Practice Areas & Industries: Holme Roberts & Owen LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (HRO) has developed one of the largest labor and employment practices in the Rocky Mountain Region. Representing regional, national and international clients that include large corporations, non profit organizations, public sector clients and emerging businesses, the labor and employment practice group of HRO consists of a number of attorneys who collectively are experienced in all aspects of labor and employment law. We are most proud of the following achievements and services:

• Our proven record of favorable jury verdicts
• Practical employment law advice and counseling
• Training programs and prevention strategies
• Successful handling of traditional union and collective bargaining matters
• Consulting about and drafting employee benefits and executive compensation plans

Services Available
Advice and Counseling

We advise and counsel in all areas of employment law. Our training programs as well as other prevention programs are aimed at reducing the risks of employment problems, and the possibility of litigation. We draft and review personnel policies, employment contracts, job applications, and other employment forms. When necessary, we help employers investigate employee misconduct, including sexual harassment, and regularly advise clients on employee discipline and termination. We also counsel employers on federal and state wage and hour laws, and assist employers in understanding and complying with the leave requirements of the Family Medical Leave Act and Americans with Disabilities Act.

We regularly represent employers in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies in lawsuits involving the full spectrum of employment law claims, including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, breach of contract, trade secrets and defamation. We have a proven record of successfully representing employers at trial and also have an impressive record of summary judgment victories.

Many of our cases have been class actions. Over the years our attorneys have successfully litigated virtually all types of class-action employment cases. Within the past five years, we have defended employers in class actions brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and Title VII. We defended the largest class-action age discrimination case ever filed by the EEOC, and utilized a creative mediation process to bring that case to a successful conclusion.

We have extensive experience with labor unions and the issues that arise out of a unionized workforce. Recognizing most employers hope to avoid unionization, we work with our clients to avoid situations that lead to organizing drives. When an organizing drive does take place, we have a proven record of winning union representation elections. For clients with a unionized work force, we advise and counsel during contract administration and collective bargaining negotiations. We regularly represent clients in grievance and interest arbitrations, and have considerable experience in responding to work stoppages, strikes, union demonstrations, and boycotts.

We regularly provide training programs for management, supervisors and employees. Specific HRO programs include sexual harassment avoidance training, understanding basic personnel and employment law, conducting workplace investigations, and reducing the risk of legal challenge when disciplining and terminating employees. Tailor-made training programs are available to meet our clients' special needs. We host an annual seminar and quarterly client round table discussions, publish a bi-monthly newsletter and offer an up-to-date web site.

Our attorneys have successfully prosecuted and defended numerous trade secret claims, including trade secret use and disclosure in numerous high-tech industries. We counsel employers in drafting enforceable non-competition agreements and have represented both plaintiffs and defendants in disputes arising out of non-competition agreements.

Our employee benefits group handles all types of qualified retirement plans, employee benefit issues that arise in business transactions, executive and equity compensation issues, fiduciary responsibility and welfare plan issues. The attorneys in the employee benefits area interact daily with our employment attorneys to develop customized, creative and practical solutions to employee benefit issues and problems. We have also successfully litigated numerous employee benefit cases.

We focus on building relationships with our clients by learning about the industries in which they work. Our goal is to assist clients in achieving their business objectives by providing high quality, cost-effective legal advice. In litigation, we engage in early case assessment and work with our clients to develop the most appropriate strategy for each particular case. In counseling situations, we adopt a practical, problem solving approach.

Our employment group has litigated precedent-setting cases in both the state and federal appellate courts involving issues such as the public policy exception to employment at will, the exclusivity of workers compensation, unconditional offers of reinstatement and the limitations on protection for disabled employees.