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Find Lawyers in Michigan, United States for Litigation - Labor and Employment
Practice Area Overview
Often, these employment disputes culminate in a lawsuit, which can be costly, time-consuming, and damaging to employee relations. The number of employment-related litigation filings has been steadily increasing over the last decade, ranging from large-scale class actions to individual complaints. Employers are facing greater challenges and financial exposure from both current and former employees than ever before.
Employment litigation covers many types of claims, including discrimination; harassment; wage-hour pay, classification, and overtime violations; wrongful discharge; entitlement to employee benefits; misappropriation of trade secrets and confidential information; unfair competition; enforcement or avoidance of restrictive covenants; labor union disputes; workplace safety violations; defamation and other employment-related torts. These claims often involve the many laws governing employee relations, which are often referred to as “employment law alphabet soup.” These include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), whistleblower claims under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) or Dodd-Frank Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
Resolving employment litigation requires knowledge of these laws and regulations, the applicable case law, and a careful case analysis and strategy. More so than in other less personal litigation, a perceptive understanding of the people involved is essential for success. Often, suits will be settled among parties or ended before trial through summary judgment based on the facts of the case. When early resolution is not achieved, however, the case will go to trial in court or before an agency tribunal. Verdicts in employment-related cases can be enormous, especially in wage-hour and other class actions, creating a high-stakes situation for employers.
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Meg Alli has focused her practice on the representation and counseling of management concerning the umbrella of employment laws and regulations affecting corporate clients, not-for-profit organizations and educational institutions. She has defended employers, schools and colleges in state and federal courts, administrative agencies and arbitration proceedings. Meg has also served as select counsel for employment practices liability insurance carriers and represented employers in wage/hour lit...
John Below is a labor and employment and general business litigation attorney. His practice is concentrated in resolving employment, complex financial services and general commercial disputes. John aggressively solves problems and wins cases for his clients, which include, large employers in the construction and health care industries, regional and national banks, and major manufacturing and industrial companies. John partners with his clients and together, they forge and execute strategies f...
Traditional labor lawyer and employment law counselor Keith Brodie represents the interests of employers in Michigan and across the country. Personable, detail- and business-oriented when rendering critical legal advice, Keith’s willingness to listen, combined with his strategic legal thinking, allows him to serve client interests while building rapport and consensus. Keith advises on traditional labor law matters under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). His experience includes co...
Ms. Brouwer practices exclusively in labor and employment law, with particular experience in the defense of lawsuits against employers, including claims of race, age, religion, national origin, gender and disability discrimination, harassment and retaliation, as well as FLSA, FMLA and non-competition suits. She also provides harassment training and conducts discrimination and harassment investigations for employers. She has extensive experience in appearing before administrative agencies, inc...
David M. Buday is a Member of Miller Johnson and has been practicing law since 1989. His practice is focused on representing employers and management in a wide range of labor and employment matters. While his labor and employment practice covers a wide range of industries, Mr. Buday is chair of Miller Johnson’s Employment – Health Care Practice Group. He also serves on the firm’s management committee. Employment Law Mr. Buday provides day-to-day counsel to company owners, co...
Nikole L. Canute’s areas of practice include: labor and employment law, employment litigation, energy litigation, civil litigation, fraud investigation and litigation and securities litigation. She is very skilled in handling employment investigations, electronic discovery and matters involving computer forensic investigations. Nikole also specializes in energy matters, including condemnation. Her experience includes working with local municipal authorities and law enforcement during pr...
Raymond J. Carey was a highly respected and skilled advisor, trial lawyer, negotiator, and retired partner in the Labor and Employment Practice of Foley & Lardner LLP. He has over 30 years of experience wisely counseling employer representatives within all industries concerning the diversity of human resource and labor relations issues that affect the workplace. During his more than 30 years of practice, Mr. Carey has successfully defended employers and their management representatives ag...
Bob Cleary has significant experience both in the traditional labor setting representing management in collective bargaining situations and in the employment litigation setting where he has managed and defended a variety of discrimination, retaliation and harassment cases advanced in state and federal courts and state and federal agencies. In addition to his experience in private practice, Bob has twice served within a corporate client’s legal staff, most recently for five years as Vice...
Scott E. Dwyer has extensive experience in the areas of labor, employment and wrongful discharge law, business litigation, shareholder disputes, noncompete agreements and unfair competition and trade secret litigation and employee misconduct investigations, including fraud and fraud litigation. He is a member of the Grand Rapids and American Bar Associations and the State Bar of Michigan. Scott has several reported cases, including: NLRB v Beacon Light Nursing Home , 825 F2d 1076 (6th Cir 198...
