Holland & Hart LLP

At Holland & Hart, we evaluate every case to assess which method of resolution to use, including mediation, mini-trial, arbitration, or litigation. The firm has experience in federal and state courts, before administrative judges, in regulatory hearings, and in alternative dispute resolution settings.

Employment Discrimination
Our lawyers have extensive experience handling employment discrimination claims, including race, color, religion, sex, sexual harassment, national origin, pregnancy, disability/handicap, marital status, and sexual orientation. Our attorneys help clients by:

• Advising employers on programs that eliminate or minimize risks.
• Drafting or reviewing affirmative action plans.
• Participating in investigations or representing employers in litigation before governmental agencies.
• Litigating in federal and state courts.

Wrongful Discharge
We regularly advise employers on how to avoid wrongful discharge claims. This includes reviewing employee handbooks, preparing appropriate disclaimers, and drafting employment agreements.

Holland & Hart attorneys have vast experience representing management in wrongful discharge cases such as:

• Breach of contract
• Promissory estoppel
• Covenant of good faith and fair dealing
• Public policy discharge
• Defamation
• Intentional infliction of emotional distress
• Bad faith

Individual Employee Rights
The firm has experience in a full range of issues of individual employee rights. These issues include: employee privacy; AIDS; email, voicemail, and telephone monitoring; threats of violence in the workplace; drug and alcohol testing; and lawful off-duty conduct.

Whistleblower/Sarbanes-Oxley Cases
Congress gave whistleblowers at public companies strong protection against retaliation for reporting fraud when it passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. Holland & Hart attorneys have extensive experience assisting companies with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and investigations into and defending against such claims.

Employee Benefits
Our lawyers have litigated a wide variety of ERISA issues. We advise employers regarding pension plans, profit-sharing plans, deferred compensation, and other types of qualified and nonqualified plans.

Employee Safety and Health
A safe work environment is necessary to ensure the success of your business. Holland & Hart attorneys advise clients with respect to compliance with and litigation under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). We also have experience with the statutes governing safety and health in the mining industry, including the Mine Safety and Health Act (MSHA).

Workers' Compensation
Holland & Hart attorneys deliver comprehensive legal services concerning workers' compensation claims. We provide guidance on complicated interactions between workers' compensation and other employment laws such as the FMLA, the ADA, wage and hour statutes, and discrimination and retaliation claims.

Holland & Hart's Statement of Commitment to Diversity
We are proud of our tradition of fostering and maintaining a work environment in which the diversity of each individual is valued and celebrated. We believe that the contributions of each individual are essential to our continued growth and to our ultimate goal of providing excellent quality legal services to our clients, with greater creativity and innovation. We are committed to taking full advantage of the rich backgrounds and abilities of our people and to promoting a greater diversity whenever and wherever possible.

Diversity Pledge
Holland & Hart is committed to promoting diversity by:

• Making every possible effort to recruit, hire, retain, and promote diverse persons at all levels of employment.
• Promoting greater sensitivity to the value of racial, ethnic and other forms of diversity, through diversity and sensitivity coaching or training for law firm members.
• Inviting to partnership diverse attorneys who meet the requisite criteria.

Diversity Initiatives
The following are additional examples of our commitment and efforts toward supporting and achieving diversity:

• We make a conscious effort to ensure that women and diverse attorneys are included as voting members of our committees of importance within the firm.
• We work closely with law school deans and placement directors in an effort to identify women and diverse law students who are interested in working at Holland & Hart.
• Holland & Hart offers medical and other benefits to partners of gay and lesbian employees on the same terms as it does to spouses of employees.
• We created an Indian Law Practice Group and actively recruited Native American law students and lateral hires.
• Each year we contribute to such scholarship funds as the Colorado Native American Indian Scholarship Fund, the Sam Cary Scholarship Endowment Fund, the Colorado Asian American Bar Scholarship Fund, the Colorado Hispanic Bar Scholarship Fund, and the Colorado Women's Bar Association Scholarship Fund.
• In partnership with the University of Idaho School of Law, we sponsor a "Law by Day, Jazz by Night" each year for undergraduate minority students who have an interest in law.
• We took a leadership role in organizing and supporting the Colorado Pledge Group's Minority First Year Law Student Summer Clerk Program. Through this program, law firms agreed to add at least one diverse first year law student to their summer clerk program.
• We were involved in the creation of the Cross-Professional Business Networking Group, where diverse attorneys in our community can meet and network with non-attorney professionals of color. We view this as a way to help diverse attorneys increase their business development possibilities.

For more information regarding Holland & Hart's commitment to diversity, please contact Peter Houtsma at (303) 295-8259.