Ranked among the Top Employment Law firms by
Workforce Management Magazine, Baker Hostetler counsels many of the nation's leading companies on all aspects of workplace law. With more than 100 lawyers coast-to-coast, Baker Hostetler's Employment and Labor Group represents numerous
FORTUNE 500 companies, and for many of these companies, we serve as their national employment and labor counsel. Our comprehensive employment practice is comparable in size and depth to top employment law boutiques, but we offer the broader resources of a leading, full-service firm.
Through decades of experience and thousands of new laws and regulations, we have strengthened our reputation for integrity, creativity and providing solutions—key criteria for effective employment and labor law representation. Our goal is to achieve your objectives efficiently and effectively and to add value to your operations wherever possible.
Our lawyers provide advice and counsel on the full array of employment and labor issues, including labor matters involving unions and collective bargaining. We help our management clients avoid litigation, if that is their goal, but when called to proceed with litigation, our lawyers are some of the most experienced trial lawyers in the firm. Further, our lawyers defend clients at every stage in employment class action matters, particularly with regard to wage and hour claims.
Recognition
- Eleven employment partners are listed in The Best Lawyers in America.
- Our employment and labor practice is ranked among the leading practices in Ohio and Florida (Chambers USA, 2009).
- Chambers USA 2009 lists a total of seven Florida and Ohio employment partners as leaders in the field.
- Named a "Go-to Law Firm" for employment law by general counsel surveyed for Corporate Counsel® magazine's 2009 guide to in-house law departments at the nation's top companies.
- Listed in Corporate Counsel® magazine's "Who Represents America's Biggest Companies" as employment counsel to FORTUNE 100 companies.
- Employment lawyers have received special regional recognition in Florida Trend's “Legal Elite" publication.
- Some of the individual recognition our lawyers have attained include selection as one of America's leading black lawyers by Black Enterprise magazine, receiving the District of Columbia Bar's “Legends in the Law” award, the Republican National Lawyers Association's “Republican Lawyer of the Year” award, and inclusion as a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.
- One of our partners is the only person to have served as both the former Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board and as Director of the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor.
- Numerous partners have been certified as employment law specialists by their respective state bar associations.
Leadership in Action
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| Employment Litigation: Putting the EEOC on the Defense |
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| Client: FORTUNE 100 Technology Company |
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| Type of Matter: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought a lawsuit challenging the inclusion of a pregnant employee in a workforce reduction. |
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| Our Client's Challenge: Overcoming the emotional testimony (and solid performance reviews) of the terminated employee. |
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| The Goal: Successfully defend our client in a federal jury trial in Detroit. |
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| Our Strategy: We carefully explained the legitimate business reasons for the employee’s inclusion in the reduction (relatively weak technical skill set) and focused on the EEOC’s aggressive treatment of company witnesses at trial. We ultimately succeeded in portraying the EEOC as oppressive and overreaching in attacking the character of reasonable people who honestly made the difficult business decision of whom to include in a workforce reduction. |
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| Results: The jury found for our client in less than two hours. |
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Counseling and Compliance
Navigating the intricacies of the ever-changing federal and state laws and regulations that impact the workplace can be difficult, and non-compliance carries the risk of costly employment litigation and government penalties. At Baker Hostetler, we work proactively with our clients to help them establish effective practices and policies and understand how the numerous statutes, regulations, codes and ordinances that govern the workplace affect their business.
Our skilled lawyers partner with clients to provide creative solutions that address their day-to-day workplace issues. Our lawyers have experience both as in-house counsel and with a number of regulatory agencies, providing us with critical insight into offering our clients effective human resources solutions which helps reduce their risk.
We counsel clients on the full scope of workplace issues including:
- The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
- Title VII
- Workers' Compensation
- Unemployment Compensation
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
- Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
- Immigration
- Reductions in Force (RIF)
- Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN)
- Affirmative Action and OFCCP Compliance
Our attorneys know which federal, state and local laws apply to businesses nationwide. We conduct on-site compliance reviews, provide management training and work with companies to develop compliance programs. We also provide legal counsel and representation to clients found to be noncompliant. We represent clients before governmental agencies and boards and work out programs to bring them into compliance.
Employment Litigation
Our employment litigators have a proven track record, with more than a dozen successful jury trials during the past year alone. We are veterans in defending complex multi-party employment disputes, class actions, government suits and the full scope of individual private-plaintiff actions in state and federal courts and agencies nationwide.
