Labor and Employment

We counsel in all aspects of the employer-employee relationship in both the private and public sectors.

Our private sector clients are in the service, transportation, education, real estate construction and management, hospitality, and manufacturing industries.

Our public sector labor relations and employment clients include public universities, colleges, school departments, municipalities and municipal utilities. We negotiate labor agreements, defend charges of prohibited practices and arbitration cases, and routinely appear at the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the Massachusetts Division of Employee Relations and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), as well as other federal and state agencies and courts.

We prepare and review employee handbooks, agreements for employment, termination and severance, non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality. We routinely prepare and conduct training programs for clients’ employees. We utilize collaboration and education to minimize complaints or threats of litigation, prevent discrimination and harassment issues and manage union solicitation.

We advise on issues arising under major federal legislation, including the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). Lawyers in our Labor and Employment practice group also counsel businesses on provisions under the Affordable Care Act, the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) and the Consolidated Omnibus and Budget Reorganization Act (COBRA), and their parallel state statutes which may involve handicap, sexual harassment, age and other claims of discrimination.