Chicago Office
300 N. LaSalle Street Suite 4000
Chicago,
Illinois
60654
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Professional Experience
Ellen Girard Georgiadis’ practice focuses on all areas of labor and employment law, with an emphasis on employment-related litigation and proactive counseling of employee-related matters. She has substantial experience in litigation and management of employment discrimination and harassment lawsuits and charges before federal and state courts and agencies. Ellen is also a speaker and trainer on various topics, including changing laws affecting employers. Ellen’s experience includes:
- Defending all sizes of employers in various industries in discrimination and harassment matters in federal court, retaliatory discharge and tort cases in state court, and wrongful termination in arbitration.
- Representing employers before local, state, and federal agencies.
- Providing day-to-day counseling to employers facing employee misconduct, leave of absence and medical restrictions issues, and other human resources matters.
- Defending national employer in a WARN Act class action in federal court.
- Conducting sexual harassment investigations.
- Assisting clients throughout Department of Labor investigations into alleged overtime and minimum wage violations.
- Arbitrating labor grievances.
- Training employers on changes in the law, social media concerns in the workplace, how to conduct proper investigations and create appropriate documentation, and how best to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
- Drafting and reviewing employee handbooks and policies.
Education and Honors
- University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business (Certificate of Executive Management, 2013)
- Chicago-Kent College of Law (J.D., high honors, 2002)
Order of the Coif. Chicago-Kent Law Review. Merit Scholar. Five CALI Awards for highest grade.
- Valparaiso University (B.A., 1994)
Bar Admissions
Illinois,
2002
Court Admissions
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana, 2008
U.S. Supreme Court, 2005
U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit, 2004
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois, 2004
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Indiana, 2003
U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois, 2003
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 2002
Professional Recognition
Named “40 Illinois Attorneys Under 40 to Watch,” Law Bulletin Publishing Company’s 2007 list. Selected for inclusion in the 2013 Illinois Super Lawyers® list (Employment & Labor). Selected for inclusion in Illinois Super Lawyers®–Rising Stars Editions 2008-2012 (Employment & Labor).
Professional and Civic Activities
- American Bar Association (Member, Labor and Employment Section).
- Illinois Bar Association (Member, Labor and Employment Section).
- Women’s Bar Association of Illinois (Member).
- Chicago Bar Association (Member).
- Executives’ Club of Chicago (Member).
- Human Resources Management Association of Chicago (Member).
- Women Everywhere (Former Board President).
- Chicago Bar Foundation Young Professionals Board (Former Board President).
- Quarles & Brady Recruiting Committee (Firm-Wide Chair).
- Quarles & Brady Diversity Committee (Member).
Selected Presentations/Publications
Publications:
- “Labor: Top 10 employee handbook provisions to dust off while spring cleaning,” Inside Counsel magazine, April 22, 2013.
- “Q&A With Quarles & Brady's Ellen Girard Georgiadis,” Law360, April 15, 2013.
- “Labor: Disabled employees have a leg up for reassignment to vacant positions in certain states,” Inside Counsel magazine, March 25, 2013.
- “Labor: EEOC’s attack on maximum leave policies creates major headaches for employers,” Inside Counsel magazine, February 25, 2013.
- “Employers beware: Illinois gives employees ticket to take discrimination claims to state court,” The Corporate Lawyer, February 2008.
- “Expanded FMLA coverage is effective immediately!!,” The Corporate Lawyer, March 2008.
- "Retail and the Law: Businesses Must Guard Against I.D. Theft," Retail Register-Illinois Retail Merchants Association, June 2005.
- “WARN Act Comes to Illinois,” Retail Register-Illinois Retail Merchants Association, January 2005.
- “New Illinois Law Expands Federal ‘Warn Act’ Notice Requirements,” CBA Record, January 2005.
- “Retail and the Law: New law addresses job applications,” Retail Register-Illinois Retail Merchants Association,
April 2004.
- “Retail and the Law: New law expands federal Equal Pay Act,” Retail Register-Illinois Retail Merchants Association, January 2004.
- “Retail and the Law: New laws impact language in the workplace,” Retail Register-Illinois Retail Merchants Association, October 2003.
- “Retail and the Law: Don’t dump employee files,” Retail Register-Illinois Retail Merchants Association, May 2003.
- “Retail and the Law: Know what records to keep,” Retail Register-Illinois Retail Merchants Association, March 2003.
- “Retail and the Law: Employee handbooks offer advantages,” Retail Register-Illinois Retail Merchants Association, November 2002 (co-author with D. Scott Watson).
- “Retail and the Law: Dealing with Employee Time Off Under the Law,” Retail Register-Illinois Retail Merchants Association, June 2002.
Presentations:
- “Protecting Your Most Valuable Assets with Restrictive Covenants,” Client Training, 2012.
- “Avoiding Discrimination, Harassment, and Social Media Landmines,” Client Training, 2011.
- “Best Practices in Compensation, Benefits and Recordkeeping for Illinois Not-for-Profit Entities,” Quarles & Brady seminar, 2011.
- “HR Myths and Legends,” Society of Human Resources Professionals, 2010.
- “Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance Training,” Client Training, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010.
- “Guidelines for Investigation of Workplace Issues,” Client Training, 2007.
- “Recognizing and Preventing Harassment,” Client Training, 2006.
- “Responding to and Avoiding Charges of Discrimination,” Client Training, 2005.
- “New Laws Affecting Illinois Employers,” The Nonprofit Networking Group, 2004.
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