Employment Law Practice Areas
Advice and Counseling
The breadth and complexity of an employer’s legal obligations often require the specialized expertise Kiovsky/DuWaldt provides to our clients. We offer prompt and accurate advice on issues such as employee discipline and discharge, adherence to ADA and FMLA requirements, wage and hour compliance, work force restructuring, and employee loyalty and competition obligations. Our services range from responding to the occasional question to acting as your contract employment law advice counsel.
Litigation of Employment Disputes
We regularly defend employers against a wide-variety of employment claims, including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, trade secrets and unfair competition claims brought under state and federal laws. With our extensive experience litigating in state and federal courts, and before administrative agencies and arbitrators we can effectively handle your litigation matters regardless of the forum. We are experienced in handling jury trials, complex class action litigation, arbitrations, charges of discrimination, unfair labor practice charges, and administrative agency proceedings. Because of our years of in-house experience, we understand the importance of achieving results within your budget – always focusing on appropriately staffing and prioritizing litigation tasks to minimize your risk in a cost-effective manner.
It is often necessary for employers to conduct prompt, effective investigations of employee complaints to avoid legal liability. We have extensive experience in designing and conducting comprehensive, neutral, effective investigations. We also partner with human resources and in-house legal professionals conducting investigations.
We have extensive experience in drafting a variety of employment agreements, including employment contracts, non-competition commitments, retention and severance agreements. We also provide advice on the enforcement and strategic benefit of various types of employment agreements.
Wage and Hour Audits and Litigation
Claims that employers have failed to pay overtime, have misclassified non-exempt employees as exempt, or have permitted off-the-clock work pose one of the greatest current risks to employers. The explosion in wage and hour litigation, changing and expanding state and federal regulations, increase in federal and state audits and enforcement and common misconceptions make consultation with experienced counsel vital. We have experience in defending employers against administrative agency actions, individual claims and class actions. We can design and conduct wage and hour audits to determine whether your employees are properly classified, identify areas in which you are at risk of a claim for off the clock work, and help you implement solutions and draft pay policies to minimize your risk. We have handled many wage and hour lawsuits and can defend you at any step in the process – from Department of Labor audit to federal or state court lawsuit.
Mergers and Acquisitions and Reductions in Force
Many employment, labor and benefits issues arise during reductions in force and mergers and acquisitions. Proper planning and execution is essential to minimize your risk. We are experienced in advising on issues such as severance obligations, compliance with the Older Workers’ Benefit Protection Act (“OWBPA”), Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“WARN”) and similar state statutes, structuring your selection process to avoid claims of discrimination, benefit plan termination issues as well as performing deal-related HR, labor and employment and benefit due diligence.
Kiovsky/DuWaldt has extensive experience working with employers to prevent claims from arising in the first place. We assist employers in drafting handbooks and policies, drafting non-discrimination and harassment, pre-employment testing, drug testing, background check, document retention, discipline and termination procedures and immigration law compliance policies. We have created and delivered in-person and online training programs for a wide-variety of employment issues and conduct compliance audits to detect and correct areas of risk.
Starting a new business requires that you comply with numerous state, federal and local employment laws. Do you have employees or independent contractors? Should you classify your employees as exempt or non-exempt under the wage and hour laws? Do you need to withhold taxes, provide unemployment and worker’s compensation insurance? Do you have appropriate employment policies in place? The lawyers at Kiovsky/DuWaldt can help you find your way through the maze of applicable laws.
We serve as “virtual in-house counsel” to small and medium-sized businesses who do not have in-house employment counsel, and we supplement in-house law department resources during times of heavy workload. Because of our extensive in-house experience, we appreciate the challenges of today’s business climate and provide you with experienced, practical, efficient counsel when you need it.