William H. Fallon is a Member of the firm and has been practicing law since 1981. His practice is focused on representing employers in employment and labor matters, including employment litigation. Labor and Employment Law Experience Mr. Fallon helps employers find successful, constructive solutions to their most difficult employment problems, in and out of court. Most employers prefer to stay out of court, which is accomplished by effective early management of potential legal problems. Mr. F...
Mark Filipp, shareholder and director at Kemp Klein, has over 30 years of litigation experience. During his career he has been involved in a broad range of business disputes, with extensive experience defending companies in employment litigation cases filed in state and federal courts throughout Michigan, as well as employment claims before the EEOC and MDCR. He also has significant experience defending companies, directors, and officers against claims of shareholder oppression, breach of fid...
Jeffrey J. Fraser represents public and private employers across the country in employment and labor relations matters. He has extensive experience counseling employers regarding Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) [disability management] issues; anti-harassment matters; effective discipline and discharge, union avoidance, collective bargaining, employment discrimination avoidance, and administrative agency matters. Mr. Fraser has an advanced understanding o...
Roderick D. Gillum is a principal in the Detroit, Michigan, office of Jackson Lewis P.C and co-leader of the firm’s Automotive industry group. His practice concentrates on corporate strategies related to crisis management, labor relations, and legal risk avoidance, including managing strategic labor and personnel planning in the context of workforce restructurings, class actions, and corporate reorganizations. Rod has earned a national reputation for corporate diversity and public inter...
Mark Heusel is an experienced commercial business attorney and serves as the Chair of the Firm’s China/ASEAN Region Practice Group. He has more than 25 years of experience in representing multi-national companies in the manufacturing, retail and automotive industries. Mr. Heusel’s experience includes advising foreign companies in the areas of foreign direct investment in the United States, business formation, Greenfield investment, international trade, commercial transactional mat...
Experience Mr. Horton has been trying lawsuits for over 25 years. He primarily practices in the areas of business and commercial disputes, employment law, and real estate cases. Many cases are related to the automobile industry. Bill is certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, the foremost national organization to certify trial skills. In business litigation, Bill has tried numerous shareholder disputes, claims of misappropriation of trade secrets, breach...
Timothy H. Howlett is a Member and the Labor and Employment Practice Leader. Mr. Howlett focuses his practice on labor & employment counseling and labor & employment litigation. He has significant trial experience, including cases defending wrongful termination, race discrimination, disability discrimination, sex discrimination, due process and religious discrimination claims. He has represented clients in labor and employment administrative claims and arbitrations in several states i...
Maurice G. Jenkins is a principal in the Detroit, Michigan, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. He has practiced labor and employment law for more than 30 years. A trial lawyer, Maurice, who is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, has first chaired jury trials, labor and civil rights arbitrations, NLRB hearings and state civil rights administrative cases on behalf of employers in such business sectors as automotive (OEM; Tier .5-4 supplie...
Dave’s “client-centered” practice involves a variety of labor and employment issues. He provides practical and confidential ongoing advice and consulting on a number of sensitive and complex labor and employment matters, from problem employee situations to multi-facility collective bargaining negotiations. His representative clients include diverse industries (such as automotive, printing, transportation and hospitals) throughout the nation.
David A. Kotzian is the managing member of David A. Kotzian, PLLC in Farmington Hills, Michigan. For the past 24 years, his practice has been concentrated in employment rights litigation, counseling, arbitration and mediation. Mr. Kotzian is a 1984 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, and also earned his Ph.D. in Labor Economics from the University of Michigan. He is the Past Chair of the Oakland County Employment Law Committee, and a past Council Member of the State Bar of Mich...
Labor and employment law veteran, trusted adviser and proven advocate Don Lawless consistently delivers responsive, focused advice that gets his clients where they need to go under the law, while leveraging their workforce potential and business objectives. Don focuses his practice in the pharmaceutical and health, food processing, manufacturing, higher education and service industries. His traditional labor experience is extensive and includes contract negotiation, grievance arbitration and ...
Craig H. Lubben is a Member of the firm and has been practicing law since 1981. Mr. Lubben’s practice is focused on representing business entities, executives, medical professionals, and other individuals in commercial disputes in state and federal court and in various alternative dispute forums. Employment and Workplace Disputes Mr. Lubben possesses extensive experience representing employers in complex workforce controversies, including harassment, discrimination, breach of fiduciary ...
Jon G. March is a former Managing Member of the Firm. He is an experienced trial lawyer handling a wide variety of employment, commercial, construction, and general civil litigation. In addition to his trial practice, he is an experienced facilitative mediator and has successfully mediated to settlement hundreds of cases involving nearly every substantive area of the law. He completed the Harvard Law School Mediation Workshop in 1998. Mr. March is a Fellow of several distinguished law-related...
