The Firm’s Labor and Employment Practices Group places a special emphasis on keeping pace with rapidly changing employment laws and providing employers with effective representation in this constantly evolving area. Our team understands the challenges faced by employers and work to assess risks and develop cost-effective strategies to bring employment matters to a prompt and satisfactory resolution.
The Firm serves large and small companies as well as sole proprietors and professional organizations in a wide range of industries including organized workforces and those that are non-union. Our team has considerable experience representing employers that have secured employment practices liability insurance, and understand the tripartite relationship among insured employers, insurance carriers and legal counsel as well as the related responsibilities associated with claims management programs. Our team also recognizes that employment disputes often are more appropriately resolved through mediation or arbitration rather than litigation. Our strategy is to promptly provide employers with a litigation risk analysis in order to facilitate an up-front determination as to the appropriateness of alternative dispute resolution procedures.
The Firm’s depth of experience enables us to provide a full range of services from training and risk management to aggressive representation including the following services:
- Employment Litigation and Dispute Resolution: Our employment litigators have a broad range of experience in all aspects of employment litigation including claims of discrimination, harassment, disability accommodation, wage-and-hour violations, retaliation, wrongful termination, and breach of employment contracts.
- Counseling and Advice: Employers must comply with a maze of complex regulatory and legislative requirements, and face costly and time-consuming consequences in the event of non-compliance. Our team provides employers with practical advice on labor and employment issues and integrates legal compliance with human resources best practices to find effective, customized solutions to employment-related concerns. Our team routinely assist employers to identify and comply with the many laws that affect the employment relationship, address work performance problems or attendance issues, respond to requests for accommodations and leaves of absence, deal with employee discipline and discharge issues and develop effective employment policies and procedures. The Firm provides reviews of employee handbooks, audits wage-hour practices, prepares affirmative action plans, develops strategies to deal with reductions-in-force or other corporate restructuring and addresses the myriad other issues that arise in the workplace.
- Labor Issues and Collective Bargaining: Our services include negotiations with unions, strike planning and assisting in the administration of collective bargaining agreements. Our team also represents employers in arbitration hearings and in proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board.
- Training: The Firm provides training for supervisors and managers to facilitate compliance with federal and state employment laws. Customized training programs are prepared to meet the particular needs of our clients. Our training programs help managers and supervisors effectively manage the workforce and stimulate the development of preemptive strategies for reducing and preventing costly litigation. Training topics include sexual harassment, addressing poor performance, discipline and discharge, leaves of absence, proper handling of disability issues, and proper interviewing and hiring practices.