One of the most critical missteps of many organizations is not to have a firm business approach and overall focus on human capital. Employment counseling is key in avoiding costly employment litigation in the future.

Our employment attorneys counsel clients about affirmative action, wage and hour law and occupational safety and health issues. We help our clients develop personnel policies and practices that foster strong employee relations, protect critical assets, meet the business staffing needs and comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws. The Kilpatrick Townsend employment team is proactive in assessing and mitigating litigation risks, developing plans to address those risks and training human resource professionals and managers.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Our attorneys develop personnel policies and practices that foster strong employee relations, meet the staffing needs of your business and comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws. A staple of our employment law practice is counseling clients about ways to decrease their exposure to charges of employment discrimination through good employee relations practices and by periodically reviewing and updating the contents of employee handbooks, applications and work rules. We can assist in developing and updating policies on subjects as diverse as sexual harassment, the Family and Medical Leave Act, USERRA and the treatment of employees with disabilities

Affirmative Action and OFCCP Compliance

The team has extensive experience in drafting and reviewing affirmative action plans and advising employers regarding compliance with the requirements of the OFCCP. We successfully represented large corporate entities in Headquarters Glass Ceiling Audits by the OFCCP and have successfully handled dozens of other OFCCP audits for various clients.

Wage & Hour Compliance

Our labor and employment attorneys have substantial experience in helping employers comply with state and federal wage-hour laws. We advise clients on legal requirements, perform wage-hour audits and provide practical advice on how employers should implement changes to correct non-compliant pay practices. Our attorneys provide advice about the requirements of state and federal laws relating to overtime compensation, payment of wages, pay for break periods, restrictions on child labor and hours of work. We defend wage and hour investigations conducted by the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor and by similar state agencies. We also have substantial experience defending employers in litigation involving FLSA claims and claims under state wage-hour laws, including those in California, Florida and New Jersey.

Organizational Changes

Our lawyers have considerable experience advising clients about the labor and equal employment implications of force reductions and corporate reorganizations nationally as well as internationally. As a result, the Kilpatrick Townsend team can be a valuable asset should the need for such structural changes occur. We assist companies in structuring reductions in force so as to decrease the potential for liability under the ADEA and other antidiscrimination statutes. In such matters, we will not only analyze the planned employment actions to determine the impact on protected classes of employees, ensure that clients comply with all federal and state laws and draft applicable severance agreements, but we will also provide strategic advice about the structure, timing, communication and implementation of force reductions and reorganizations. Our attorneys also have experience in reductions in force undertaken on an international scale. For example, we assisted a client in planning and executing a reduction in force involving employees in more than sixty countries.

The team also regularly reviews, analyzes and helps clients deal with labor and employment issues arising from acquisitions or sales of business. Team attorneys have vast experience in guiding companies through the intricate labor law and employment issues relating to the acquisition of the assets or the ongoing business of another company. We frequently work closely with the purchasing company during negotiations for the sale of a business to ensure that our client is in the best position to achieve its labor-relations objectives with respect to the acquired operations and to facilitate a smooth transition of human resources functions at those operations.

Team attorneys also regularly give advice on day-to-day employment issues that arise in any large company. We help managers in the field properly address performance issues, leave issues, harassment complaints and termination decisions. Our attorneys understand that how difficult employment decisions are communicated and implemented can be as important as whether such decisions are consistent with legal requirements in minimizing the risks of future litigation.