Practice Areas & Industries: Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart, P.A.

Practice/Industry Group Overview

You have a business to run and budgets to meet. You must also balance the needs and expectations of your employees in a workplace more regulated than at any time in the past, while protecting your organization from lawsuits and substandard work performance. At Gunster Yoakley, we understand these pressures. Our attorneys make it a point to learn client businesses so that our advice is practical, not legal "mumbo-jumbo". From healthcare to hospitality and high-finance to high tech, our attorneys have provided legal representation on labor and employment issues throughout Florida for more than twenty years.

Our attorneys are versed in the ever-changing employment law arena and as such, provide timely bulletins and "white papers," connecting clients to recent important legal issues. In addition, our monthly seminars on employment-related matters have been welcomed as a time-effective way to address the practical aspects of Human Resources. Our numerous on-site supervisory training programs, including harassment-free workplace and our highly praised "This Can't Be the Law" seminar, have been used by clients as a cost-effective means to prevent litigation.

Services Available

Whether developing compliance and claim avoidance programs or representing a client in court, Gunster Yoakley's Employment Law Practice Group members are skilled legal counselors. We move quickly, aggressively and efficiently to address client needs, and provide workable outcomes benefiting the employer's bottom line.

Service Areas

• Employment Agreements
• Employment Discrimination
• Employment Litigation
• Sexual Harassment
• Wrongful Discharge
• Americans with Disabilities Act
• Plant Closings/Layoffs
• Immigration/I-9 Audits
• Employment Counseling and Seminars
• Union Avoidance
• Florida's Drug Free Workplace Act
• Family and Medical Leave Act
• Employee Handbooks and Policies
• Whistleblower Actions
• Wage and Hour
• Non-Compete/Trade Secrets

Representative Matters

• Obtained sanctions against plaintiffs' counsel in a high profile matter involving race discrimination claims brought against an employer related to a large restaurant franchise. The matter, profiled in an editorial in the Miami-Herald entitled "Returning Honor to Law," involved more than a dozen plaintiffs who brought fourteen separate claims against improper defendants. Subsequently, every case was dismissed with prejudice for discovery abuse.
• Successfully represented an employer in a federal court action by a terminated employee alleging union activity and seeking an injunction for reinstatement under the Railway Labor Act. After a three-day hearing, a federal magistrate refused to issue the injunction on behalf of the individual and his union.

Clients:
Arvida/JMB Partners, AutoNation, Inc., Bank of America, N.A., Bankrate, Inc., Boca Raton Resort and Club, Capital City Bank Group, Inc., Chiquita International, Inc., Citrix Systems, Inc., Flagler Development Corporation, Florida East Coast Industries, Inc., FTD, Inc., GE Capital, Gill Hotels Company, Inc., Innkeepers Hospitality, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Jupiter Island Club, Lee Munder Capital Group,, Levenger Company, Lykes Bros., Inc., Murray Goodman Company, Park Avenue BBQ Restaurants, Pegasus Corporation of America, Pioneer Corporation, Pratt & Whitney, Ranger Construction Industries, Inc., Republic Services, Inc., Rybovich Spencer, SBA Communications Corporation, Seven Springs Golf Club, Smiths Industries PLC,, Sonesta Hotels & Resorts, The St. Joe Company, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Teva Pharmaceutical, Trump International Golf Club, Trump National Golf Club, U.S. Sugar Corporation, U.S. Trust Company, United Technologies Corporation, WCI Communities, Inc.