Employment Law

The Employment Law Department is Delaware's largest. Its attorneys represent private and public sector employers in all facets of management-side employment and labor law. It is ranked as the top employment department in Delaware by Chambers and Partners USA for 2008.

The attorneys in the Department have extensive litigation experience and regularly represent clients in Delaware and federal courts (trial and appellate), before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. and Delaware Departments of Labor, the OFCCP, other federal and state administrative tribunals, and before arbitrators. The Department defends its clients against claims on a wide range of subjects including wrongful discharge, breach of employment contract, employment discrimination, unpaid wages and overtime compensation, unemployment compensation, unfair labor practices, post-employment restrictive covenants, Family and Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, privacy violations, and various workplace torts.

The Department provides its clients with day-to-day and long-term counseling aimed at preventing problems before they occur. This proactive approach includes counseling regarding personnel policies and practices, implementation and enforcement of arbitration programs, restrictive covenants, and employment law compliance audits. Attorneys in the Department routinely advise employers with respect to legal considerations involving issues such as hiring, firing, promotions, and layoffs. As part of this proactive approach, the Department's attorneys provide training tailored to meet a client's needs. The training for all levels of management encompasses such topics as unlawful harassment, responding to threats of workplace violence, conducting lawful and effective interviews, discipline, coping with the ADA and FMLA, and how to effectively document personnel actions.

The Department also works with its clients on traditional labor matters including union avoidance and decertification, developing strike plans, strike control and resolution, collective bargaining, and arbitration.

The Department is a member of the Employment Law Alliance and the Employers Counsel Network, networks of premier law firms dedicated to providing employers with innovative solutions to employment and labor law issues . particularly when those issue cross state and country lines.

The attorneys in the Department edit the Delaware Employment Law Letter, the only monthly newsletter exclusively for Delaware employers. They also provide a free resource to clients and colleagues via the Internet through the Delaware Employment Law Blog.