July 16, 2024 

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Eastern

Employment [Service Animals] - Title: IT’S A ZOO HERE!  A practical guide on permitting Service Animals into the Workplace.

 

It is important to accommodate wherever possible any employee with a disability who needs the accommodation of a service animal.  As an employer, you need to understand what a service animal is, what is a reasonable expectation and request from you, and how to blend all of that.  Not always easy, but we have some suggestions.  Join us for the answers!

 

Speaker: Joanie Winters

 

A native of Philadelphia, Joanie Winters attended Temple University (Magna Cum Laude), is a graduate of Rosemont College (Magna Cum Laude) and the University of South Carolina School of Law, where she received the CALI award for Public Officials and the Law for the highest GPA.  Ms. Winters is an attorney with Winters Law Firm which limits its practice to representing employers of all sizes and industries in matters of labor and employment for clients across the State.  Ms. Winters’ practice includes the representation of both public, non-profit and private sector entities, and she serves as the County Attorney for several counties.  Prior to attending law school, Ms. Winters worked in private industry as the Director of Human Resources for a nine hundred-employee site development company.  She is a Supreme Court certified Civil and Family Court Mediator, a member of the South Carolina Bar Dispute Resolution Committee for the Sixth Judicial Circuit, the SC Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section and the Government Law Section, the American Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section, the Chester & York County Bar Associations, and the Society for Human Resource Management.  Ms. Winters is also the current past President of the S.C. Association of County Attorneys. 

 

Ms. Winters serves as a member of the SBDC Advisory Executive Board, for the Executive Board of the Workforce Initiative Act Board for Catawba Regional Council of Government as well as the steering committee for S.C. Association of Counties Government and Intergovernmental Relations.   Ms. Winters is an associate professor at Winthrop University.  Ms. Winters was honored in 2008 with the prestigious Human Resource Professional of the Year award by the York County Chamber of Commerce and the Society for Human Resource Management, and in 2012 was presented with the “Making an Impact – Elite Mentor” award by Women with Know How, an e-magazine for professional women.  In February 2013, she was given the Small Business Achievers Award by the York County Chamber of Commerce, in 2015 received the Friend of the Chamber Award by the Union County Chamber of Commerce, and in 2017 was named Small Business of the Year by the York County Chamber of Commerce. In 2021, Ms. Winters was honored with the Duke Energy Citizenship and Service Award.  

 

Ms. Winters has lived in Chester, South Carolina since 1996, and has been married to her husband Gregory for 48 years.  They have two sons, Jeremy, a Colonel with the U.S. Marine Corps and Christopher, the Chief Operating Officer for an international development company.  She has been blessed with five grandchildren.