Our lawyers represent clients in litigation involving discrimination, wage and hour, breach of contract, wrongful discharge, defamation, ERISA, OSHA, covenants not to compete, trade secret, executive compensation and whistleblower-related claims, including whistleblower provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Our cumulative experience includes every aspect of judicial and administrative procedure, with numerous successful jury and bench trials and appeals at all levels.
Although we try a large number of cases every year, the majority are won at the summary judgment stage, or we achieve an early settlement in our client's best interest. Our priority always remains the same—achieving the best results for our client.
- Obtained a defense verdict for an energy client after a two-week trial in the case of two original putative class representatives.
- Successfully defended a manufacturing client during eight-day trial on gender discrimination claim when a defense verdict was reached in just 20 minutes.
- Obtained summary judgment for a national insurer in a wage and hour case that is frequently cited by the U.S. Department of Labor and other courts and that was worth hundreds of millions of dollars to our client.
- Defended the largest hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, in a complex case where the plaintiff, a former department director, made a whistleblower claim under Florida law. After a lengthy trial, the jury rejected all of the plaintiff's claims and returned a verdict for our client.
- Won a jury verdict in retaliatory discharge case in Southern Texas court where the plaintiff was terminated 10 days after filing a workers' compensation claim.
- In what defense lawyers say is a first, we helped our client receive a refund from a settlement with the EEOC because not enough claimants had qualified to be paid out of the settlement fund.
Employment and Civil Rights Class Actions
Employment-related class action lawsuits are on the rise. The potential for large recoveries, adverse publicity and expensive litigation threaten a company's bottom line, stock value and reputation. At Baker Hostetler, we are known for our ability to end class actions before they begin through creative case management, motion practice and aggressive defeat of class certification.
We have successfully represented clients at virtually every stage of employment class action litigation. In particular, our extensive experience in the wage-and-hour area coupled with our proven track record of successfully defending class, collective and representative actions make us uniquely qualified to effectively handle complex wage and overtime liability claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to defending clients against actions involving the FLSA, we have handled every type of employment and civil rights lawsuit, including claims of race and sex discrimination, claims for benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, and under state common law.
- Represented a national insurer in the resolution of a set of nationwide class and collective actions alleging unpaid overtime and misclassification of employees.
- After obtaining denial of a motion for class certification of a class of several hundred female employees, we obtained summary judgment on behalf of our FORTUNE 100 client on the plaintiff's individual claims.
- Provided oversight for insurance carriers in numerous employment class actions filed against utilities.
- Represented a large petroleum company in ADA class action litigation involving all of its nearly 5,000 gas stations and convenience stores nationwide.
- Removed class action threat against a FORTUNE 100 manufacturer through case management negotiation before the court.
Labor Relations
The new American economy and recent rift in the nation's labor movement has changed the employment landscape dramatically. Unionized employers require innovative approaches to secure necessary operational efficiencies and economic relief. Non-union employers are faced with new organizing strategies, particularly in the healthcare, hospitality and telecommunication industries. Our labor lawyers can help you understand the impact this new labor movement may have on your workforce and your bottom line.
At Baker Hostetler, we believe that the best labor relations policies are those that prevent the need to battle with the government, unions or employees. Our focus is always on helping our clients maintain positive relationships with their workforce within the parameters of their business needs and corporate culture. Protecting our client's credibility as an employer is our number one concern. Our reputation for credibility, integrity and results is well known in the labor-management community.
- Represented major metropolitan newspapers throughout the United States in collective bargaining designed to achieve workforce reductions and operating efficiencies; in hundreds of arbitrations; in numerous proceedings before the NLRB; and in solving day-to-day problems in such diverse fields as production, circulation and advertising.
- Represented an aerospace manufacturer in an organization drive by four unions involving more than 5,000 gray collar employees.
- Reduced by 90 percent the number of bargaining sessions needed to reach agreement between International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and a broadcast television station group through the use of interest bargaining, a “tradeoff” approach that is the exception rather than the rule in union negotiations.
- Represented a division of a publicly traded company in the decertification of a union which had represented its employees for over 50 years.
- Handled contract negotiations for a municipal transit authority, avoiding a threatened strike by 600 drivers, mechanics and other employees, enabling the client to address operational inefficiencies.
Solution
An HR Audit can dramatically improve not only your human resources function, but also your bottom line. For example, we assisted one of our FORTUNE 500 clients in reducing its annual cost of handling employment and labor matters by nearly 65 percent by improving their efficiency and reducing their risk of costly litigation.
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