Labor and Employment

LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT

Safety, Health & Environmental Law

Our attorneys are among the most experienced in the nation in handling interface with complex multi-agency investigations of workplace accidents, fatalities, chemical releases, and wall to wall inspections, and contestment of any resultant citations. In coordination with our environmental law practice group, we have handled both criminal and civil safety, health and environmental issues before various agencies regulating workplace environment, safety and health.

Our attorneys frequently advise employers such as manufacturers, shipyards, chemical plants, contractors and employer associations regarding technically and economically feasible alternatives for compliance with safety, health and environmental standards. We have litigated significant issues regarding constitutional or statutory limitations on agency authority. Firm attorneys speak regularly to national forums held by NELI, ALI-ABA and ASSE; assert leadership on the OSHA Committee of the Labor Relations and Employment Law Section of the American Bar Association; provide counsel to associations such as the Voluntary Protection Program Participants Association (VPPPA); and edit the premier treatises on Louisiana, nationwide and international safety, health and environmental law.

Our expertise combined with the close working relationship we have fostered with all levels of regulators has facilitated achievement of client objectives consistent with the statutory purposes of the safety, health and environmental agencies.

We have particular expertise in handling regulatory responses to catastrophic incidents by: Chemical Manufacturer Accident Investigation Board (CMX), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Federal Railway Administration (FRA), Bureau of Explosives (BOE), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state departments of environmental quality (DEQ), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Chemical Accident Investigation Board, State Police; State and Federal Prosecutors; contesting citations issues under various State OSHA plans; and litigating matters before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Committee.

Negotiating and Administering Union Contracts

Our Firm represents many large national employers who have facilities whose employees are represented by unions and advise them regarding negotiation and administration of collective bargaining agreements. We have arbitrated under FMCS, AAA or Civil Service procedures more than 500 formal personnel grievances, in both the private and public sectors, in the past 35 years.

This work includes:

  • Rejection of a collective bargaining agreement under the Bankruptcy Code.

  • Successful defense of grievances by labor unions on contract interpretation issues such as sub-contracting, reduction in force, transfer clauses, shift schedule changes, drug and alcohol testing, smoke-free workplace policies, unilateral implementation of zero-tolerance policy; and on discipline issues such as discharge for violation of alcohol policy, violation of drug policy, insubordination, poor performance, abusive conduct, sexual harassment, attendance problems, manifestation of homicidal tendencies, and operational errors.

Strikes, Picketing and Boycotts

Our Firm has assisted employers in responding to strikes, picketing and boycotts, including successful petitions for injunctions to enforce no-strike clauses of collective bargaining agreements and injunctions against mass and violent picketing, regulating illegal strike and secondary boycott activity through National Labor Relations Board procedures. This work includes:

  • Successful management of nine month grocery strike which resulted in union accepting company's final offer made at outset of strike.

Traditional Labor Law and Maintaining Non-Union Status

Our attorneys are among the most experienced in the nation in all areas of traditional labor law, such as counseling union-free employers regarding effective responses to union organizing campaigns and handling unfair labor practice charges before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In addition, the Firm counsels clients regarding the development of lawful positive employment practices and employee relations programs designed to foster employee support for union-free status. The Firm's attorneys are among the most experienced in the nation in preparing and presenting evidence and legal arguments before the National Labor Relations Board and the federal courts arising out of union organizing efforts. This work includes:

  • Maintaining non-union status for over thirty years of largest non-union steel fabricator, including NLRB election victories culminating five distinct Steelworkers, Boiler-makers and Teamsters organizing drives.

  • In connection with the above representation, countering of five year Metal Trades Council organizing drive - most heavily AFL-CIO financed corporate campaign in history - culminating in landmark fifth circuit decision overturning a union victory because of the NLRB Region's failure to adopt procedures that we recommended to eliminate the appearance of fraud in election.

  • Successful drafting and lobbying of first state law preempting local regulatory authorities from requiring labor peace agreements (law adopted as model state law by ALEC, a national association of conservative state legislators).

