Employment and Workforce Management

Our Employment and Workforce Management group address employment and workplace management issues from a practical business and economical perspective, rather than taking a purely legal approach. We help employers identify and mitigate risk, reduce litigation costs, engage employees, and be competitive in the market. We also help individuals address concerns relating to past, present, or prospective employment.

To achieve these goals, we advise employers and employees in making sound business decisions and judgments by providing these services:

• Audits: For employers, we review agreements, policies, practices, and procedures, either as a preventive internal practice or in response to an agency investigation. For our employee clients, we review and evaluate chronologies and personnel documents to evaluate potential claims and risks.

• Compliance: We develop and implement clear and manageable agreements, policies, practices, and procedures for employers to comply with applicable employment laws without excessive financial burden or disruption of business operations. We also offer training to management and staff on company expectations to comply with legal requirements and management best practices that help create respectful, diverse, and inclusive workplaces. For employees, we similarly review employment agreements and severance packages to ensure compliance with applicable laws.

• Strategy: We provide the tools and legal counsel required to enhance workplace performance and relationships, while minimizing both real and perceived associated risks on both sides of the employment relationship. This includes preparing employment-related contracts such as confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements for employees who have access to sensitive information and non-competition agreements for key employees. We also recommend beneficial compensation structures for executive employees and advise on how and whether to navigate opportunities that may violate restrictive covenants.

• Counsel: We regularly advise employers making difficult employment decisions. Examples include when and how to begin and end employment relationships, how to coach and discipline employees, how to acquire or transfer employees, and how to create management companies to streamline employment practices. For our employee clients, we negotiate employment and severance agreements to reach mutually agreeable resolutions and maximize protections and benefits.

• Respond to Claims: We aggressively defend and/or prosecute workplace disputes. This includes not only handling cases filed within local, state, or federal courts, but also preparing and responding to demand letters and agency charges filed with state departments of civil rights or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. We also assist with responding and attending hearings regarding unemployment benefits. Our employment law attorneys can be persuasive and tenacious advocates in the event of litigation.

Our attorneys—accessible, responsive, and sensitive to client needs—focus on facilitating the growth, sophistication, and manageability of a client’s workforce and promoting harmonious and mutually beneficial employment relationships. By proactively auditing for compliance and with strategic counsel, our clients can reduce litigation and other costs by having engaged employees, being competitive in the market, and mitigating risks.

Our Group’s Expertise:
(Employment and workforce issues and services)

• Administrative charges & proceedings
• Appeals
• Arbitration & alternative dispute resolution
• Audits (e.g., with the U.S. Department of Labor, Michigan Department of Labor, Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency)
• Confidentiality/non-disclosure agreements
• Personnel records
• Disciplinary actions & progressive discipline
• Discrimination
• Employment contracts
• Employment issues in the sale and purchase of a business
• Employment manuals & policies
• Hiring & termination
• Independent contractor/employment classification issues
• Invasion of privacy
• Litigation to assert & defend against claims
• Non-competition agreements
• Non-solicitation agreements
• Outsourcing
• Privacy issues
• Professional employer organizations & management company
• Reductions in workforce
• Trade secrets
• Training for employees & supervisors
• Wage and hour compliance
• Workplace discrimination & harassment
• Workplace investigations
• Trade secrets
• Unemployment benefits
• Unfair competition
• Wrongful discharge

Statutory Expertise:

• Title VII (discrimination, harassment, and retaliation)
• Civil Rights Act of 1991
• Sections 1981–1988 of Title 42 of the United States Code
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act as amended by the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (age discrimination and notice requirements when providing severance agreements)
• Americans with Disabilities Act (disability discrimination & accommodation)
• Fair Labor Standards Act (wage & hour)
• Family and Medical Leave Act (protected leave for employee’s serious health condition & other enumerated reasons)
• Pregnancy Discrimination Act
• Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
• Occupational Safety and Health Act
• Employment Retirement Income Security Act
• Immigration Reform and Control Act
• Fair Labor Standards Act
• Equal Pay Act
• National Labor Relations Act & Labor Management Relations Act,
• Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
• Worker’s Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act
• Executive Order 11246, Executive Order 11141, Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, the Federal Railroad Safety Act, Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act
• Michigan Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act
• Michigan Whistleblowers’ Protection Act
• Michigan Payment of Wages and Fringe Benefits Act
• Michigan Paid Medical Leave Act
• Michigan Employment Relations Commission Act
• Bullard-Plawecki Employee Right to Know Act