The Employment Legal Line Service provides participating members with telephone access to attorneys at the labor and employment law firm of Kainen, Escalera & McHale, P.C. who are available to answer personnel and employee relations questions. There is one primary and several backup contact persons within the firm, each of whom is an employment law attorney and is responsible for fielding phone calls from members. All attorneys of the firm who provide advice through the service function under the direction of Patrick J. McHale of Kainen, Escalera & McHale, P.C., who has been responsible for advising Legal Line subscribers previously.

Employment attorneys are available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. to speak with Legal Line Service participants. As in the past, we expect telephone response time to be less than twenty-four hours for non-emergency calls. If an immediate response is required, arrangements will be made to fulfill a member’s needs as promptly as possible.

The guidelines for the number and length of calls will depend on the nature of the call. Generally, the Legal Line Service is intended to provide members with a quick response to discreet and relatively straight forward questions. Questions which require an analysis of corporate documents or legal research are beyond the scope of this service. As a rule of thumb, participating members are requested to limit themselves to approximately fifteen calls per year. A sample list of Employment Legal Line topics has been included in this bulletin (see Attachment A). Please note that this is only a guideline to assist members in understanding the scope of services offered. If a situation arises that is not within the scope of the Employment Legal Line Service, Kainen, Escalera & McHale attorneys will notify participants of their options at that time.

Legal Line members will also receive Kainen, Escalera & McHale’s employment law newsletter, which is issued quarterly. Bulletins on issues of special importance to members also will be provided as part of this service, on an as needed basis.

KAINEN, ESCALERA & MCHALE
Kainen, Escalera & McHale is a law firm that focuses its practice on labor and employment law and litigation. Although the firm was founded in the new millennium, the firm’s attorneys have a century of experience in these areas of the law. The lawyers at Kainen, Escalera & McHale provide counseling and preventive services as well as litigation in the state and federal courts and before administrative and arbitration agencies. They frequently speak and write on employment issues at programs and in publications produced by professional and business organizations in Connecticut. The lawyers at Kainen, Escalera & McHale are familiar with federal requirements in labor and employment matters, as well as the latest legislative, administrative and judicial developments at the State level.

FEE
Although CBA handles the business aspects of the Employment Legal Line Service, Kainen, Escalera & McHale act as counsel in responding to questions. All communications between Kainen, Escalera & McHale and participating members are confidential and protected by the attorney-client privilege.

The Employment Legal Line Service is available to CBA members at an annual rate of $480.00 and to non-member banks for $720.00. The monthly cost of this valuable service equates to $40.00 and $60.00, respectively. Participants will be billed by CBA.

REGISTRATION
We encourage you to consider participating in the Employment Legal Line Service. Based on the experience of others who have participated in the service previously, we are certain that you will not find such a valuable service elsewhere at such a cost-effective rate. Please complete the registration form to indicate your willingness to participate in this cost effective and informative service. Replies should be made to the Association office (please note that banks may join this service at any time during the year for a pro-rated fee.

Once your registration form has been received by the CBA, a letter of explanation will be sent to you from Patrick J. McHale, Esq. describing the Legal Line Service in more detail.

Click here for an Employment Legal Line Sign-up Form