Sarah C. Flannery

Practices

• Labor & Employment

Professional Experience

Sarah's practice involves counseling employers on immigration matters and I-9 compliance. Her immigration practice includes:

• Counseling employers on strategies for sponsoring employees for both immigrant and non-immigrant visas;
• Representing employers before the various agencies of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor;
• Counseling employers on I-9 compliance by developing I-9 policies and providing I-9 training;
• Performing I-9 audits;
• Analyzing relationships between employers and independent contractors who provide workforce services;
• Counseling employers on use of E-Verify;
• Developing immigration related policies, such as how sponsorship decisions will be made; and
• Conducting due diligence to determine immigration issues within corporate transactions.

Her practice also includes representation of employers and management in all aspects of employment litigation and labor relations. Her employment practice includes:

• Defending employers in federal and state litigation, arbitration proceedings, and Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation proceedings;
• Counseling employers on legal issues involved in hiring and termination decisions;
• Drafting non-competition, non-disclosure, non-solicitation, employment and severance agreements;
• Drafting, reviewing, and revising employment policies and handbooks;
• Performing employment audits;
• Providing anti-harassment training;
• Counseling employers on FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Compensation issues; and
• Counseling employers on telecommuting issues.

Education

• Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 2002, summa cum laude; graduated first in class, Cleveland State Law Review, Research Editor
• John Carroll University, B.S., 1999, cum laude

• Successfully obtained an O-1 classification for a scientist only a few years after his graduation;
• Successfully obtained L-1 classification for a worker who held the title of contractor rather than employee;
• Successfully obtained visa for applicant who had accrued unlawful presence;
• Successfully defended, before the Eighth District Court of Appeals, dismissal of employer from a workers' compensation retaliation lawsuit
• Obtained summary judgment on behalf of an employer in a FMLA lawsuit brought in the Northern District of Indiana
• Obtained dismissal of individual supervisor in wrongful termination suit

• Co-Authored "Managing H-1B Employees In A Down Economy", Employment Law360 website, December 3, 2009
• "All Eyes are on Immigration Enforcement" · Scrap magazine, September/October 2007
• "Telecommuting: Issues to Consider When Your Employees Take the Office Home" · workspan Magazine, April 2007
• "Extending Weingarten to the Nonunion Setting: A History of Oscillation" · Cleveland State Law Review; Vol. 49, No. 1, 2002

• "Legal Perspectives", Sino-American Business Summit presented by Miami University, West Chester, Ohio, September 30, 2008
• Panelist, Young Professional Leadership Summit, Union Club's Cleveland Business Leaders, July 2008
• "I-9 Compliance and National Origin Discrimination", Lorman Education Services; Akron, Ohio, June 2007
• "The Do's and Don'ts of Hiring: Selecting the Best Candidate While Avoiding Legal Pitfalls", Thompson Hine's Labor & Employment Law Update Seminar, June 8, 2006
• "Current Status of Immigration Reform and What It Means for Employers", Thompson Hine's Labor & Employment Law Update Seminar, June 8, 2006
• "Protecting Your Company: Are Your Employees AWOL? Dealing With Issues of Employee Leave", Thompson Hine's Spotlight on Women Seminar, April 19, 2005
• Presented "The Fair Labor Standards Act-Understanding the Changes and Avoiding Misapplication" for the 2004 Personnel Law Update sponsored by the Council on Education in Management, Akron, Ohio, April 2004
• Co-Presented with Mark Floyd, "Wage and Hour Compliance Doesn't Have to be Painful", Cleveland, Ohio, June 2003

• Selected as a 2010 Rising Star by Ohio Super Lawyers magazine.
• YWCA Woman of Professional Excellence Award, 2009