Patricia J. Craft, J.D. - Senior Consultant
Pat is a Human Resource Management Consultant with Mark Knuckles Associates, Inc., She has been with the firm since 1997. She is also a practicing attorney who has handled and litigated employment and labor law related matters exclusively since 1980. Pat has prepared hundreds of responses to the U.S. Department of Labor on behalf of our clients. She travels across the United States for MKAI, providing public and client in house training and litigation risk audits.

She is a former Trial Attorney and Senior Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor. She was lead counsel on highly publicized, precedent setting cases, bringing actions against employers violating laws governing minimum wages and overtime, child labor, government contracts, migrant farm workers, and employment discrimination. She taught investigation and litigation techniques to U.S. Department of Labor investigators and attorneys.

Pat graduated magna cum laud, special honors, Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Georgia, where she also received her law degree. In 1977 she became the first female Assistant District Attorney and later Chief District Attorney in Georgia north of the Atlanta Area. She specialized in prosecuting sexual, abuse and abandonment crimes involving women and children victims. During her law career Pat has been awarded the highest rating by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers in America. She has served as presenter in Continuing Legal Education programs for Georgia lawyers.

Oran Clemons - Wage Hour Consultant - FLSA Specialist - Expert Witness

Oran Clemons retired from the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage Hour Division in 1996 after 28 years enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA. His career with the Wage Hour Division included Oklahoma City and Las Cruces, New Mexico, with other temporary assignments for special detail work.

Oran investigated employers for the Wage Hour Division - retail establishments, manufacturing, warehousing, agricultural operations, and work activity centers and sheltered workshops paying commensurate wages. Investigations included compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA, Family & Medical Leave Act, FMLA, Child Labor Law, government contract wage laws including the Service Contract Act, SCA, PCA, and Davis Bacon. Oran received “outstanding” performance ratings for his investigation work and received special achievement awards for significant case work, including the Division’s first Special Productivity Award in December 1987.

Since 1996, Oran has provided consultation and expert witness services to both employers and their legal counsel. He is experienced with litigation issues from both the plaintiff’s and respondent’s perspective with experience on both sides in litigation cases in private and public sector employment.

Oran is particularly skilled in the Part 541 “white collar” salaried exemption status determinations, Part 553 public agency employment including Section 7k issues and comp time, Section 14c commensurate wage issues, Family and Medical Leave Act compliance, government contract compliance, including general FLSA compliance. With 28 years of enforcement experience, Oran knows the FLSA and FMLA and Wage Hour Division enforcement. Oran became an associate of MKAI in May of 2003.

Penelope ‘Penny’ Church - HR Consultant, Affirmative Action Plan Specialist

Penny has been in Human Resource management since 1981. In October 2002 she joined Mark Knuckles Associates, Inc.

Previously she was with Corning Cable Systems in Texas and North Carolina and has managed recruiting, staffing, organizational development, compensation, benefits, payroll administration, EEO
affirmative action development and reporting, Worker’s Compensation, supervisory training, problem employee management -- corporate level and plant environment. Penny is particularly skilled in affirmative action plan development, reviews and maintenance, interviewing and hiring skills, policy development, workers’ compensation management issues, compensation analysis, supervisory skills training, equal employment opportunity issues and EEO-1 and similar reporting.

She graduated with honors from Oklahoma City University with a BA in Education and earned her Masters of Arts in Education from Purdue. She is a member of the Charlotte, NC Chapter of the Employment Management Association, former member of the Dallas-Ft. Worth Society of Human Resource Managers and is active in community organizations such as the Salvation Army and home owners’ association.

Deane Schubert - HR & HIPAA Consultant, HealthCare Management Specialist

A career healthcare management professional with more than 35 years managing hospitals, multi-specialty clinics, skilled care facilities, rehabilitation units, residential units, group homes, ICF-MR facilities, and work activity centers for persons with disabilities.

Deane was Former Vice President for Ethics and Compliance and Human Resources of a multi-state, multi-unit organization with more than 1800 employees. He also chaired the organization’s HIPAA privacy rule compliance task force and was the HIPAA Privacy Officer.
 

Prior to that Deane completed a distinguished service career as a US Naval Officer.  He retired as a Navy Captain, serving his final tour of duty as Corporate Director of Medical Plans and Operations at the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, DC

Deane’s credentials include a Master of Science, Health Systems Management, from Ohio State University and a BS from the University of Florida. He is a Diplomat (emeritus) with the American College of Healthcare Executives.

He resides in Flat Rock, NC (near Hendersonville) with Barbara, his wife of 44 years. He has two sons, Joel, a firefighter in Atlanta, and Michael with Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore.

In addition to being a management trainer, and former Ethics Officer certified by the Health Ethics Trust, he teaches motorcycle safety and owns a Harley Davidson motorcycle. His experience in industry and education makes him uniquely qualified with HR issues, including ethics, compliance and HIPAA privacy for the human services industry.

Emeritus - John Kahle -Consultant

John Kahle is retired from the U.S. Department of Labor where he was the Executive assistant to the Regional Administrator for the Employment Standards Administration, USDOL, Atlanta, Georgia. He was responsible for overseeing USDOL programs, including the Wage and Hour Division and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. He represented the USDOL region on national Committees on enforcement positions and interpretations and also conducted USDOL internal investigations concerning employee misconduct, racial and sexual harassment, misappropriation; and the ESA annual regional budget.

John has received special achievement awards for significant accomplishment in investigative work and back wage collection.

John Kahle specializes in Fair Labor Standards Act applications, government contract wage payment laws, child labor regulations, and Part 525 Commensurate Wage law.