Businesses - Schwartz Rollins Employment Law

We Represent Employers

Running a small to mid-size business is tough enough, but recently it has gotten even tougher as the number of laws and agency pronouncements regulating an employer’s conduct in the workplace is now at an all-time high. Regulations continuously change and evolve, and there’s no such thing as a simple legal question as anything can be challenging. You want quick answers, but high fees make you think twice about calling your attorney. Understanding these realities, SCHWARTZ ROLLINS serves as a trusted advisor to corporate clients and business owners on employment law and human resources issues. We work closely with employers of all sizes to align their business needs with solutions at a cost structure well below large law firms.

Whether it’s assisting companies in interpreting and complying with the many employment laws or helping with unique employment matters, SCHWARTZ ROLLINS provides a wide range of employment law services to businesses, including:

preventive counseling and training and assistance in developing, drafting and revising employment policies, handbooks and procedures;
assistance with personnel matters that arise in the normal course of business, as well as addressing unique situations as they arise;
development of employment contracts and non-compete, confidentiality and severance agreements;
defense of lawsuits and administrative proceedings including drafting position statements for the EEOC.

SCHWARTZ ROLLINS provides comprehensive strategic counsel in all areas and at every stage of the employment life cycle, from legal issues relating to recruitment and hiring, outsourcing and employee relations to reductions in force, terminations and post-termination noncompetition. We regularly navigate clients through federal and state wage and hour laws, leave laws and regulatory compliance matters, to avoid, resolve and prevail in employment-related disputes. SCHWARTZ ROLLINS works to provide practical advice and develop risk management strategies to achieve business goals and reduce the chance of litigation.

Specializing in representing small to medium-sized companies, SCHWARTZ ROLLINS prides itself on being highly responsive and ready to address the rapidly evolving needs of its corporate clients. Partnering with our clients, we place a premium on efficiency and effectiveness.

We offer a wide range of employment law services

Handbooks, Policies And Advice and Counseling on Personnel Matters

SCHWARTZ ROLLINS assists its corporate clients with daily employment matters that arise on a regular basis, including disciplinary actions, terminations, classification of employees, execution of medical leave policies, reasonable accommodations, sexual and other harassment, workplace violence and most other HR issues. Our attorneys provide proactive advice, training and counseling regarding workplace issues.

We focus on helping employers be proactive in their business practice rather than reactive. We do this by drafting comprehensive policies and procedures, training managers how to identify and respond to human resource issues, performing HR audits to identify non-compliant practices, conducting workplace investigations that withstand scrutiny, and guiding clients through the myriad of regulations and laws they face.

Our attorneys are also skilled at drafting separation, restrictive covenant, non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements – each customized to meet the goals and business requirements of our clients. SCHWARTZ ROLLINS regularly drafts employee handbooks, as well as drafts and negotiates employment contracts, separation agreements and restrictive covenants. Over the years, SCHWARTZ ROLLINS has developed a regularly updated handbook prototype to help businesses institute a new or revised employee handbook. SCHWARTZ ROLLINS tailors each handbook according to each specific client’s needs, their industry and the unique characteristics of the company’s workforce or operations.

Severance, Restrictive Covenants and Contracts

Businesses have been increasingly leveraging various employment-related contracts to bind employees, especially individuals in executive and management roles, to specific terms, such as restrictive covenant agreements that include non-compete, non-solicitation and confidentiality provisions. However, recently the federal and state labor agencies and courts have signaled that non‑compete agreements now face severe restrictions, and an outright ban could be on the horizon. SCHWARTZ ROLLINS can help you stay abreast of these developments.

In addition, many companies offer severance plans or agreements to terminated employees and individuals leaving their employment by agreement or retirement, SCHWARTZ ROLLINS has the knowledge and Experience to assist corporate clients in negotiating the terms of various types of agreements.

The Fair Labor Standards Act

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay employees a minimum wage plus time and a half for all hours exceeding 40 per workweek. While adhering to this law seems simple enough, the statutes and regulations are vague, complicated and cumbersome. For these reasons, the FLSA is considered the law that employers are most likely to violate, even unintentionally. To avoid violations, employers should regularly monitor and evaluate their pay practices, method of payment, employee hours, exemption status of salaried-exempt employees, and the process by which they calculate and compensate employees for overtime.

The obligation for employers to maintain proper time and pay records is critical. This requirement, coupled with the burden on employers to prove proper classification and pay, has resulted in an explosion of overtime cases over the last decade. SCHWARTZ ROLLINS understands this trend and has successfully defended many FLSA collective and individual lawsuits across a number of industries. To help clients mitigate their risk resulting from this trend, SCHWARTZ ROLLINS assists employers in conducting audits of wage and hour procedures, as well as general personnel compliance.

Discrimination Claims

Federal law protects employees from discrimination and retaliation due to specific protected categories: race, national origin, color, gender/sex, disability, age, military status and genetic information. These protections cover the terms and conditions of employment, including hiring, termination, harassing work environments, accusations of misconduct, failure to promote and demotions. Among the federal laws providing this protection are:

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Equal Pay Act of 1963
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1866
The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act of 1990
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act
The Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act

SCHWARTZ ROLLINS assists clients by providing advice and handling most all types of claims brought by current and former employees. Our attorneys have extensive Experience with arbitration, mediation and other alternative dispute resolution proceedings.

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