Employment & Labor

Wiley’s Employment & Labor Practice provides tactical, smart, and innovative guidance to clients concerning both everyday employment issues and high-stakes litigation that may impact their businesses for years to come.

In today’s business environment, companies can’t afford to ignore potential risks in employment practices. Over the last two decades, our team has achieved innovative and impressive results, successfully challenging laws, clarifying rules, structuring compliance programs, and representing clients in precedent-setting matters. We also partner with colleagues from other practices, with industry-leading subject-matter expertise to help clients proactively avoid disputes through compliance guidance, risk management, and strategic planning. At Wiley, we don’t just know the law – we know your business.

What we do.

We believe that understanding the complexities and relationships between ever-changing employment laws is just a starting point, and that minimizing risks and liabilities is essential to ensuring that our clients stay ahead of the curve so they can achieve their business goals without worrying about legal and regulatory pitfalls. We work closely with our clients to understand their unique business needs and corporate culture so that we are able to provide long-term solutions to routine employment challenges. Our ultimate goal is to enable our clients to confidently grow and manage their businesses while attracting, developing, and retaining top talent.

Our emphasis is on litigation prevention. We believe that interactive training and counseling on potential problems before they arise is far more productive than litigating them afterward. We are committed to helping our clients establish and implement employment policies that reflect the realities of today’s workforce and the ever-changing legal landscape. We understand that our ability to conduct a credible third-party investigation and implement appropriate corrective actions is an essential part of minimizing future liability.

Situations involving gender, race, disability and age discrimination, whistleblower complaints, violation of noncompetition agreements, theft of trade secrets, and wage and hour disputes can have an enormous impact not only on a company’s bottom line but also on its culture. We not only counsel clients in the multifaceted aspects of these employment issues, but we also provide guidance and actionable recommendations with respect to matters such as reputational and brand impact.

When an employment-related controversy arises, we know that providing timely practical and strategic solutions to help manage the situation is essential to mitigating risk. Our objective is to deliver a successful cost-effective outcome – be it through aggressive settlement negotiations or courtroom acumen. In the event of high-stakes litigation, we utilize our deep bench of forward-thinking attorneys from across the firm to build a team focused on developing and implementing an appropriate and winning strategy for the dispute at hand. Our employment litigation attorneys bring decades of experience in obtaining favorable results in both federal and state courts, as well as administrative forums, and in arbitral proceedings.

Why we are different.

• We understand that no two clients are the same. Our work is tailored to each client’s unique situation, objectives, and needs. We view ourselves as true partners in our clients’ businesses, where relationships and results mean everything.
• Because of our long-standing presence, relationships, and reputation in the DC legal, regulatory, and policy communities, we have developed a true “insider’s” view of the legal landscape. This not only makes a difference when predicting trends in the law and regulatory environment, it provides invaluable insights and contacts when working with government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the U.S. Department of Labor.
• We are able to draw on the capabilities of Wiley’s other nationally recognized practices to strategically navigate the unique regulatory and policy challenges that many of our clients grapple with. For example, our ability to partner with our Government Contracts group has allowed us to bring to bear deep expertise in devising compliance programs, compensation systems, national security hiring protocols, and post-employment restrictions that meet the unique needs of federal and state contractors.
• We believe that teamwork is everything. Regardless of the size of the matter, we know that having the right people in the room, asking the right questions, can be game-changing. Major employment-related litigation requires a team that can see the big picture, as well as work with complex, sophisticated policy and legal issues that often implicate several areas of the law simultaneously. By utilizing a multidisciplinary team with a breadth of litigation experience, we are able to provide the industry expertise, analysis, execution, and judgment needed to effectively tackle everything from counseling on best employment practices to “bet the company” challenges.

Areas of focus include:

• Employment Counseling
• Employment Discrimination
• Employment Issues in Government Contracting
• Employment Litigation
• Executive Compensation
• Noncompetition and Trade Secrets
• Public Accommodations Under ADA Title III
• Wage and Hour Issues