REPRESENTING EMPLOYEES
Negotiated Resignations & Workouts – Our office represents clients in negotiating resignation packages with their employers. We evaluate the relevant circumstances and potential legal issues and advise our clients on their options. We sometimes negotiate directly on their behalf and other times act purely in an advisory or ghost role.
Review and Negotiation of Severance or Separation Packages – Our office represents clients who are offered severance or separation agreements. We advise our clients about the terms of the offered agreement, including whether its terms are standard, governed by any applicable severance plan and whether, based on the circumstances and any potential claims, those terms may be negotiable. We arm our clients with the information they need to negotiate on their own behalf as well as when appropriate negotiate on their behalf.
Contract Disputes – Our office represents clients who believe one or more of their employment-related contracts was breached. We analyze the relevant documents, evaluate the circumstances and offer our advice on how best to proceed to obtain the desired end either through a negotiated resolution or taking legal action on their behalf.
Discrimination – Our office represents clients who believe their employer discriminated against them due to gender, race, age, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, or military status. Our office evaluates the circumstances and applicable law and assists our clients in resolving their issues with their employers and, when appropriate, bring claims on their behalf before the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") or their state's human rights agency.
Employment Related Torts - Our office represents clients who have employment related claims sounding in tort, such as defamation, fraud, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, which are typically brought under state law. These include:
Fraud in the Inducement – Our office represents clients who have been recruited through promises that the employer knows are false. This issue is particularly relevant to highly compensated employees, who often leave lucrative, long-term employment and relocate on the basis of these promises. We assist our clients in determining if they have a claim and when appropriate taking legal action on their behalf.
Defamation – Our office represents clients who have been defamed. This may arise when our client's former employer provides false and damaging information to potential employers. We advise our clients on whether the statement rises to the level of defamatory conduct under the relevant state law and, if so, whether defenses may apply. We typically bring a defamation claim on behalf of our clients in conjunction with other employment-related claims.
Battery – Our office represents clients who have been physically harmed. Battery occurs when an individual subjects another individual to unwanted physical contact. In the employment context, this may arise in the context of sexual harassment, such as when a supervisor engages in unwanted sexual touching of an employee, or in the context of a supervisor physically restraining or striking an employee. We advise our clients on their legal options and when appropriate take legal action on their behalf.
Intentional or Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress – Our office represents clients who have suffered severe emotional distress due to extreme or outrageous conduct. This typically arises when a vulnerable employee is subject to continued abuse in the workplace. We advise our clients on whether that conduct rises to the level of an actionable claim and what course of action to take, including when appropriate bringing legal action on their behalf.
Tortious Interference with an Employment Relationship – Our office represents clients whose employment relationship has been damaged by a third party's deliberate interference. For example, a co worker may maliciously bring false accusations against an employee with the intent of getting that employee fired. We advise our clients on whether they have a claim and what course of action to take, including when appropriate bringing legal action on their behalf.
Tortious Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage – Our office represents clients when a third party interferes with their getting a job or another business opportunity. This may arise when a former employer says something to a prospective employer that results in the loss of a job offer. We advise our clients on whether they can amass the proof necessary to bring such a claim and when appropriate bring legal action on their behalf.
False Imprisonment – Our office represents clients who are illegally confined against their will. In the employment context, this may occur when an employer who suspects an employee of theft interrogates the employee in a locked room for an extended period of time. We advise our clients on whether a violation has occurred and what course of action to take, including when appropriate bringing legal action on their behalf.
Gender Violence Act – Our office represents clients who have experienced unwanted, gender-based touching or the threat of unwanted touching, as well as unwanted sexual activity. We advise our clients on whether, in addition to any sexual harassment and battery claims, they may have claims under the Gender Violence Act, which could provide additional remedies.
Civil Rights Litigation – Our office represents clients who have experienced discrimination or civil rights violations outside of the workplace environment, such as in retail stores. These matters include public accommodations, fair housing, police misconduct, and other issues relating to an individual's protected class. We take steps to stem any ongoing issues, advise our clients on their rights and, when necessary, take legal action on their behalf.
Worker's Compensation Claims – Our office represents clients related to their worker's compensation claims in association with trusted law firms.
Personal Injury Claims – Our office represents clients in personal injury matters in association with trusted law firms.
Wage Payment Statutes – Our office represents clients who have not been paid their promised compensation. Illinois, New York, California and many other states have laws that mandate employers promptly pay an employee his or her promised wages, which may include promised bonuses, vacation pay, commissions and severance payments. We advise our clients on their rights and the options available to them under the relevant statutes, including when appropriate taking legal action on their behalf.
