Employment

Stradling's labor and employment practice group provides both expert counseling for employers on how best to manage personnel issues and highly effective representation for the company in employee lawsuits and administrative proceedings.

Counseling is a critical component of the labor and employment practice group because it provides expert guidance to management when they need it the most. Whether by phone, email, or in person, our employment lawyers are always immediately available to provide clear, sensible, and expert advice on any personnel matter, before management takes action.

We guide employers through the recruitment and hiring process, and help draft offer letters, employment contracts, commission and bonus plans, and confidentiality agreements. We educate employers on how to classify and compensate employees under the wage and hour laws, including internal audits that can help eliminate the risk of a class action lawsuit.

We help employers create and implement lawful and sensible personnel policies, including employee handbooks, codes of ethics, and policies on cutting edge issues like immigration compliance and social media in the workplace.

We provide sensible and practical advice for employers on how to handle any difficult employment situation. It could be an employee who has engaged in misconduct or is failing to meet expectations for job performance, or a reduction in force for economic reasons. It could be an employee making a complaint of sexual harassment or employment discrimination against the company, or an employee requesting a leave of absence for medical reasons. It could be an employee demanding to be paid overtime, or accusing the company of workplace safety violations.

In all these cases, our focus is on minimizing the risk of a lawsuit. But when a lawsuit cannot be prevented, we are ready to provide an aggressive and cost-effective defense for the employer in litigation. Our employment counselors are also trial lawyers, with extensive experience in jury and court trials, and every kind of administrative proceeding.

We have an outstanding track record in cases involving sexual harassment and other forms of employment discrimination, wrongful termination of employment, family leave and pregnancy leave, commission and bonus disputes, workplace safety violations, and every type of wage and hour issue, including overtime pay and challenges to exempt status.

By seeing how employment disputes play out in court, we know best how to help employers avoid getting dragged into court in the first place. It is our expertise in litigating employee claims that has enabled us to master the art of employee counseling.