Labor & Employment
Employers today are faced with more regulation than ever before from a variety of federal, state and local laws leading to difficult and sometimes contradictory obligations. Businesses need access to informed, experienced and prompt counseling to find their way through these complex issues.
The Elderkin Law Firm's Labor and Employment Law Department represents management in all aspects of labor and employment law. In addition, we represent select employees in workers' compensation, unemployment compensation, and discrimination cases. Through this experience, we know both sides of the issues when we advise and defend our clients. We defend employers accused of violating employment laws before state and federal agencies and courts. We have extensive experience in collective bargaining, arbitration, unfair labor practice proceedings, maintaining union-free status, obtaining injunctions in strike situations, and representation matters under the National Labor Relations Act and the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act. We guide employers in compliance with occupational safety and health laws and immigration laws. In conjunction with our business lawyers, we assist in both due diligence and structuring business transactions to comply with applicable laws.
Our client base ranges from companies with hundreds of employees in multiple locations to companies with only a few employees. Our advice and assistance to each client is tailored to meet their needs and interests, the conditions of their respective industries, the interpersonal relationships within their facilities, and the particular mix of applicable federal, state and local laws. Above all, we realize the importance of delivering practical advice on a timely basis. To that end, we provide clients with assistance at all hours of the day, because we understand that most companies need to respond to situations as they arise, not days or weeks later.
Areas of Practice
Personnel Management & Statutory Compliance Practice
Our employment lawyers, like our clients, recognize that employment litigation cases expend valuable resources (especially time and money) that would otherwise be available for productive use.
We believe that effective personnel management can reduce to a minimum the number of such lawsuits faced by an employer and the resources diverted to defending such actions. The Elderkin Law Firm's employment lawyers counsel employers on the myriad technical requirements of the employment laws and regulations facing them. We are sensitive to the practical needs of managers and human resource professionals who deal with employment law issues on a daily basis. Our lawyers regularly provide advice, counseling and training with respect to all aspects of employment law, including:
- Personnel audits, including review of all aspects
of an employer's policies and practices to ensure compliance
with applicable laws and regulations and to reduce any potential
liabilities.
- Affirmative action issues, including plan
preparation, defense of government audits and representation
before applicable federal, state or local agencies and courts.
- Employee handbooks and personnel policies,
including preparation, revision and/or review of handbooks and
policies.
- Reductions in force, including pre-RIF workforce
analysis and review of proposed RIFs to minimize employer
liability under plant closing and employment discrimination
laws.
- Harassment issues, including sexual harassment
prevention training for management and employees, advice on
internal investigations of sexual harassment complaints, and
representation before federal, state or local agencies and
courts.
- Drug and alcohol issues, including preparation or
revision of drug and alcohol policies under federal laws such as
the Drug-Free Workplace Act and regulations of the United States
Department of Transportation, increasingly restrictive state
laws, and collectively bargained drug and alcohol agreements.
- Disruptive employees, including preparation of
appropriate training for supervisors to manage problem employees
and assistance to management handling performance, discipline
and termination issues.
- Workplace violence prevention, including policies
and procedures to protect both employees and employers from
injury and liability, and policies relating to employee privacy
and the search of electronic materials as well as physical
searches of lockers, employees and vehicles.
- Attendance and leave of absence, including
preparation of Family and Medical Leave Act policies, advice on
administering leave, and the interplay of the Americans with
Disabilities Act and workers' compensation statutes.
- ADA, Title VII and ADEA issues, including
counseling on disciplinary actions; hiring, firing, and
reasonable accommodation issues; and representation before
federal, state and local agencies and courts.
- Management training, including training on
harassment prevention; age, national origin and religion issues
in the workplace; handling EEO cases, dealing with problem
employees; and conducting performance reviews.
- Wage and hour issues, including audit of payroll
practices and representation during government investigations
and in federal and state courts.
- Unemployment compensation, including legal advice
and representation at hearings and appeals.
- OSHA issues, including representation of employers
from the beginning of an investigation through its final
resolution.
- Employment agreements, including negotiation and
drafting of executive employment agreements, non-compete and
confidentiality agreements, as well as court proceedings
relating to such agreements.
- Insurance issues, including HIPAA compliance, ERISA compliance and litigation.
Employment Litigation Defense Practice
With an increasing number of lawsuits and the growth in amounts awarded to successful plaintiffs, the need for practical, cost-conscious and experienced defense counsel has increased dramatically. Our lawyers guide employers from human resource planning to the filing of a lawsuit and its final resolution. Always conscious of client costs and concerns, we have actively proceeded with alternative dispute resolution mechanisms when doing so was in our clients' best interests. Our lawyers defend employers in the following forums:
- Federal agencies, including defense of employment
discrimination charges, affirmative action audits, wage and hour
investigations, and family and medical leave disputes.
- State and local agencies, including defense of
employment discrimination charges and complaints; as well as
unemployment compensation, workers' compensation, and wage
payment claims.
- Federal courts, including defense of lawsuits
involving employment discrimination, Family and Medical Leave
Act, and wage and hour issues.
- State courts, including defense of lawsuits
involving employment discrimination, unjust dismissal,
non-compete agreements and employment-related tort and contract
claims.
- Alternate dispute forums, such as AAA and FMCS arbitrations, raising the full range of employment-related claims.
The Elderkin Law Firm in Erie, PA handles a broad range of cases, including matters involving Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as similar state laws and state unemployment compensation, wage payment and workers' compensation laws. We have brought lawsuits against current and former employees (and their new employers) to prevent the disclosure of confidential information and to require that former employees abide by their non-competition, non-disclosure and other post-employment obligations.
Labor Practice
The Elderkin Law Firm has years of experience assisting management in avoiding or overcoming limitations imposed by union relationships. We are well-versed in dealing with a unionized workforce. Our lawyers regularly represent and advise management in all aspects of labor law, including:
- Union avoidance, with emphasis on union-free
planning and on-site training for managers and supervisors; and
election campaigns, including the development of campaign
materials, videos, handouts, postings, and mailings.
- Collective bargaining, including acting as chief
negotiator or confidential advisor, drafting of contract
provisions, and explaining legal obligations and rights.
- Contract interpretation, including legal advice
regarding management rights, contractual disputes, disciplinary
action and dismissals.
- Grievances and arbitrations, including legal advice
during the grievance procedure and representation at mediations
and arbitration hearings.
- Unfair labor practices, including preparation of
position statements for the NLRB, advocating the client's
position at the NLRB, representation in hearings before
administrative law judges, and appeals to federal court.
- Strike management, including legal advice regarding
rights and responsibilities, charges and complaints by and
against unions, injunctions to limit picketing, and arrangement
for security for potentially violent workplaces.
- Decertification, including legal and practical advice regarding withdrawing recognition of a union and representation in NLRB decertification proceeding.