Wisler Pearlstine is regularly engaged by private and public sector employers and employment practices insurance carriers to prevent and, when necessary, defend against the array of employee claims, regulatory matters and employment-related issues that arise under state, local, and federal employment law.
We have deep experience in the prevention and resolution of workplace issues that can threaten a company’s profitability and future.
Too often, employment law is counter-intuitive. It creates liabilities based on circumstances that most companies view as business as usual. It mandates policies and procedures that are often unforeseeable and, even, non-commonsensical. And it imposes requirements which, if not satisfied, can result in substantial lost profits.
The upshot is that businesses of all sizes require not only the measures we can implement to forestall and minimize these risks, but also the litigation expertise and experience that must be brought to the table when, despite a company’s best preventive efforts, a government agency, or an employee with counsel bolstered by employee-centric laws providing for counsel fees and penalties, brings a claim.
Our attorneys have decades of experience in these trenches including, for example:
- Sexual harassment and discrimination claims
- Other harassment and discrimination claims, and related hostile work environment claims, based on other protected categories, such as age, race, religion and nationality claims
- Americans with Disabilities Act (and related state and local) claims arising from the “reasonable accommodations” employers are required to provide an employee with a disability
- Family and Medical Leave Act (and related state and local) claims arising from the leave employers are required to provide to employees with serious health conditions;
- Fair Labor Standards Act (and related state and local) claims arising from the arcane distinctions between “exempt” and “non-exempt” employees, and overtime requirements
- Claims arising from independent contractor and “joint employer” relationships
- Claims arising from criminal and other background checks
- Wage payment claims
- Wrongful termination claims
There are, as well, other crucial aspects of employment law litigation that can define a company’s ability to retain and protect its competitive advantages, and its bottom line. Wisler Pearlstine attorneys have substantial experience in these matters. For example:
- Litigation arising from a competitor’s effort to poach a company’s key employees
- Litigation arising from a competitor’s effort to solicit a company’s key clients/customers
- Litigation arising a competitor’s effort to obtain and use a company’s “secret sauce” – its most crucial confidential information and trade secrets
- When the shoe is on the other foot, litigation arising from a client’s effort to recruit a competitor’s key employees and clients/customers, and to obtain information that will help it compete
We recognize that the best way to win a lawsuit is to keep it from happening. We know how to do that, using both the law and our experience in the representation of employers of all types and sizes. For many years, we have served as the general counsel to the MidAtlantic Employers’ Association, a trade association of over 500 member companies, through which we have developed and implemented “preventive law” and training approaches that minimize the risks associated with workplace issues of all types.
