Mr. Griffaton is a senior attorney in the Vorys Columbus office and a member of the labor and employment and government relations practice groups. He has significant expertise in wage and hour law, employee noncompetition, employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), and legislative affairs.  In his practice he advises a variety of Ohio and national employers on policy development, personnel matters and litigation avoidance and represents them before government agencies and the courts and through alternative dispute resolution.

His notable experience includes:

• Principle architect of Ohio’s new minimum wage law (H.B. 690)
• Conducting sexual harassment, Equal Employment Opportunity and general human resources training
• Defending and advising employers regarding state and federal wage-hour laws, class actions, and collective actions
• Drafting, advising employers regarding, and litigating non-competition agreements

Mr. Griffaton is a member of the Columbus Bar Association.

Mr. Griffaton has given presentations on Ohio’s new minimum wage law to Honda of America suppliers and to the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants.  He has also presented testimony before the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate.

Mr. Griffaton received his J.D. magna cum laude from Case Western Reserve University School of Law where he was the Executive Notes Editor of the Case Western Law Review and was the recipient of the Theodore Sindell Prize for the Best Essay in Tort Law and the American Jurisprudence Award for research and writing.  He received his B.A. magna cum laude from Ohio Wesleyan where he was Phi Beta Kappa.

Publications

• Michael C. Griffaton & William G. Porter, II, “Personnel Records, Pedophiles, and Priests: An Addendum to Discovery in Sexual Abuse Cases,” International Association of Defense Counsel, Privacy Project 35, January 2004
• Michael C. Griffaton & William G. Porter, II, “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Charting a Course for Monitoring the Electronic Workplace and Handling the Information Received,” Defense Counsel Journal, January 2003 (70 Defense Couns. J. 65)
• Michael C. Griffaton & William G. Porter, II, “Using Noncompete Agreements to Protect Legitimate Business Interests,” Defense Counsel Journal, January 2002 (69 Defense Couns. J. 194)
• Michael C. Griffaton & William G. Porter, II, “Identifying and Protecting Employers’ Interests in Trade Secrets and Other Proprietary Information,” Defense Counsel Journal, October 2001 (68 Defense Couns. J. 439)
• Michael C. Griffaton, et.al.,“Analysis of Article 4.3 of the Draft Concept of State Policy in Relation to Trade Unions for the Republic of Belarus,” Central and Eastern European Law Initiative, December 1998
• “State-Level Initiatives and Campus Crime,” Campus Crime: Legal, Social, and Policy Issues, May 1995 
• “Forewarned is Forearmed: The Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990,”  Case Western Reserve Law Review, December 1993 (43 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 525)  

Professional and Community Activities

• Ohio Humanities Council, Board of Trustees; Chair, 2007-present; Treasurer, 2006
• Actors’ Theatre Company, Board of Directors, First Vice President and Secretary, 2002-2005
• Friends of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Board of Trustees, 1998-2004
• Community 21 (Columbus Community Cable Access, Inc.), Board of Trustees, First Vice President, 1997-2002

Honors and Awards

• American Jurisprudence Award in Research and Writing
• Theodore Sindell Award for Best Essay in Tort Law

News

• Griffaton Named Chair of the Ohio Humanities Council