Employment

The breadth of services offered by our team is substantial. We assist, counsel, and represent clients on virtually every aspect of law that impacts the workplace. The employment law services we provide include the following: 

• Personnel Policies and Practices: We advise our clients on the need for personnel policies and practices that are required by law, and/or advisable to ensure compliance with the law and reduce legal risk. In many cases, we draft policies, applications, guidelines, employee manuals, and other employment-related documents for our clients. 
• Employment Related Agreements: We advise clients on issues relating to the employment of key personnel, and frequently draft employment and independent contractor agreements, confidentiality, non-solicitation and non-competition agreements, and severance agreements. 
• Wage and Hour Compliance: We advise clients on matters relating to federal and state wage and hour laws, draft policies relating to these laws, and represent clients during state and federal wage and hour law audits and investigations. 
• Affirmative Action Plans: We counsel clients on affirmative action compliance, and draft affirmative action plans and assist clients with required statistical reporting. 
• Occupational Safety and Health: We advise clients with respect to OSHA regulations and standards, assist in the development of employer policies and programs relating to OSHA, and represent clients during investigations by OSHA at employer work premises. 
• Mergers, Acquisitions, Restructurings: We counsel employers on the host of employment-related issues that arise in the context of mergers, acquisitions, and employer restructuring, including compliance with the WARN Act, state plant closing laws, and NLRA issues. 
• Employment Litigation: In those cases where litigation is required, we represent employers in a wide array of employment-related litigation matters. We regularly assist clients in responding to administrative charges at the state and federal level, and regularly represent clients in employment-related lawsuits in state and federal courts. We also represent clients in labor related litigation before the NLRB, OSHA-related litigation, and in mediations, arbitrations, and other forms of alternative dispute resolution proceedings.

Benefits

Our ERISA and employee benefits lawyers provide advice and representation to sponsors and fiduciaries of employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements. Our lawyers advise plan administrators, plan sponsors, including publicly-traded companies, and other plan fiduciaries on all aspects of plan design and continuing compliance with the applicable requirements of ERISA, the tax code, and where applicable, state insurance laws. Our employee benefits group has earned a particularly strong reputation for their work in tax-advantaged deferred compensation programs, which are critical to attracting top level talent. The benefits services we provide include: 

• Counsel Relating to Benefit Plans: We assist clients in maintaining the tax-qualified status of pension, profit-sharing, savings and retirement plans, including 401(k), 403(b), 408 and 457 plans, and provide advice for non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements, including 409A plans. 
• Plan Design: We assist clients in designing and administering stock-based compensation programs. 
• Fiduciary Obligations: We assist clients in meeting fiduciary rules of conduct and the development of “best practices” for fiduciary decision making. 
• Representation Before Agencies: We regularly represent employers in audit and other proceedings before government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service. 
• Reporting and Notice Obligations: We assist clients on meeting reporting and disclosure obligations, including those relating to SARs, SPDs and SMMs. We also assist clients in meeting notice requirements under HIPAA and COBRA. 
• Litigation: We represent plan administrators, plan sponsors and other plan fiduciaries in litigation relating to the administration of benefit plans.