Labor and Employment Compliance
As one of only a few full-service law firms in Mississippi with a substantial labor and employment law practice, Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis has the experience and resources to provide sound advice and vigorous representation to employers regarding all aspects of employment law and labor relations. We represent clients ranging in size from small businesses with only a handful of employees to companies listed on the Fortune 500. Our lawyers are knowledgeable and experienced in the unique labor needs of many industries including:
- Banking and Finance
- Construction
- Gaming and Resorts
- Health Care
- Manufacturing
The labor and employment practice group regularly provides advice and representation in traditional labor matters such as organizing campaigns, collective bargaining, unfair labor practice proceedings, discrimination charges and lawsuits, and day-to-day employment matters. We also provide assistance in addressing today's cutting edge labor issues, such as handling major class action wage-hour and EGO litigation, designing and implementing employee health and welfare benefit plans.
Our lawyers are frequent speakers at national and local seminars on a wide variety of labor and employment law subjects. When circumstances warrant, we provide private presentations to our clients conducted by our own lawyers and by knowledgeable public officials on timely and important labor and employment topics.
Some of the services we provide are:
ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act)
FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act)
OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act)
Wage and Hour Law (Fair Labor Standards Act)
Employment Agreements
Employee Handbook Development and Review
Management and Employee Seminars
Collective Bargaining
Union Avoidance Strategies
Negotiating and Administering Union Contacts
Equal Employment / Wrongful Termination
The WARN Act
Title VII Litigation:
- Represented numerous employers in FLSA back pay audits and litigation regarding hours of work, white collar exemptions, day rate and fluctuating work week claims.
- Successfully defended an employer in a jury trial involving a lawsuit brought for unpaid overtime allegedly performed off the clock.
- Successfully managed a nine month grocery strike which resulted in the union accepting the company’s final offer made at outset of the strike.
- Negotiated a rejection of a collective bargaining agreement under the Bankruptcy Code.
- Drafted and lobbied for the first state law preempting local regulatory authorities from requiring labor peace agreements.