Labor and Employment Litigation

Attorneys in the Labor and Employment Practice Group litigate in federal and state courts on the full range of labor and employment law matters, including complex class action litigation. Our attorneys have successfully represented employers in court on claims involving:

  • Pattern and practice discrimination

  • Sexual harassment

  • Civil rights violations

  • Overtime and minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act

  • ERISA

  • OSHA

  • The Family and Medical Leave Act

  • The WARN Act

  • Accommodations under disabilities laws

  • Wrongful discharge

  • Unfair trade practices

  • Breach of employment contracts

Our trial experience is in jury and non-jury trials and in jurisdictions throughout the country. Our attorneys have handled all forms of employment-related claims in arbitration proceedings, as well as in administrative proceedings before agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Department of Labor and parallel state agencies. Our extensive litigation experience from multi-party actions to individual claims allows us to provide our clients with a fully informed appreciation of the potential risks and exposures of their employment policies and decisions, and helps form the basis for our litigation avoidance work.

Non-Competition and Business Protection Agreements

The Firm's attorneys have successfully represented clients in the area of drafting, enforcement and litigation of non-compete clauses in employment agreements. We attempt to provide creative solutions to the difficult problems in enforcement or defense of non-compete agreements. We have successfully handled these matters in various business groupings, including the banking/finance, building supply, medical supply, heavy equipment, printing and entertainment sectors.

Affirmative Action Plans

The Firm has assisted employers to comply with Executive Order 11246 and 11141 by preparing plans, together with all supporting documentation, and responding to desk and field audits by the OFCCP. Our work includes the following:

  • Preparation of affirmative action plans and representation of employers through OFCCP audits.

  • Negotiating affected class settlements, and litigating debarment hearings for employers covered by federal Executive Order 11246 requiring affirmative action of certain federal contractors.

Developing Personnel Policies and Manuals

The Firm frequently prepares or reviews employment policies for compliance with federal and state laws. The Firm has a host of sample policies and maintains a source book of separate modules discussing the development of policies dealing with various areas, such as harassment, employee leave and drug/alcohol abuse.

Training and Seminars

Firm attorneys are asked by clients to provide in-house training to managers and supervisors on various aspects of labor and employment law. The Firm is equipped with state-of-the-art projection equipment and software for purposes of providing excellent visual support of written and oral presentations. The following are examples of the programs the Firm offers:

  • Harassment training, both for supervisors and hourly workers.

  • Basic employment laws for supervisors.

  • How to hire, evaluate, discipline, and terminate employees.

Wage and Hour Law

The Firm represents large and small employers in claims arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and various state laws governing wage, hour and child labor standards. The Firm's attorneys are experienced in defending companies in individual and class action lawsuits relating to minimum wage and overtime pay, vacation pay, child labor violations, back wage and penalty assessments, and issues related to automotive technicians, commissioned sales persons, restaurant and hospitality employees, and executive, administrative, and professional personnel. The Firm's attorneys have:

  • Successfully defended an employer in a jury trial involving a lawsuit brought for unpaid overtime allegedly performed "off the clock."

  • Represented numerous employers in FLSA back pay audits and litigation regarding hours of work, "white collar" exemptions, day rate and fluctuating work week claims.

  • Represented and advised the Business Council of Greater New Orleans on union sponsored "living wage" campaigns.

  • Successfully drafted and lobbied for the first state law in the nation preempting local variations in minimum wage. Firm attorneys then successfully litigated the validity of the law before the Louisiana Supreme Court, countering the AFL-CIO's "living wage" movement to authorize the New Orleans City Council to raise the minimum wage for all private employers in the city one dollar above the federal minimum wage.

Attorneys

George F.(Pete) Bloss, III
Boschert, Neville H.

Karen Clay
Steven R. Cupp
Susan Fahey Desmond
Peyton S. Irby, Jr.
Vikki J. Taylor


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