All businesses have something in common – they all have employees. There are a variety of regulations that impact employees from ADA, FLSA, Title VII, and FMLA to name just a few. Making sense out of the alphabet soup of labor and employment laws is complicated regardless of the size of your business and whether you are unionized or not.
The Labor and Employment Group has a diverse client base of private and public employers ranging from private corporations and health care institutions to school districts and municipalities. These clients include both non-unionized and unionized employers.
The range of services performed for employers is broad. The firm advises employers on:
- Discharge and discipline of employees
- Unemployment compensation
- Overtime requirements of the fair labor standards act
- The negotiation of individual employment agreements with new employees
- Releases for employees who are terminated
- Non-competition and confidentiality clauses and employment agreement
The firm also handles a broad range of litigation, including wrongful discharge claims and employment discrimination. The firm represents employers with respect to charges filed with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and defends cases in the courts on these charges.
The firm’s lawyers have successfully tried jury cases with respect to employment law matters, and, in particular, employment discrimination and wrongful discharge cases.
The services Tucker Arensberg performs for clients with unionized employees are collective bargaining negotiations, representation during strikes, labor arbitrations, injunction hearings, Act 111 Police and Fire arbitrations, and matters before the National Labor Relations Board and Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.
With respect to public employers, the firm is often involved in administrative agency and civil service hearings affecting public employees, such as teachers, police, firefighters and other civil servants. The firm advises school districts on issues of tenure and due process affecting professional educators.
The firm also has an Employee Benefits Department that advises employers with respect to the full range of employee benefits such as qualified retirement plans, annuity plans, Taft Hartley benefit funds, cafeteria plans, flexible spending accounts and severance plans.