Areas Of Emphasis

In the employment area, Bill represents both public and private employers. Bill’s employment law experience includes:

• The defense of employment discrimination claims filed with the EEOC and state and local employment/civil rights agencies and the litigation of such claims.
  
  
• Successful defense of union grievances and arbitrations on public labor disputes and fact finding.
  
  
• Advising employers in connection with their obligations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and Ohio Rev. Code Chapter 4112.
  
  
• Successfully defending employers against charges of discrimination on the basis of race/color, age, sex/sexual harassment and/or disability.
  
  
• Successfully defending employers against charges of wrongful discharge.
  
  
• The defense of public employers in Section 1983 and civil rights litigation.
  
  
• Day to day employment law advice and counseling to both public and private employers.
  
  
• The representation of school guidance counselors in ancillary proceedings and issues, including statutory testimonial privilege issues.
  
  
• Assisting employers in the design, implementation, administration and enforcement of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and/or arbitration programs covering claims by employees arising out of the employment relationship.

Bill’s public law practice involves all types of municipal legal issues and litigation. His representation of public entities, in addition to public sector labor and employment work, includes:

• Assisting municipalities with the development and administration of comprehensive Public Right-of-Way (PROW) ordinances, including recovery of costs of managing PROW.
  
  
• General public entity litigation including tort litigation, zoning/land use issues and civil rights litigation, including substantial experience with R.C. Chapter 2506 administrative appeals and R.C. Chapter 2744 immunities and defenses.
  
  
• Advising public bodies regarding public records and open meetings issues.
  
  
• Representing municipalities and townships and other cable franchising authorities in cable television franchise renewals, transfers and enforcement efforts, and negotiation with most of the major cable television operators.
  
  
• Assisting a number of franchising authorities to develop and enforce effective cable television customer service standards.

Presentations

• "Public Labor and Employment Update," Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association Civil Law Institute, Dublin, Ohio, July 30, 2010

• "Employment Retaliation for Municipalities," Ohio Municipal League / Mayors Association of Ohio Conference, June 24, 2010

• "When Revenge Is Not So Sweet: Developments in the Law of Employment Retaliation," Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association, May 21, 2010

• "Employment Law Update: What You Need to Know for 2010," Holiday Inn Cleveland West, April 16, 2010

• "Public Labor and Employment Law: What's New and What's Coming," Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association, Cleveland, Ohio, May 1, 2009

• "Public Labor and Employment Law: What's New and What's Coming," Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association, Columbus, Ohio, March 13, 2009

• "Change is Coming! How Will Employment Laws Be Affected?," Marriott Cleveland East, January 7, 2009

• Employment & Labor Seminar on "Managing Employee Leaves of Absence," Marriott Cleveland East, September 23, 2008
  

• "Responding to Frequently Asked Questions in Employment Law", Marriott, Cleveland East, June 17, 2008
  
  
• “Recent Developments in Ohio Telecom Policy,” Ohio Chapter of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisers, May 2, 2008 (Cincinnati, OH)
  
  
• “Public Policy Update: The Meteor and the Dinosaur (Federal, State and FCC Update),” Spring 2008 Central States Conference of the Alliance for Community Media, May 1, 2008 (Cincinnati, OH)
  
  
• “State and Federal Case Law Update,” Cuyahoga County Law Directors Association/Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association 2008 Annual Presidents’ Day Municipal Law Seminar, February 14, 2008 (Cleveland, OH)
  
  
• “Public Right of Way Regulation and Telecom Update,” 2007 Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association Annual Municipal Civil Law Institute, July 26, 2007 (Columbus, OH)
  
  
• “Telecommunications: What’s Ahead in Ohio?” Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association Spring 2007 Municipal Civil Law Seminar, March 23, 2007 (panel participant) (Dublin, OH)
  
  
• “Public Right of Way Regulation and Telecom Update,” Cuyahoga County Law Directors Association/Cleveland Bar Association 2007 Annual Presidents’ Day Municipal Law Seminar, February 15, 2007 (Cleveland, OH)
  
