Custom Solutions for Your Business
The American workplace has undergone dramatic changes over the past decade. Alternative work arrangements, a global war for talent, new workforce technologies, and an onslaught of new laws and regulations all impact how you run your business.
Carr McClellan’s Employment Practices Group takes the time to truly understand your business and its culture. With this information in hand, we can develop workforce management strategies that align with your business objectives.
Our team can serve as in-house human resources counsel or outside general counsel for corporate clients. And when litigation issues arise, our litigators bring solid expertise on a broad range of employment discrimination, wrongful termination, employee mobility, misappropriation of trade secrets, and wage and hour conflicts.
Areas of Expertise
- Human resources counseling including best HR practices, policies, procedures, codes of conduct, background checks, handbooks, performance management, discipline, termination and severance, disability accommodations, reduction in force events, integrating workforces after acquisitions and mergers, benefits administration, wage and hour issues, and incentive compensation or commission plans
- Negotiation of employment contracts and separation agreements for senior executives
- Staffing and contingent workforce assessments and consultations designed to minimize misclassification risks and lawsuits
- Workplace privacy and data security issues associated with the fast-paced and ever-changing workplace technologies
- Representation in administrative proceedings with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Department of Fair Employment and Housing
- Representation in matters with the US Department of Labor, California Labor Commissioner’s Office, NLRB and other local, state, and federal agencies
- Independent workplace investigations arising out of claims of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, ethics, or other misconduct issues
- Mediation and arbitration of employment and labor matters
- Training services to assist employers in workforce education—from group seminars on recognizing and preventing unlawful workplace conduct (compliant with Cal. Government Code section 12940) to workplace diversity training to one-on-one sensitivity and executive coaching sessions
- ERISA and Benefit Plan Litigation, including fiduciary duty claims, COBRA claims, 401(k) litigation, benefit claims litigation, retiree rights cases, whistleblowing claims (under ERISA section 510), ERISA preemption cases, benefits issues arising out of corporate bankruptcies and reorganizations. Negotiation of compensation and equity positions, as well as advice on tax issues that arise from incentive plans and deferred compensation packages
- Project management for corporate clients expanding internationally, including liaising with local corporate and employment counsel on six continents – including establishing workforces in foreign countries, managing global labor relations and addressing international data protection laws and issues
- Counsel and representation in harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination matters in both state and federal courts