Labor, Employment Law and Employee Benefits practice at Pullman & Comley provides counseling and training to human resources executives and other members of management on a wide range of personnel policies, practices and other employment-related topics that will help them avoid litigation. Our goal is to assist our clients in developing and maintaining employee relations programs that meet the dictates of the current laws and serve to maximize their business objectives.
These programs include the following:
- Developing customized strategies to address hiring, performance issues, discipline and discharge
- Assisting in planning and implementing workforce reductions
- Drafting and designing personnel policies and employee handbooks
- Negotiating employment contracts and severance agreements
- Interpreting and applying wage and hour laws
- Resisting union organizing drives and managing representation elections
- Resolving union contract and discipline disputes through grievance procedures and arbitration
- Designing noncompete agreements
- Training and education on anti-harassment policies and procedures
- Supervisory training regarding employment law, practice, and policy
- Drafting affirmative action plans
- Assisting in analyzing and implementing reasonable accommodation issues for religious and disability matters
Labor and Employment Litigation
Our attorneys are experienced in litigating employment-related disputes in federal and state courts, FINRA arbitration panels and administrative agencies. The firm has negotiated and defended employment-related claims including, but not limited to, claims based on age, sex, race, religion and national origin discrimination.
Our attorneys are experienced in the following:
- Representing clients before the Office of Federal Workplace Compliance Programs (OFCCP)
- Representing clients before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- Litigating cases before panels and administrative agencies
- Handling workers’ compensation retaliation matters
- Enforcing and challenging noncompete agreements
- Applying OSHA regulations
- Defending OSHA prosecutions
- Representation in OFCCP compliance reviews
- Defense before the Unemployment Compensation Commission
- Defense before the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities
- Defense before the New York States Division of Human Rights
- Defense before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination
- Defense before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- State and federal court litigation: judge and jury trials
- Defense before the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor
- Defense before the Wage Enforcement Division of the Connecticut Department of Labor
Representative Experience
- Representing a Connecticut municipality in a free speech case litigating through the U.S. District Court, Court of Appeals, until certiorari was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court
- Superior Court trial of a disability discrimination case for an employer to a directed verdict
- Represent a nonprofit foundation, created by the Connecticut legislature to make and guarantee student loans, in a dispute with a former executive who claims entitlement to a separation payment equivalent to over two years of salary
- On an ongoing basis, advise many businesses, large and small, concerning their employment policies and compliance with state and federal employment laws. These clients include, for example, a nationally prominent architectural firm, a high-tech "incubator" of new software-based businesses and products, a broker and manager of mailing lists, a manufacturer of theatrical sets and scenery, and a number of medical practices and other law firms
- Advised a leading manufacturer of professional instrumentation, medical technologies, industrial technologies and tools and components concerning the closure of certain Connecticut facilities. This matter involved compliance with the federal WARN statute as well as with state law requiring continuation of medical insurance benefits
- Frequently act as local counsel for out-of-state law firms with national clients facing litigation in Connecticut
- Successfully resolved a disparate impact, national original discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC challenging employer-client's "English-only" rule