  
• “Employee Rights/Employer Wrongs: The Decision to Terminate, Termination, and Afterwards,” United States EEOC Technical Assistance Program Seminar, December 6, 2006 (Cleveland, OH)
  
  
• “Cable Franchise Renewals and Transfers, and What Happens When They Overlap”, Annual Conference Of The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, August 22, 2006, (Orlando, FL)
  
  
• “Video Competition & Preserving Municipal Authority: The Entry of Telcos into the Video Services Market,” June 8, 2006
  
  
• “Telecommunications and the Congress,” Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association Seminar, May 12, 2006
  
  
• “USERRA and Military Leave,” Ohio Municipal League, October 6, 2005
  
  
• “USERRA and Military Leave,” Ohio Municipal Attorneys Association Seminar, May 13, 2005
  
  
• “Current Issues in Telecommunications Affecting Ohio Municipalities and Right-of-Way Regulation”, co-presented with John H. Gibbon for the Ohio Municipal Attorney Association, May 13, 2005 Seminar
  

Professional & Community Associations

• Ohio State Bar Association
• Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
• Cleveland Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)
• Cuyahoga County Law Directors Association
• National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) and its Ohio Chapter

Education

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 1997
Miami University, Ohio, B.A., 1988

Licensed to Practice

• Ohio
• Federal district and appellate courts

Articles by William R. Hanna July 2010 - TLNT, "ENDA is Coming - and Employers Need to Start Thinking About it Now" January 2010 - "Gender-Specific Vulgarities Sufficient To Establish A Claim For Sexual Harassment Even If The Comments Are Not Directed At Plaintiff" September/October 2008 – "Update: New Legal Developments Affect Employers with Employees In The Military." This article was reproduced with permission of Cities & Villages--The Journal of the Ohio Municipal League (Vol. 56, No. 5; September/October 2008) August 2006 – Client Briefing on Employment Law: Supreme Court announces expansive new standard for evaluating Title VII retaliation claims - EEOC issues new EEO-I report for use in 2007; Employers should use "old" form for 2006 May/June 2006 – " Municipal Cable Franchise Authority Threatened As Telephone Giants Prepare to Enter Cable Television Business". This article was published in the May/June 2006 issue of "Cities and Villages, The Journal of the Ohio Municipal League" Publication and reproduced with their permission. January 2006 – Client Alert on Employment Law: Department of Labor Issues Regulations Addressing USERRA Rights and Responsibilities Winter 2004-2005 – Client Briefing on Cable & Telecommunications Law: Recent Developments May/June 2005 – USERRA and Military Leave (Reproduced with the permission of Cities and Villages, The Journal of the Ohio Municipal League" Publication) April 2005 – Client Briefing on Cable & Telecommunications Law: Adelphia agrees to be purchased by Time Warner & Comcast Winter 2004 – CALEA and Law Enforcement Surveillance in the Era of Homeland Security: What Does The IP-Enabled Future Hold? as published in the Winter 2004 issue of NATOA, Journal of Municipal Telecommunications Policy publication. September/October 2004 – The FCC Considers Regulations of New Communications Services - Implications for Municipalities as published in the September / October 2004 issue of the Municipal Lawyer publication. (Reproduced with the permission of the International Municipal Lawyers Association, 1110 Vermont Avenue NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005) Fall 2004 – Client Briefing on Cable & Telecommunications Law: Recent Developments Spring 2004 – Client Briefing on Cable & Telecommunications Law: Recent Developments Fall 2003 – Recent Developments in Cable & Telecommunications Law April 2003 – Re: The Electronic Government Services Act (H.B. No. 95) April 2002 – Cable Television Rates Increasing Faster Than The Rate Of Inflation March 2002 – Cable Franchise Fees May Be Decreased Due To FCC Ruling January/February 2002 – Recent Federal Communications Commission Decision (Reproduced with the permission of Cities and Villages, The Journal of the Ohio Municipal League) November 2001 – Client Briefing on Employment Law: Uniformed Services and Re-Employment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA)

Areas of Practice

Labor and Employment
Litigation Services
Public Law
Municipal Law