Engel to Speak at OSBA Public Sector Labor Law Seminar

Engel and Martin partner Joshua Engel will be speaking at the 2017 Ohio State Bar Association Public Sector Labor Law Seminar on Friday, June 23, 2017 in Columbus.

Engel will be part of a panel titled, “Perspectives on Employees Charged with Crimes.”  The issues to be addressed by the panel include:

Employees’ Garrity rights, the just cause standard for discipline, complications for employers due to pending criminal charges, advising an employee charged with a criminal offense, negotiating a resolution with employer and/or prosecutor.

Engel will be addressing Garrity issues in prosecution, with an emphasis on the particular issues presented but he prosecution of police officers.  The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, states that no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.”   In Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493, (1967), the United States Supreme Court determined that the state cannot use for criminal purposes statements that were taken from employees during an internal investigation after the employee was assured that if he refused to answer the questions, he would be subject to discipline, including the possible loss of a job. Once employees received such assurances, the Supreme Court held, “the choice imposed on [employees is] one between self-incrimination or job forfeiture,” and such statements are therefore coerced.  Id. at 495.

A brochure and registration information can be found on the OSBA website:  https://downloads.ohiobar.org/CLE/2017/17-308.pdf