Practice Areas & Industries: Roetzel & Andress, A Legal Professional Association

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Our team of Labor and Employment attorneys work cooperatively with inhouse counsel, executive-level managers, public officials, risk management professionals, and human resource departments to handle routine and complex regulatory compliance issues that affect the workplace. We educate our clients to help them clearly understand their obligations under the federal, state, and local regulations that govern employer/employee relationships. Our attorneys assist with the implementation of policies and practices to avoid common, but costly violations.

We represent both union and non-union public and private companies, not-for-profit organizations, public sector entities, including boards of education, entrepreneurial ventures, and professional associations across the entire spectrum of labor and employment issues. By partnering with our clients and understanding the details of their business operations, we are able to develop sound, proactive employment policies, protocols, and other preventative measures to avoid litigation. Our attorneys are highly qualified in administrative proceedings, with extensive experience representing local, national, and international clients before federal agencies, such as the National Labor Relations Board; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; the Department of Labor; Occupational Health and Safety Administration; Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation and Industrial Commission; the Internal Revenue Service; and state agencies, such as the State Employment Relations Board; the Ohio Department of Education; and the Unemployment Compensation Review Commission. We also litigate all types of employment claims and charges before administrative agencies and federal and state courts.

Services Available

Our workers' compensation attorneys are available to handle all compensation-related needs, including matters of temporary total disability compensation, permanent partial disability compensation, VSSR matters and subrogation issues, as well as issues of rating, handicaps and drug-free workplace discounts, and related court actions. We routinely represent clients in all areas of employee benefits, such as the drafting and revision of ERISA plans, COBRA issues, plan administration, tax issues and executive compensation. We also provide labor relations counsel and representation to public and private sector management in all facets of union-related matters, such as the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, election, certification and decertification procedures, preventing and dealing with strikes, injunctive proceedings, grievance and arbitration procedures, unfair labor practice proceedings, and, in the public sector, fact finding and conciliation procedures. Our counsel also assist and advise employers during union organizing campaigns.

Many of our attorneys are board certified in trial advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. We also have many Ohio State Bar Association board certified specialists in the areas of Workers' Compensation and Labor and Employment Law.

Representative Services

REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

• Civil Service
• Employee compensation and leave policies
• Employee handbooks and employment agreements
• Employee screening and testing
• Government contractor requirements
• Layoffs and reductions in workforce
• Occupational safety and health issues

LITIGATION

• Administrative actions
• All types of harassment
• Alternative dispute resolution
• Civil Rights law
• Employment discrimination
• Employment tort litigation
• Non-compete and confidentiality agreements
• Section 1983
• Trade secret litigation
• Unemployment compensation claims
• Wage and hour issues
• Wrongful termination

UNION MATTERS

• Contract negotiations
• Fact-finding, mediation and conciliation
• Grievance and arbitration proceedings
• Management representation during union organizing
• National Labor Relations Board proceedings
• Reductions in force
• State Employment Relations Board proceedings

WORKERS' COMPENSATION

• Adjudication committee hearings
• Appeal and mandamus actions
• Audits, classifications, and premium disputes
• Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) audits and protests
• Industrial Commission hearings on a statewide basis
• Intentional tort and retaliation claims
• Subrogation and third party claims
• Violation of Specific Safety Requirement (VSSR)

Representative Matters

• Tried the first Americans with Disabilities Act case to verdict in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division, and obtained a favorable result for the client.
• Represented a political subdivision and received a verdict in favor of the client in a race discrimination/race harassment case that received national publicity.
• Represented an employer in Federal District Court and the Sixth Circuit with respect to claims of reverse discrimination and wrongful discharge.
• Represented a medical practice against its former physician/employee and hospital for breach of non-compete and tortious interference.
• Managed contract administration issues for public entities, metro park systems, and a county sheriff's department.
• Developed and implemented numerous drug testing programs.
• Developed several employee handbooks, personnel policies and affirmative action plans.
• Represented companies in connection with workplace injuries and OSHA citations.
• Advised a large (2,000+) private employer regarding a reduction in workforce.
• Provide ongoing legal counsel in a broad scope of labor and employment matters to a regional transit authority for more than 20 years.
• Obtained a jury verdict in federal court in favor of a national retail chain as to an employee claiming sexual and handicap discrimination.
• Represented municipalities in cases involving violations of constitutional rights, including freedom of speech, equal protection, due process and excessive force.
• Defended numerous employers against discrimination, harassment, hostile work environment, retaliation and wrongful discharge claims.
• Served as lead counsel for a statewide association of managed care organizations in the Amicus brief filed with the Ohio Supreme Court in response to organized labor's constitutional challenge to the Bureau's health partnership program.
• Obtained a unanimous defense jury verdict in a complex claim and secured disallowance of an asbestos-related death claim, which would have cost the self-insured employer lifetime benefits.
• Successfully defended numerous allowances and compensation claims, as well as wrongful discharge, retaliation and intentional tort claims.
• Successfully negotiated with unions during the term of Collective Bargaining Agreements to modify health insurance plans.
• Negotiated numerous collective bargaining agreements and handled a significant number of grievances, arbitrations and unfair labor practice proceedings.