue to operate our warehouses."

As companies and their in-house counsel figure out updated work-from-home policies, we may see more fallout over companies allegedly not altering policies for our altered environment.

Is your legal department revamping your company's telework policies due to COVID-19? Please let me know at [email protected].

 

SPONSORED BY ALM

Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Quick Reference Guide This Coronavirus (COVID-19) reference provides info, tips, and tricks for this global pandemic. Use this quick reference to learn the basics and to understand how to identify the symptoms of the Coronavirus. This printable quick reference is yours to use, distribute, and share at your organization! Along with this free reference card, you will also receive more information from CustomGuide regarding their innovative interactive training and learning solutions to help improve the software skills of you and your staff for success in today's workplace. READ MORE

We know that general counsel, on average, view compliance as the single most important issue to the overall business, so it is especially noteworthy that this is one of the areas in which legal operations professionals are having the greatest impact.

- The 2020 Legal Operations Maturity Benchmarking Report published this week by the Association of Corporate Counsel and Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory.

What's Happening

 

Lawyering in Health Crisis

Health care GCs are feeling the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic as their employees are on the front line of providing necessary services for patients. Corporate Counsel spoke to two GCs about what they are currently seeing in their legal departments.

Luminis Health GC Timothy Adelman says: "We have been actively planning for the surge. In the coming weeks, we anticipate feeling the stress of that surge. It will impact our workforce, supplies and our physical space. Following the surge, we will need to refocus ourselves on what is the new normal."

Summa Health System GC Robert Gerberry says: "We are being asked to provide legal opinions in a more-expedited fashion. Lawyers are usually more plodding in their pace. You know, something is stuck in legal … and now we have to meet our client's needs in a very timely fashion."

 

Legal + Compliance = 1 Department

Airplane maker Boeing has consolidated its legal and compliance departments. Still in recovery from the crash of two of its 737 Max airliners that resulted in hundreds of deaths, the company said the novel coronavirus has forced it to "streamline senior leadership."

GC Brett Gerry was named chief legal officer and executive vice president of global compliance. Gerry, who previously served as president of Boeing Japan, was named GC last year amid the backlash of the plane crashes. Boeing announced that chief ethics and compliance officer Diana Sands was retiring later this year after 20 years.

 

Priority Status

In-house counsel haven't rearranged their top priorities due to the coronavirus crisis, according to an updated survey from Thomson Reuters' Legal Tracker and subsidiary Acritas.

Interviewing 600 U.S. senior in-house legal counsel in late 2019, the research teams circled back with the respondents and found projected 2020 priorities for GCs hadn't "gone completely out the window" amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Women, Influence & Power in Law Awards

 

Corporate Counsel's Women, Influence & Power in Law Awards awards deadline for submissions is July 8.

We are looking for general counsel and law firm partner applicants in the following categories:

Crisis Management: Industry – General Counsel Banking & Finance Insurance Transportation & Infrastructure Manufacturing & Chemicals Technology, Media & Telecom Retail & Consumer Goods

In-House & Law Firm Awards Innovative Leadership Thought Leadership Collaborative Leadership Women's Legal Awards General Counsel of the Year/Managing Partner of the Year Lifetime Achievement

If you know a general counsel or law firm partner who qualify for a WIPL award, then please apply here.

Best Legal Departments

Corporate Counsel's Best Legal Departments awards deadline for submissions is June 15.

We are looking for general counsel and in-house legal department applicants in the following categories:

U.S. Legal Department of the Year

Compliance Department of the Year

Startup Solo GC of the Year

Best Use of Technology

General Counsel of the Year

Best Deputy or Associate GC

Champion of Diversity Award

Best Legal Ops Team

Outstanding Community Service Award

If your general counsel and legal department qualify for a Best Legal Departments award, then please apply here.

On the Move

 

 

Richard Weber, formerly the chief of the criminal investigation division for the IRS who oversaw the FIFA corruption and Silk Road online drug trafficking cases, is taking over as GC for the New York State Department of Financial Services. He also held in-house financial crime prevention positions at Deutsche Bank and UBS.

Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter named Uber Technologies lawyer Nicole Benincasa GC. Most recently the senior counsel of global safety for Uber in New York, Benincasa made the announcement on LinkedIn that she was taking over as Kickstarter's top lawyer next month.