Emerging and established employers are represented by Schwabe.

Overview

DAY-TO-DAY EMPLOYMENT ADVICE

Schwabe’s skilled legal team is a trusted resource that helps organizations navigate an ever-changing workplace landscape.

When unexpected or complicated issues arise with personnel, processes, and everything in between, Schwabe can help you confidently move forward in the right direction. From the hiring or termination of an employee and advice related to employee performance management or the disciplinary process to navigating employee leave or accommodation requests and creating fair compensation models and benefit plans, our employment team helps clients strengthen their workforce and ensure they remain compliant with the latest laws, practices, trends, and regulations.

EMPLOYMENT POLICIES AND CONTRACTS

Our lawyers lead with strategy and years of institutional knowledge to develop, draft, revise, and modernize policies, handbooks, and contracts to comply with current law and recommended best practices in the relevant industry.

We help businesses draft employee handbooks, policies, contracts, and agreements that cover various angles of employment law compliance and human resources considerations, including policies prohibiting discrimination, harassment, and retaliation; leave and accommodation policies and forms; employee conduct policies; employment agreements; non-disclosure, non-solicitation, and non-competition agreements; severance or separation agreements; reduction in force notices; and more. Whether a business is looking to increase productivity or employee satisfaction, our lawyers evaluate and develop personnel policies and procedures accordingly. By staying updated on federal, state, and local employment laws, we can help employers develop strong policies and business-minded legal solutions that provide your business with a strong foundation.

WAGE-AND-HOUR COMPLIANCE

Schwabe’s experienced employment team helps employers comply with federal, state, and local wage-and-hour laws to prevent wage-and-hour disputes before they arise. This includes advice on rest- and meal-break compliance, overtime, exempt status, employee/independent contractor classification, final pay, wage statements and deductions, and other employee pay-related issues. We also help businesses with internal audits or assessments of wage-and-hour and payroll practices and employee statuses and classifications to help identify and correct issues before receiving, or in response to, an internal complaint. We also help investigate and resolve complaints related to wage-and-hour matters and, if necessary, defend employers in resulting administrative proceedings, arbitration, or civil litigation.

Given the high exposure of wage-and-hour litigation and the liability of successor employers, most buyers pick apart a company’s wage-and-hour practices during due diligence. Schwabe helps sellers increase their value by auditing and correcting wage-and-hour issues before due diligence begins, including overtime payments and the classification of independent contractors and employees exempt from minimum wage and overtime laws. We also work with buyers to identify potential issues and uncover hidden risk.

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

Schwabe lawyers understand the underlying business issues in maintaining an employee benefits program and provide experienced, proactive counsel.

A comprehensive approach

We advise clients on benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements, including Employee Retirement Income Security Act compliance, fiduciary responsibility, benefits issues in mergers and acquisitions, withdrawal liability exposure, 401(k) and welfare-benefit plan design, as well as Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service audits. Our clients include employers of all sizes, such as publicly held corporations, governmental entities, and tax-exempt institutions.

Proactive counsel

We help clients design and administer retirement plans, including monitoring legal developments that may require employer action to preserve tax-qualified status. We also advise clients about the employee relations implications of health and welfare plans. Finally, Schwabe lawyers assist clients with the corporate and legal aspects of executive compensation and non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements.

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH (OSHA)

We work with clients across industries to help identify hazards and safety risks at their worksites so they can remain in compliance with state and federal OSHA laws and regulations. Schwabe lawyers often represent employers during inspections and defend companies in administrative hearings regarding citations. 

When accidents happen, we help clients navigate the complexities of OSHA standards and regulations to avoid claims when possible—analyzing the issues at hand and striving to support companies as they grow.