EMPLOYMENT

Companies with shortsighted employment practices risk long-term problems. Ezra Brutzkus Gubner LLP’s attorneys assist companies in minimizing employment-related liabilities and staying current and compliant with constantly changing labor and employment laws.


EMPLOYMENT LEGAL SERVICES

For clients in manufacturing, hospitality, apparel, bank and finance, transportation and other industries, we provide rigorous yet cost-effective preemptive counsel and representation in matters involving:

  • Wage and hour claims including AB 633
  • Employment discrimination and harassment claims
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration claims
  • Arbitration and mediation
  • Employment-related litigation
  • Fund audits
  • Union representation
  • Election campaigns
  • Collective bargaining agreements
  • Supervisor training
  • Multi-employer plan claims
  • Termination and employment agreements
  • Employee handbooks, policies and procedures

We represent employers, including manufacturers and contractors, in administrative proceedings before the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcements, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, National Labor Relations Board, and other state and federal agencies.

Increasingly, employment-related conflicts are heard in alternative dispute resolution forums. Our attorneys’ long success in labor-related arbitrations and mediations provides a strong basis for achieving favorable and expeditious results for employers facing mediation and arbitration when solving workplace conflicts.

Corporate Compliance Counsel

Firm attorneys work closely with corporate human resource departments, to support efforts to keep company policies and procedures in line with the ever-evolving employment laws.

As highly experienced outside counsel and business attorneys, we provide a well-informed, objective perspective and value-added guidance. From reviewing employee handbooks, updating existing policies and reviewing employee contracts, to advising on pre-termination strategies and anti-discrimination practices, our employment practice group attorneys fully address the challenges and concerns of HR departments, management and executives.


EMPLOYMENT REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS:

  • Dismissal of high-profile, alleged slave labor charges by the U.S. Department of Labor against a contracted supplier. Protected client’s reputation and business operations with swift and decisive legal defense.
  • Represented a national restaurant chain before the EEOC in sexual harassment claims made by four employees, including sexual assault. Following resolution, a firm attorney was appointed by the EEOC to lead sexual harassment training for the company.
  • Regularly resolve employment disputes, including wage and hour claims, with the U.S. Department of Labor and California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
  • Advised hospitality client, who was in bankruptcy and facing a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) claim. Firm attorneys worked with bankruptcy counsel and the client in achieving beneficial resolution.
  • Negotiated collective bargaining agreements for manufacturing clients and established two-tier wage rates and lower starting rates which reduced benefit costs and increased productivity.
  • Advised employers in apparel, hospitality, manufacturing and transportation industries in representational union election campaigns to defeat union organization under the National Labor Relations Act.
  • Counseled numerous companies and employers on structuring potentially high-liability situations; advised them on establishing protective measures and avoiding litigation in employment-related matters such as disability, termination, gender, sexual and age discrimination and sexual harassment.
  • Achieved dismissal of charges of labor violations against a clothing manufacturer in a contractor’s wage and hour claim case.
  • In a matter involving the California Independent Wholesale Sales Representative Contractual Relations Act, we obtained triple damages for a salesperson not duly paid by the company.
  • In a reclassification case, we successfully represented a client changing his status from an independent contractor to an employee and obtained benefits for the client that were otherwise unavailable.
  • Represented an employer in a dispute concerning the amount owed to a salesperson following his termination.
  • Ongoing representation of the fashion industry in employment-related government proceedings through the firm’s long-term membership in the California Fashion Association.
  • Devised plans for employers to reduce the workforce and avoid potential liability for various forms of discrimination.
  • Successfully assisted a motion picture producer in avoiding union organizing on film production in Los Angeles.