Practice Areas & Industries: Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC

One of the greatest challenges presented to our clients is the integration of an increasingly diversified workforce into their long-range business goals. Our labor and employment attorneys are committed to counseling with and providing representation for our clients regarding their most valuable assets – their human resources. Our attorneys are experienced in all phases of the employer-employee relationship.

Much of the Firm's labor and employment practice is aimed at litigation avoidance by working with our clients to ensure compliance with employment-related laws and regulations such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Equal Pay Act of 1963, Work Adjustment and Re training Notification Act, Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988 and the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as numerous state fair employment practice acts. As another element of the litigation avoidance strategy, we have developed extensive training programs for client supervisors and managers in the areas of union avoidance, workplace harassment prevention, FMLA management and drug-free workplace, among others.

The Firm customarily represents clients in their dealings with labor unions during the election phases of union campaigns and the negotiation of any labor agreements. For clients who have unions already representing their workforce, the Firm pursues management's interests in all phases of the grievance and arbitration process.

The Firm's Labor & Employment Group is ranked as one of the top ten Employment Litigation firms in the nation by Employment Law 360 and among the top ten labor and employment firms on Martindale-Hubbell, a global directory of legal services providers. Our attorneys have extensive experience in state and federal courts throughout the country defending wrongful discharge claims, various employment-related tort actions and state and federal claims of unlawful discrimination. Clients are represented before all governmental bodies charged with the enforcement of employment statutes and policies, such as the National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In response to the significant complications that the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act have brought to state workers' compensation claims, the Firm has also developed an extensive workers' compensation defense practice.

Our labor and employment attorneys belong to numerous nationally recognized organizations, and they regularly organize and conduct industry-specific seminars and roundtables on relevant topics in the labor law arena. The Group also regularly publishes and distributes legal alerts and industry updates to clients and potential clients.

The Firm's experience, reputation and proven cost-effective representation of clients' labor and employment matters have resulted in the representation of a growing list of local, regional and national clients throughout the United States.