Most employment disputes are decided by documents written long before anyone was angry.
The approach
The department advises both employers and employees — counselling on policies, handbooks, discipline and termination on one side; pursuing discrimination, wage and hour, leave and retaliation claims on the other. Which side a given matter falls on is a conflicts question, resolved at intake and never afterwards.
The transactional half of the work matters more than clients expect. A handbook, an offer letter and a restrictive covenant, drafted well, dispose of most disputes before they begin. Taken from a template, the same three documents create them.
Major areas within the department
Handbooks, discipline and termination advice, executive agreements and benefits questions — the documents that prevent most disputes before they start.
Wage and hour compliance under the FLSA, medical leave under the FMLA, and the interactive process for a disability accommodation request.
Claims arising from a protected characteristic or from protected activity — brought by an employee, or defended on behalf of an employer.
Protecting, or challenging, an employee’s post-employment obligations — non-competes, non-solicits, and the trade secrets an employee may carry with them.
Internal investigations into workplace complaints, collective bargaining and union matters, employment litigation, and workers’ compensation disputes.
Resources
Representative matters
Details are altered to preserve confidentiality.
Questions
Are non-competes enforceable in Florida?
More readily than in most states, where a legitimate business interest supports them and the scope is reasonable. Overreach is the usual reason they fail.
Can I be dismissed for no reason?
Florida is at-will, so generally yes — unless the reason is unlawful, or a contract or policy says otherwise. The question is almost always about the reason.
Must we accommodate every request?
You must engage in the interactive process and accommodate reasonably. Undue hardship is a defence, but it is a high bar and it must be documented at the time, not reconstructed later.
Related
The first conversation costs nothing, and commits you to nothing.
