JEFF STARLING is the Chair of the firm's Labor & Employment Practice Group. His practice is devoted to the representation of employers in the following areas:
· Employment Litigation - Federal and State court litigation of individual, multi-plaintiff and class action claims of employment discrimination, retaliation, harassment and wrongful discharge, as well as claims arising under the FMLA, FLSA, and OSHA; prosecution and defense of non-compete agreements, theft of trade secrets and confidential information, and executive employment contracts.
· Preventive Advice and Counseling - Legal and practical advice on the development of human resources policies and practices, union-free workplaces, and day-to-day issues involving wage and hour laws and other legal considerations; creative and effective training for supervisors and managers on equal employment opportunity, labor relations, union organizing, harassment and positive employee relations.
· Labor Relations - Strategic advice and legal representation in union organizing campaigns and elections, collective bargaining, strikes and picketing; investigation and litigation of unfair labor practice charges; representation in grievance arbitrations and subsequent appellate litigation; advice on labor and employment considerations of mergers and acquisitions.
Mr. Starling is a regular speaker and has conducted numerous training sessions across the United States for diverse clients, including some of the nation's largest employers.
Representative Experience
· Represented clients in more than a dozen FLSA collective actions.
· Recently secured a TRO under Ohio Trade Secrets Act.
· Represented clients in multiple preliminary injunction hearings and cases involving business competition and trade secrets.
· Successfully defended multi-plaintiff sexual harassment case.
· Won multi-week NLRB "salting" trial involving a dozen different applicants.
· Won summary judgment in discrimination, harassment and retaliation case.
· Won arbitration over reorganization and elimination of bargaining unit jobs.
· Won discharge arbitration involving falsification of records.
· Won union representation elections involving Steelworkers and Carpenters unions.
· Won dismissal of two large class actions alleging insufficient wage payments under Section 301.
Professional Activities
· Listed in Chambers USA, America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Labor & Employment
· Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, 2008-Present
· Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition
· Alabama Super Lawyers
· Named to the Birmingham Business Journal's 2007 Best of the Bar
· Named a "Top Attorney" by Birmingham Magazine, 2009
· Management, ABA Committee on the Development of the Law under the NLRA
· American Bar Association, Labor & Employment, Litigation Sections
· Birmingham Bar Association
· State Bar of Georgia
· Alabama State Bar
News
May 10, 2011, Balch & Bingham Ranks Among the Top in Alabama Super Lawyers 2011
September 29, 2010, Balch Forms Nuclear Whistleblower Response Team
August 10, 2007, Birmingham Business Journal Names 23 Balch Attorneys to "Best of the Bar"
Publications
2007-2010, Associate Editor, The Developing Labor Law, 5th Ed., and annual supplements.
M. Jefferson Starling, III
2001, "Epilepsy Foundation of Northeast Ohio: A Case of Questionable Reasoning and Consequences". The Labor Lawyer, Summet 2001, Vol. 17
M. Jefferson Starling, III (author)
Speaking Engagements
April 01, 2005, SOX Whistleblower Decisions and Other Recent Developments
March 01, 2005, War of the Words: Etymologists Attack the NLRB (Defining Supervisors the Old-Fashioned Way)
April 01, 2004, Common Problems Under the FLSA
March 01, 2003, Selecting and Terminating Employees in Alabama
November 01, 2002, Strikes, Picketing and Handbilling
March 01, 2001, Extending Weingarten Rights to the Non-Unionized Sector -- "Fuzzy" Washington Thinking or Clear Federal Decisionmaking?
September 01, 1998, Sexual Harassment At The End of The 20th Century
Restrictive Covenants in Alabama
The Alabama FMLA Update