Employers face unprecedented exposure to workplace regulations and legal entanglement with employees. Our Labor & Employment practice group is anchored by experienced attorneys who have guided employers, from start-up businesses to Fortune 500 companies, regionally and nationally, in labor and employment matters.
Our Labor & Employment practice group represents a diverse clientele ranging from small businesses to large privately and publicly held corporations. We have extensive experience in virtually every employment sector, including healthcare, telecommunications, light and heavy manufacturing, printing, radio and television, public utilities, municipalities, governmental entities, construction, trucking, sales, and hospitality.
Our group’s extensive knowledge base of employment and labor matters ensures consistently high-quality advice and representation. Years of experience gained through successful representation of long-standing corporate clients have given our labor and employment attorneys the well-earned reputation for pragmatism, responsiveness and client-oriented results.
We have successfully defended discrimination and other employment litigation matters for Fortune 500 and other leading global companies. Our Labor & Employment attorneys have won cases at the summary judgment and trial stage, and successfully taken cases on appeal in U.S. Courts of Appeal across the country, and before the U.S. Supreme Court. Our employment attorneys received special national recognition by The National Law Journal with a "Top Defense Win" in 2000. In choosing our victory as part of the nation's most notable defense verdicts, The National Law Journal investigated dozens of verdicts across the nation to select cases that show the "art of defense work at its best." While multi-million dollar verdicts generally get substantial publicity, The National Law Journal noted that "the lawyering involved in thwarting efforts to recover substantial judgments is often equal to the level of ability, exertion and creativity shown by the plaintiffs attorneys who win the big ones."
Success in the courtroom has also translated into success in arbitration and mediation. Our Labor & Employment team includes attorneys who have earned national reputations for effective design and application of Alternative Dispute Resolution. They have established dispute resolution structures for employers that serve as the procedural frameworks for advocacy and case resolution.
Our Labor & Employment attorneys are extensively involved in proactively counseling and assisting clients to implement mechanisms to effectively manage people and business and avoid litigation or similar adversarial situations. Such assistance includes designing policies and procedures aimed at effective compliance in the areas of employee responsibility, behavior and discipline. Our Labor & Employment attorneys also conduct employee education and training for human resources professionals, managers and employees in the areas of harassment prevention, employee relations, hiring, firing, workplace violence, employee leave and FMLA and ADA issues.
For our traditional labor clients, we provide strategy and support for the preparation and administration of the collective bargaining process. We have successfully guided leading companies in traditional labor arbitrations, negotiations, defense of NLRB allegations, strike preparation and union prevention campaigns.
Based on the business diversity of our clients, our labor and employment representations are equally diverse, including the following:
Litigation
- Nationwide defense of all types of employment discrimination litigation, including claims under Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, USERRA, ERISA, and similar state laws
- Defense of Wage and Hour claims, including overtime and misclassification lawsuits
- Internal company investigations of harassment, theft or fraud
- Class action and collective action litigation
- Non-competition and non-solicitation agreement enforcement and defense
- Nationwide defense of OSHA and MSHA citations
Preventative/Counseling
- Wage and Hour audits
- Compliance audits to eliminate potentially unlawful conduct and evaluation of the strength of company internal policies/procedures
- Corporate governance issues, including rights and responsibilities of directors, shareholders and officers of both public and private corporations
- Employee benefits issues, including plan design, administration, tax qualification and ERISA compliance, and executive compensation plans
- OSHA/MSHA safety audits
- OFCCP Affirmative Action program design and audits
- Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9) investigations and audits
Traditional Labor
- Labor negotiations, strikes and arbitrations
- Collective bargaining negotiations and contract administration
- Managing strikes and boycotts and related litigation
- Resisting union organizing campaigns
- Representing management in proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board and other administrative and regulatory agencies.