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Employment Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Counsel that protects your best interests in employment litigation and disputes

Capabilities at a glance

  • Advice on avoidance and defense of all kinds of employment discrimination litigation and investigations—and robust representation when it counts.
  • A focus on dispute resolution and risk analysis so your organization can avoid incurring unnecessary costs from litigation.
  • Nationwide legal coverage. Many of our clients engage us to represent them across the country, and we have experience in federal, state and municipal courts.
  • Minimizing your exposure and maximizing your accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and all other evolving standards and legislation.

Strategic legal advice to minimize risk in employment litigation

At Quarles, we focus on delivering effective and assertive employment litigation counsel for our clients, but also on minimizing disputes and claims through intelligent planning and strategic legal support. We always seek to bring each potential issue to a favorable close as quickly and as cost effectively as possible. Although we maintain the resources necessary to staff the largest matters, we take pride in efficiently staffing the normal employment litigation case (typically only one or two attorneys and a paralegal) in order to maximize cost control for our clients. We also conduct early case assessment and risk analysis, which gives our clients the ability to determine from the outset the value of the case and what litigation or settlement strategies best suit their business goals.

Skilled attorneys working across all types of employment dispute

Our experienced employment litigation attorneys have defended virtually every type of claim, including all forms of discrimination, harassment and retaliation cases, as well as wrongful discharge, defamation and similar workplace tort claims. We have done so before all relevant federal and state administrative agencies and courts, enjoying significant success in obtaining verdicts, judgments and decisions on behalf of our clients. Our experience includes:

  • Employment discrimination litigation and investigations into allegations of discrimination, harassment and retaliation based on age, disability, sex, race, religion and other protected characteristics, including ADA, Title VII and similar anti-discrimination laws
  • ERISA, retirement and employee benefits litigation
  • Wrongful discharge, breach of employment contract and other employee termination-related litigation
  • Non-compete violation and misappropriation of trade secrets claims
  • Sarbanes-Oxley and other whistleblower statutes
  • FLSA and state wage and hour laws
  • Worker's compensation
  • FMLA and state and local leave laws
  • USERRA, OSHA, NLRA and WARN

Successes

  • We recently obtained summary judgment in favor of a university on a multi-count complaint by a former university administrator alleging race, sex and age discrimination claims, as well as multiple claims of retaliation, under Title VII, Section 1981 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
  • We successfully obtained injunctive relief for a trucking brokerage business, preventing a former c-suite executive from beginning work as CEO for a private equity-backed competitor, in violation of a non-compete.

News & Insights

Service Areas

  • ADA Title III and Public Access

    Wherever the public goes for goods and services, liability under ADA can follow. Quarles helps businesses manage the risk of incurring such liability in two distinct ways. First, we guide them in conforming their physical properties, services and websites to the accessibility requirements of Title III of the ADA and other federal and state disability laws. In this proactive effort, we apply our well-honed business sense, backed by our extensive legal knowledge, to help businesses efficiently provide accessibility in light of ever-evolving standards.

    Second, because this is an area that attracts voluminous claims, Quarles routinely defends and resolves public access disputes. Many factors make accessibility a fertile ground for lawsuits: The myriad features of a public space can give rise to arguable accessibility claims; state statutes that award plaintiffs with attorneys’ fees and statutory damages in some jurisdictions; and the ease with which plaintiffs’ lawyers and their experts can scout locations for “drive-by” or “surf-by” lawsuits. We have extensive experience favorably resolving claims from the most frivolous to extremely consequential.

  • Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution

    Our experienced Labor, Employments & Benefits Practice Group is well equipped to handle matters regarding labor arbitrations throughout the U.S., as well as litigation before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In both cases the body of case law is national in scope, and individual practices and procedures can vary from arbitrator to arbitrator, even in one’s home jurisdiction. We have access to several databases that allow us to research and rank arbitrators regardless of their locale. We also work extensively with our clients on preventative measures. Our attorneys can help you develop policies that clearly communicate to employees what constitutes prohibited practices and conduct at the company and that embody the client’s standards and corporate culture. We also work with clients to develop the most effective mechanisms to capture complaints and investigations, efficiently getting to the bottom of any allegations in a way that reflects the clients’ values.

  • Class and Collective Action

    Integrating experience from various substantive areas, the Quarles Class and Collective Action team brings a wealth of experience to the defense of class action lawsuits. We have experience in representing clients nationwide in many types of labor and employment litigation matters, before relevant federal and state administrative agencies and courts. We have enjoyed significant success in obtaining verdicts, judgments and decisions on behalf of our clients. These matters involve individual and collective or class claims under the FLSA and state wage/hour laws, including cases involving donning and doffing and other off-the-clock claims, rounding claims, on-call and training time, and misclassification and exemption claims. In addition, our team has substantial experience defending class claims under Title VII and similar anti-discrimination and retaliation laws, such as the ADA, the FMLA and ERISA. Our group of class action lawyers includes a member who teaches the class action course at one of our state university law schools. We also regularly serve as speakers on class action CLE programs, including an annual program on class actions presented by the American Bar Association Section of Litigation and the ABA CLE Center. For more information, see the Quarles Wage and Hour Compliance and Defense page.

  • Discrimination, Harassment, Retaliation and Wrongful Termination Litigation

    Our Labor, Employment & Benefits attorneys have extensive experience in all areas of discrimination and harassment law. We have dealt with litigation in federal, state and municipal courts, and investigations into allegations of discrimination, harassment and retaliation (both class-based and individual) based on age, disability, sex, race, religion and other characteristics. Similarly, we know wrongful termination claims can be costly and cause reputational harm and are one of the few torts that may be brought against employers in most states. We provide a range of legal training to employers on how best to navigate changing laws and norms so your workplace relationships remain as harmonious as possible.

  • Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets

    It’s a nightmare scenario for any employer: Hours before a manager resigns to join a competitor, they copy thousands of files from a company computer and walk them out the door. Responding effectively to such threats, as Quarles did for an employer in just this situation, winning an emergency injunction and recovering the property, requires a fast-acting, experienced and well-informed legal team. Our Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets attorneys use all three attributes in helping businesses preserve their hard-earned competitive advantages. Representing employers and employees in federal and state litigation across the country, we work at the demanding pace of lawsuits in this area, comfortably handling the tight timelines set for temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions and other early motions that often prove decisive.

    We also actively counsel employers on preventative measures that can clarify responsibilities and avoid problems when employees leave. We draft non-compete agreements and non-solicitation agreements, advise on terminations, guide employers on procedures to use when separating from employees with access to proprietary information and develop other preventative policies.

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