Practice Areas & Industries: Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP has developed a comprehensive practice in labor and employment to address the scope and range of our clients' needs. Clients include employers in a wide variety of industries, including utilities, banking, insurance, steel, manufacturing, airline and autos, technology, retail sales, maritime, securities services, individual executives and many others.

Services Available

Our services and areas of experience include:

Labor Relations Law and Collective Bargaining

• Negotiating collective bargaining agreements;
• Advising clients on grievance handling; representing employers in union arbitrations and National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) securities arbitration of employment claims; and Taft-Hartley 301 litigation;
• Representing employers in all proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board; and
• Advising clients in union organizing cases, election campaigns, picketing and strikes.

Employment Law and Equal Employment Opportunity

• Designing, drafting and implementing policies of all types, including discipline and discharge policies, employee handbooks, personnel policies and affirmative action plans;
• Designing and implementing reductions-in-force and executive compensation programs;
• Negotiating and drafting employment contracts;
• Responding to Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions and State Civil Rights Commissions charges of discrimination;
• Handling discrimination litigation on the basis of age (ADEA), disability (ADA) and Title VII cases (race, color, sexual harassment and discrimination, ethnic origin and religion);
• Advising employers on the implementation of the Family and Medical Leave Act;
• Litigating wrongful discharge cases under US state law; and
• Advising employers contemplating plant closures or mass layoffs about compliance with Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).

Labor Standards Law

• Advising clients regarding Fair Labor Standards Act compliance, including wage and hour laws, minimum wage and overtime issues;
• Negotiating labor provisions of US government contracts (Davis Bacon and Walsh Healy matters), including compliance and recordkeeping;
• Dealing with Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) audits and U.S. Department of Labor complaints; and
• Planning positive Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliance programs, handling inspections, citations and litigation.

A representative roster of clients for whom our lawyers have acted as employer's counsel includes:

• Aegis Insurance Company
• Public Service Company of Colorado
• Cajun Electric Cooperative Association
• Bank of America N.T. & S.A.
• Daihatsu America, Inc.
• Columbia Energy Group
• Pacific Gas & Electric (GTNW)
• Siam Commercial Bank
• Pacific Combining Corporation
• The College of Insurance
• King Soopers, Inc.
• BDO Seidman
• The Bayer Corporation
• Adelphia Cable
• Provident Life & Accident Insurance Co.
• Allstate Insurance Co.
• The Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa)
• Women's Professional Fastpitch
• Oregon Steel (Rocky Mountain Steel Mills)

Examples of recent representations include:

• Winning summary judgment for a major accounting firm in a sex and race-based Title VII suit;
• Obtaining favorable collective bargaining agreement construction before the National Labor Relations Board with respect to a utility employer's ability to contract-out union work;
• Obtaining a jury verdict for the defense in a bad faith insurance case against a major utility company, based upon its handling of a workers compensation claim;
• Successfully defending a major airline in Age Discrimination in Employment Act cases;
• Representing a major Rocky Mountain area grocery chain in Americans with Disabilities Act suits;
• Forming a strategy and implementation plan for reductions-in-force for insurance companies;
• Successfully defending a National Labor Relations Board "Electromation" case for the largest aluminum company in the United States;
• Addressing employee transfer and layoff issues in the sale of a substantial portion of a large food processing corporation;
• A favorable wage determination for a utility company in a union interest arbitration;
• Defending a temporary services employer in a Title VII race discrimination case;
• Obtaining summary judgment for a major cable company in a race and disabilities suit;
• Repelling a union organization attempt in a large ready-mixed concrete company; and
• Advising a large steel manufacturing company as to how to respond to strike and picketing activity of one of its unions and obtaining an injunction for the company against illegal strike conduct.