Regardless of the issue, we give our clients the advice they need for managing a successful business.
Dramatic changes in the workplace and among workforces of all types dictate that companies retain skilled labor and employment counsel who understand organizational and cultural nuances. With such understanding and expertise, Sonnenschein advises clients at every step along the labor continuum, including the broad range of litigation, workforce restructuring, compliance issues, employee training, and union-related matters and negotiations.
We represent companies in numerous types of employment-related litigation, including class actions, EEOC pattern and practice suits, discrimination charges and lawsuits, and other high-profile matters. We are involved in trade secret and restrictive covenant litigation and ERISA actions regarding single and multi-employer benefit plans. Our attorneys represent clients before employment-related regulatory agencies in all our jurisdictions.
We are adept at handling and managing a variety of transactions and workforce restructuring. We take a comprehensive approach to the employment aspects of corporate and real estate transactions, including due diligence, contract and claims analysis, negotiations, and the drafting of covenants and employment-related provisions. We recommend strategies for the sensitive separation of senior executives and employees in protected classes.
We assist in the investigations of Sarbanes-Oxley/whistleblower claims, employee misconduct, harassment, discrimination, and OSHA claims. In the employment counseling arena, we advise on compliance with the myriad of applicable laws, including Sarbanes-Oxley. We strategize with, and provide assistance to, clients in the formulation of employment policies, including harassment, electronic monitoring, FMLA and corporate compliance programs, as well as any other policy needed to run a business. With an intimate working knowledge of our clients’ cultures, we create employee policies, procedures, and documentation for every stage in the employment process from initial employment to termination agreements, and we provide particular guidance on compliance with specialized California laws.
Our work in protecting trade secrets and restrictive covenants includes a comprehensive review of restrictive covenants currently in place, developing procedures to protect intellectual property in the context of the particular workforce. Under the broad umbrella of labor relations, we negotiate collective bargaining agreements for companies with union-represented employees, counsel clients under the NLRA and RLA, ascertain the advantages and disadvantages of union avoidance, and assist in all union-related matters.
We are engaged to provide a valuable combination of transactional and litigation services to corporate clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to sole proprietors in most industries. Often working closely with our clients’ human resources departments, we partner with our colleagues across a number of our different practice areas including Corporate, Intellectual Property, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, Health Care, Public Law & Policy Strategies, Bankruptcy and other groups as necessary to provide seamless solutions to meet our clients’ needs and business objectives.
Our lawyers, many of whom are nationally recognized, include the former chair of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association, three elected members of the American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, the former chief counsel of the National Basketball Players Association and two former members of the Enforcement Litigation Division of the NLRB. All of our lawyers offer unique perspectives in counseling clients in these broad areas: litigation; employment counseling; internal investigations; mergers and acquisitions and other business combinations; workforce reductions and outsourcing; protection of trade secrets/restrictive covenants; and union-management relations.
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