Sam Morgan advises and represents both individual employees and some employers in employment rights disputes, both in the private and public sector. His law practice includes the litigation of a wide variety of disputes ranging from non-payment of wages, sales commissions or overtime pay, breach of employment contract, illegal employment discrimination, sexual harassment, racial harassment, illegal retaliation, whistleblower retaliation, FMLA violations, non-compete and other restrictive cove...
Larry is an experienced trial attorney concentrating on the defense of individuals and organizations in employment litigation, including matters involving discrimination, harassment, wrongful discharge, and employment contracts. He has extensive experience advising employers on executive employment contracts, personnel policies and procedures, discipline issues, corporate downsizing, trade secret and non-compete agreements, and drug and alcohol testing. Larry is licensed to practice law in th...
As a mediator, investigator, consultant, litigator, negotiator and arbitrator, Patricia Nemeth, Of Counsel, at Nemeth Law, P.C., which specializes in management, labor and employment law. Certified by the American Arbitration Association as a Commercial and Employment Certified Arbitrator, she is also a Certified Mediator for the International Mediation Institute and the state of Michigan. Ms. Nemeth is certified as an investigator for the Association of Workplace Investigation and ATIXA Civi...
Energetic, confident and a natural-born negotiator, Grant Pecor focuses his practice exclusively on the representation of employers. As a result of negotiating hundreds of agreements over the course of his career, he instinctively knows which way to go and when – by watching all the moves and strategically playing all the cards he is dealt. Leaning on more than 20 years of knowledge and experience in reading a table, Grant seeks out common ground to reach his client’s objectives. ...
Bill has been the chairman of Varnum’s Trial Practice Group since 2007. He has served firm clients for over three decades in litigation matters that have been resolved through arbitrations, mediations, and bench and jury trials. Bill also oversees Varnum's construction litigation practice area. He is one of two Varnum partners who serve as a Practice Management Leader, through which he assists and guides Varnum lawyers in the conduct of their practice efforts.
Perrin Rynders has successfully prosecuted and defended a wide variety of business and commercial disputes, employment cases, product liability and personal injury cases, and tax matters. He has conducted jury and bench trials in federal and state courts around the country, as well as before administrative tribunals and arbitrators, and has resolved disputes as a facilitative mediator.
Beth is a partner in the labor and employment practice group, focusing on employment issues and litigation. She has counseled business clients on a variety of matters affecting the workplace, including effective employee handbooks and policies, disciplinary and dispute resolution procedures, discrimination issues, disability accommodation, wage-hour matters, family medical leave, and harassment and litigation prevention. When litigation is unavoidable, Beth has significant experience represen...
Mr. Smith practices primarily in the areas of employment law, civil litigation, contracts, business and corporate law, construction law, federal government contracts, and postal law. He has unique expertise in federal sector employment law and represents employees of federal agencies in many forums. Mr. Smith has extensive litigation experience in these areas and has appeared before federal district courts, courts of appeal, bankruptcy courts, boards of contract appeal, the Equal Employment O...
Peter is a trial attorney with a focus on business litigation defense (FSLA, Product Liability Defense, Malpractice Defense) as well as significant experience in personal injury, wrongful death, auto and trucking litigation. Peter is certified in Alternative Dispute Resolution for practice in the U.S. District Court for Western District of Michigan and in Michigan circuit courts.
An accomplished legal counselor with years of experience advising on the complex issues employers face daily, Jenny serves as a skilled problem-solver and defender of employers across the country. Through negotiation, mediation, court dismissals and representation before juries, Jenny brings to bear a pragmatic approach to risk management. Jenny’s labor and employment practice is national in scope, and Fortune 500 multinational clients and other public and private companies seek her rep...
Kathryn Wood focuses her practice on employment litigation, commercial litigation and appellate practice, including discrimination, harassment and whistleblower/retaliation claims, class actions, non-compete/non-solicitation matters, defamation clams, contract disputes, fraud claims, and business tort claims. She is also an experienced advisor to employers regarding employment issues that arise outside of the litigation context.
Sharon is a world-class litigator, as well as the longtime leader of the firm and current chair of the firm's Litigation Department. She is a riveting trial lawyer and a formidable advocate for clients. Sharon's practice focuses on business litigation (commercial and complex litigation, construction, securities, intellectual property litigation, employment litigation, class action litigation, professional malpractice defense).
Elyse K. Culberson is an associate in the Detroit, Michigan, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. Her practice focuses exclusively on representing employers in workplace law matters, including preventative advice and counseling and litigation, including complex litigation and class actions. Elyse defends employers in single and multi-plaintiff lawsuits brought under various state and federal employment laws, including the ADA, ADEA, FLSA, FMLA, Title VII, Michigan’s equivalent statutes and comm...
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