Session Description
This session will focus on employer options to track productivity and availability, as well as employee moonlighting. Following the pandemic, employees are choosing to pursue other employment or “gig” economies given the flexibility in hours that sometimes work-from-home provides. We will discuss the legal implications of these topics and recommendations.
Speaker
Blerina Kotori Tonkon Torp
Blerina is a partner in Tonkon Torp’s Labor & Employment Practice Group. For over a decade, she has represented and defended employers in numerous matters, including discrimination, retaliation, FMLA, OFLA, and ADA, wage and hour, harassment, and employment agreements. Blerina also represents employers in agency investigations of civil rights violations and wage and hour compliance—whether for individual complaints or systemic audits. She advises management on countless employment issues, from risk assessment of terminations and complex medical leave situations, to evaluating employee classifications and drafting employment documents.
Blerina further partners with clients in conducting workplace investigations, whether they relate to wage and hour issues or harassment and safety concerns. Her clients range from nonprofit organizations to national companies in a variety of industries, such as healthcare, military defense, and financial services.
Recent accomplishments include trying to a favorable jury verdict non-competition and fiduciary duty claims, trying to favorable judicial ruling trade secret, breach of employment agreement, and non-competition cases, defending wage and hour class actions, and winning summary judgment on defamation and tortious interference claims involving employees.
The Portland Business Journal named Blerina as one of its 2018 Forty Under 40 award recipients, recognizing influential business and community leaders in the greater Portland area who are under 40 years old.
Blerina is a frequent speaker on labor and employment issues, including HIPAA and employment benefits, dealing with mental disorders in the workplace, social media in employment settings, as well as on privacy and electronic discovery issues.
Blerina previously worked at Tonkon Torp as a summer associate. She was the first Tonkon Torp associate to receive the Moe M. Tonkon and Frederick Torp Scholarship. In her free time, Blerina likes to spend time with her family, cook, dance, and travel.
Blerina was born and raised in Albania. She came to the U.S. to pursue her education, graduated from Reed College and Lewis & Clark Law School, and joined the firm in 2007. While a law student, Blerina was selected by the Dean to receive the Moe M. Tonkon and Frederick Torp Scholarship, which encourages the development of young attorneys who demonstrate exceptional aptitude for the law. Blerina is fluent in Albanian and in her free time likes to keep her Italian alive. When she is not practicing law, Blerina dances salsa and tango, and works on completing her Albanian food cookbook.