My job as general counsel at Emery Oleochemicals became much more complicated in early March when our senior HR manager left Emery for another job. I temporarily assumed those responsibilities while I oversaw a search for a replacement. While I had been somewhat involved in the HR process, advising on employment law, benefits, and other legal matters, running an HR department, even on a temporary basis, was a completely different challenge for me (did I mention that I am the only attorney in our legal department?). Luckily, we had two experienced HR managers on staff who had been at Emery for over 15 years who would help tremendously during this transitional time.
When Ohio’s COVID-19 Stay at Home order went into effect, we put the search on hold, and I assumed the lead of our HR department until we can return our production facility and office to something approaching normal. Taking over these responsibilities at any other time would have been difficult, but taking over the HR responsibilities in the midst of a pandemic and with almost daily updates to federal stimulus laws and public health regulations to protect our employees, made it quite challenging indeed. At the same time, I was learning to work from home for the first time in my legal career.
