Labor and Employment

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Labor and Employment

Labor and employment law touches every hire, policy, and termination, and we counsel employers on day-to-day compliance and high-stakes disputes so your workplace stays lawful, your handbook holds up, and your people decisions do not become lawsuits.

Employment law shows up in every offer letter, policy, and hard conversation, and the rules shift constantly across federal, state, and local lines. We counsel employers on the full arc of labor and employment issues, from the routine compliance question that comes up on a Tuesday to the bet-the-company case in front of a jury, so your workplace runs on solid legal footing instead of guesswork.

Preventive Counseling

The cheapest dispute is the one that never starts. We advise employers on compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and help you put usable policies, handbooks, and manager training in place. We review classification, wage and hour practices, leave administration, and accommodation processes before they become exposure, aligning what your business needs with what the law requires so good intentions do not turn into liability.

Hiring, Discipline, And Separation

The riskiest moments in the employment relationship are the beginning and the end. We guide employers through offers, background and reference practices, performance management, discipline, and terminations, including reductions in force. We help you document decisions cleanly, navigate severance and release agreements, and manage restrictive covenants, so a layoff or a firing does not hand a former employee a discrimination or retaliation claim.

Disputes And Litigation

When a claim lands anyway, you want counsel who already knows your business. We defend employers in agency charges and litigation involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour, and wrongful termination, before the EEOC, state agencies, and the courts. We handle investigations and arbitration as well, and we are at home with technical and software workforces where trade secret and noncompete questions sit right next to the employment claim.

Frequently asked questions

That depends on where you operate, your industry, how many employees you have, and whether your workers are employees or independent contractors. Federal laws like the FLSA, Title VII, the ADA, and the FMLA set the floor, and state and local laws often add requirements on top. The right answer is specific to your headcount and locations.

Keep your policies and handbook current and compliant, train your managers regularly, and document personnel decisions consistently. When a complaint comes in, investigate it properly, and have counsel review termination decisions before you act. Most claims are easier to prevent than to defend.

Classification turns on how much control you have over the work, how economically dependent the worker is on you, and other factors under the applicable federal and state tests. Getting it wrong is costly: misclassification can leave you owing back taxes, benefits, overtime, and penalties.

Bring in counsel before significant decisions like executive hires, separations, or layoffs, and any time you're facing an agency complaint or lawsuit. It's also worth it when you're writing or updating policies, or when a new legal requirement takes effect. Early advice usually costs less than fixing a problem after the fact.

At a minimum: an at-will employment statement, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, leave policies, wage and hour practices, disciplinary procedures, and technology use guidelines. Review it on a regular basis, since the laws it has to track keep changing.

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