Unpaid Commissions – Our office represents clients working under a commission structure who were not paid their proper compensation. Specific statutes govern the payment of sales commissions and the conditions under which they may be recovered. Our office works with our clients to determine if their compensation structure is subject to these statutes and how to recover these payments, including when appropriate through legal action.
Retaliation – Our office represents clients who believe they were retaliated against as a result of complaining about discrimination or for engaging in some other type of protected activity. We advise our clients on what might constitute retaliation and take all appropriate action on their behalf, including when appropriate taking legal action on their behalf.
Whistleblower Actions – Our office represents clients who report their employers for engaging in behavior they believe is illegal or unethical and, as a consequence suffer retaliation. Examples of employee complaints that may carry legal protection include complaints about Medicaid or Medicare fraud, workplace safety, shareholder fraud or other financial wrongdoing and criminal conduct. Employees who uncover fraud – for example fraudulent Medicaid or Medicare practices – may be entitled to a percentage of any recovery made in litigation through a what is called a qui tam action. We advise our clients on their rights, object to any retaliatory conduct on their behalf and take any appropriate legal action on their behalf either in an individual lawsuit or through a qui tam action.
Sexual Harassment – Our office represents clients who have been sexually harassed, which may take the form of workplace conduct that is lewd or offensive and also encompasses situations in which a supervisor conditions favorable treatment, such as a raise or a promotion, on the employee's submission to sexual activity.
Harassment on the Basis of Race, Age, Disability, Religion, Sexual Orientation or Other Protected Status – Our office represents clients who have been harassed due to their minority status. Employers have an obligation to keep the workplace free of harassment on the basis of race, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or on the basis of any other protected minority status. We advise our clients on their rights, strategies for resolving their issues internally and, when appropriate, taken legal action on their behalf.
Non Compete and Non Solicitation Agreements – Our office represents clients who seek advice about a non-compete or non-solicitation agreement. At the beginning of the employment relationship, employers commonly request employees to sign non compete or non solicitation agreements. These agreements are designed to restrict the employee's activities, and often job prospects, after the employment relationship ends. We advise our clients in understanding these agreements and, when appropriate, negotiating their terms. We also advise our clients threatened with a lawsuit under one of these agreements about their validity and the costs and benefits of litigating their validity, enforceability and scope. We work with our clients in attempting to resolve any issues and, when appropriate, litigating on their behalf.
Family and Medical Leave Claims – Our office represents clients who were not provided time off due to a family tragedy. The Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") grants eligible employees up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave per year due to a serious health issue of theirs or of an immediate family member, or for the birth or adoption of a child. To be eligible, an employee must have worked at least 1,250 hours during the previous year and work for an employer that employs at least 50 employees within 75 miles of the employee's worksite.
Under the FMLA, the employer must reinstate the employee to his or her previous position or to an equivalent position upon the employee's return from leave. The employer must maintain the employee's health insurance while on leave and cannot require the employee to re qualify for benefits upon his or her return from leave.
The FMLA also prohibits an employer from interfering with an employee's right to take FMLA leave, such as wrongfully denying a leave request, failing to reinstate the employee upon his or her return from leave, or stopping an employee's benefits while he or she is on leave. It is also illegal for an employer to retaliate by demoting or firing the employee, for example because he or she has taken FMLA leave or because he or she has exercised other rights under the law.
We assist our clients in determining whether they were eligible for leave, whether their employer followed the proper procedures and whether they have any claim based on how they were treated when returning from FMLA leave. We advise our clients on whether they have claims and how best to proceed in pursuing those claims including, when appropriate, taking legal action on their behalf.
Fair Labor Standards Act and Minimum Wage Claims – Our office represents clients who were denied a minimum wage and overtime. The Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") and various state statutes mandate time and one half the employee's regular hourly rate ("overtime") for all hours worked above forty in one work week. The FLSA and various state statutes also prohibit retaliation for complaining about potential minimum wage violations or overtime. Our office works with our clients to determine whether they are covered by FLSA and other relevant statutes and if they have cognizable claims. We then work with our clients to determine what course of action to take, including when appropriate taking legal action on their behalf.
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") Arbitrations – Our office represents clients in the financial services industry who are required to bring their employment claims through a FINRA arbitration. Many employees who work in the financial industry, such as financial analysts or investment advisors, are legally required to be members of FINRA. In most cases, an employee's FINRA membership dictates that all disputes with his or her employer – other than statutory discrimination claims - be resolved through a special FINRA arbitration procedure. If that is true, such employees may be prohibited from filing their employment cases in court. Our office represents clients who wish to bring employment claims against their employer or former employer before FINRA as well as clients whose employers bring claims against them, for example due to money allegedly owed under a retention bonus structured through a promissory note.