Employment Law

The Employment Law Group at Prince Lobel gets results. Clients rely on the firm's employment attorneys to identify and resolve issues before they become major concerns. If a problem does develop into litigation, our employment lawyers litigate with great success, representing a broad array of employers in state and federal courts and before government agencies. We also train employers to limit risk by devising and implementing sound employment practices.

The firm’s Employment Law Practice Group offers a broad range of employment law services including:

• Defending employers against retaliation discrimination, whistleblower, wage and hour claims, and defamation claims
• Advising on and litigating non-competition, confidentiality, and trade secret issues 
• Counseling with respect to critical employment decisions, such as terminations and disciplinary actions
• Drafting employment contracts and severance agreements
• Preparing employment policies and manuals
• Ensuring compliance with state and federal legislation, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act
• Conducting wage and hour audits and advising employers on worker classification issues
• Assisting clients in responding to investigations or audits by state and federal agencies and regulatory bodies
  
• Providing advice with respect to plant closings and workforce reductions
• Providing policy advice with regard to the use of email, Internet, social media and personal blogs
• Considering and pursuing alternative dispute resolutions

Training

Prince Lobel offers a variety of employment law training courses, and can tailor any course to meet your needs. Anti-harassment and discrimination training courses are conducted by trainers certified by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. A sample of our training courses include:

• Addressing and Preventing Unlawful Harassment
• Assessing the Need for and Providing Reasonable Accommodations
• Avoiding Pitfalls in Hiring, Discipline, and Termination
• Meeting the Challenges of Social Media Use in the Workplace
  
• Avoiding Wage and Hour Claims
• Basic Employment Law for Managers
  

All of our trainings can be modified for newly hired managers and employees, or for those requiring only refresher courses.

For more information on our Employment Law Practice Group or the firm's training programs, please contact Group Chair Daniel S. Tarlow at dtarlow@princelobel.com or 617 456 8013.

Representative Matters

Defense of Discrimination Claims

• Prince Lobel successfully defended class-action claims brought by employees who sought to represent all black and Hispanic employees denied promotions at the employer railroad. After months of factual discovery, extensive legal briefing, and a lengthy oral argument to the court, a United States district court judge refused to certify the class. The victory was significant for Prince Lobel's client, and had even wider implications for employers who may face similar class claims. 
• Prince Lobel attorneys defended their client and ten male supervisors against claims by six female former employees, each of whom claimed that she was subjected to gender discrimination and retaliation. Among their claims, the women contended that they received inferior equipment and were subjected to harsher discipline than similarly situated males who worked for the company. The plaintiffs sought compensatory and punitive damages against the company, in addition to attorney fees and costs. Prince Lobel's attorneys proved that, with the right facts, juries can get beyond first impressions created by "me too" evidence. After a five-week trial, the jury returned a take-nothing verdict in favor of Prince Lobel's client and the ten male supervisors.
• Prince Lobel represented a start-up technology company and the members of its board of directors in a case brought by its founder alleging that the company had engaged in age discrimination when it terminated his employment at age 79 in a layoff. Through an exhaustive presentation of the facts to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination at the prehearing stage, we were able to get all of the claims dismissed. 
• Firm attorneys obtained EEOC dismissal of gender discrimination and retaliation claims brought by a female news reporter against our client, a cable and Internet financial news program.
• A federal court awarded summary judgment to Prince Lobel’s client, a large transportation entity, three weeks before trial was scheduled to begin. The decision dismissed a long-term employee’s claims that he had been subjected to race discrimination and retaliation by his Caucasian supervisors for many years, including during the time period after an arbitrator ordered the employee reinstated to his former position as part of a union grievance proceeding.

Non-compete and Trade Secret Cases

• Prince Lobel represented a major sporting goods manufacturer in a trade secret misappropriation case against a former employee who went to work for a competitor. After employing an early and aggressive computer forensic strategy, Prince Lobel was able to bring the matter to a successful conclusion with a favorable consent decree which the federal court judge endorsed as the judgment in the case.
• Prince Lobel represented a start-up private equity investment firm in a non-competition lawsuit. Prince Lobel’s attorneys worked around-the-clock over a weekend to respond to a motion for a preliminary injunction that was served with little notice. Prince Lobel’s efforts paid off - the motion was defeated, and, once the injunction was denied, a negotiated resolution was arrived at that allowed Prince Lobel’s client to carry on its business.
• When an international vice president responsible for sales left the client’s employ to work for one of its chief competitors, Prince Lobel successfully prevented the former employee from competing with the client for the duration of the employee’s non-compete agreement by obtaining court orders restricting the scope of the employee’s employment in his new position. 

Wage and Hour Matters

• Prince Lobel defended a national magazine in federal court against an allegation that it had misclassified a sales representative as an independent contractor rather than an employee.
• After a disgruntled former restaurant worker complained to both the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office and the U.S. Department of Labor about wage and hour violations, Prince Lobel helped its client avoid a time-consuming and disruptive multiyear audit of its payroll records and convinced the authorities to suspend their investigation without issuing penalties of any kind.
• Prince Lobel represented an employer in an investigation conducted by the Massachusetts Attorney General into an employee’s overtime and minimum wage claims. Prince Lobel was able to convince the attorney general’s office not to pursue the matter.

Advice and Counsel

• Prince Lobel provided ongoing advice to a company that was trying to cope with a difficult and poorly performing employee who was raising unfounded harassment claims, and assisted the company in developing a strategy to discharge the employee for performance issues without giving rise to an actionable claim of retaliation.
• Prince Lobel counseled an employer on a strategy for evaluating and responding to an employee’s request for extended time off, including drafting written communications to the employee and his doctor.
• Prince Lobel advised an employer on how to respond to a potential threat of violence in the workplace, including coordination with a security specialist to evaluate the potential for violence and to develop an appropriate response to avoid inflaming the situation.
• An employer contacted Prince Lobel when it suspected that an employee had not been honest during a sexual harassment investigation. Our attorneys advised the client at every step of its dealings with the employee, from ascertaining whether the employee was, in fact, dishonest, to deciding whether termination was the proper measure of discipline, to executing the termination.  At the DUA hearing, the client had all of the evidence it needed to show that it acted reasonably in terminating the employee.    
• Prince Lobel advised a long-time client on a reduction in force by assisting the employer with establishing and analyzing selection criteria, and the analysis of demographic data. Prince Lobel also drafted all of the termination notices and agreements to comply with federal and state laws.

Other Employment Litigation

• Prince Lobel obtained the dismissal of a 17-count complaint brought by a police officer against his department in which the officer alleged various civil rights and tort claims relating to his alleged whistleblowing activity. By adopting an aggressive legal strategy, and mastering complex legal and factual arguments, Prince Lobel was able to defeat the claims early on, thus avoiding costly and lengthy litigation.
• Prince Lobel won a significant decision when the trial court awarded summary judgment in favor of our client, a day care center for the children of hospital employees. The decision is meaningful for employers as it confirms that a claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy is a very narrow exception to the at-will employment doctrine and does not constitute a catch-all cause of action. The court found that to sustain a claim of that type, an employee must identify a "clearly defined" public policy articulated by the legislature.
• A former employee of a high-tech company filed a complaint under USERRA asserting that his employer had failed to honor its obligation to rehire him after his tour of duty ended. Prince Lobel was able to successfully resolve the case by persuading the Department of Labor that the employee’s claim was likely time-barred and negated by the reduction in force.