Your relationship with your employees is undergoing constant and fundamental change.  In the last few years, employers – no matter how careful and conscientious – have faced an increasing number of employment discrimination and harassment charges while labor unions have also revived their organizing campaigns with new and tougher tactics.  Ropes & Gray can help you avoid and solve workplace problems.  We represent private- and public-sector employers in every aspect of the employee-employer relationship.

How We Help Our Clients

Labor and employment issues often call for fast action, and we pride ourselves on our responsiveness and can-do attitude.  With 15 lawyers representing more than 300 clients throughout the country, we are one of New England’s largest labor and employment practices and move quickly to help you whenever and wherever a problem arises.

Our lawyers include a former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) attorney, a former gubernatorial appointee to the Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), and a former attorney in the office of the general counsel at a prominent Ivy League university. 

Our clients benefit from our diverse experience and recognized expertise in labor and employment matters. We have helped our clients by:

• Securing a major victory before the United States Supreme Court in a landmark age discrimination case that established a highly favorable precedent for employers under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act;
• Negotiating a precedent-setting nine-year labor agreement in a major health care system, addressing issues such as potential mergers, consolidations, and transfer of services and programs among union and non-union facilities within the system;
• Defeating class certification in a Fair Labor Standards Act case that had exposed the defendant employer to more than $10 million in potential damages, ultimately settling the case for a nominal amount;
• Successfully defending a complex and unfair labor practice case before the NLRB, where our client was alleged to have fired two union leaders in retaliation for their union activities;
• Securing favorable rulings in four age discrimination claims against the same employer before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and successfully moving to vacate and reverse probable cause findings that had been entered previously in nine related cases, resulting in multimillion-dollar cost savings to our client;
• Securing favorable jury verdicts in two consecutive race discrimination trials for a not-for-profit federally funded research and development center;
• Representing a bank in its successful appeal of multimillion-dollar adverse findings by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs that had resulted from an audit of the bank’s affirmative action plans and non-discrimination practices; and
• Revising through collective bargaining the working conditions under which nurses within a major statewide home care agency deliver patient care services.

Practice Focus Areas

Employment Law

The cost of defending an employment lawsuit can be expensive in terms of monetary cost, impact to the workforce, and reflection on the organization’s public reputation.  To address these concerns, Ropes & Gray lawyers are helping clients avoid litigation and its attendant costs by anticipating and addressing employee concerns and by finding practical resolutions to employee complaints.  We also litigate vigorously on behalf of our clients when litigation is determined to be the most appropriate course of action, and in the great majority of cases we prevail.  We have handled thousands of cases in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies nationwide, including several landmark cases before the United States Supreme Court. Our services cover:

• Employment Discrimination Charges:  We investigate and marshal the facts to advocate and defend your position before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the MCAD, and similar federal and state agencies throughout the country.
• Affirmative Action Programs and Audits:  We draft affirmative action programs and help with required statistical analyses and presentations to the Labor Department.  We guide clients through processes and administrative hearings when on-site audits have been scheduled or when programs have been found to be non-compliant.
• Mergers and Acquisitions, Plant Closings, Work Relocations, and Layoffs:  Significant changes in business operations can raise issues under labor contracts, the NLRA, the WARN Act, state plant-closing laws, and federal and state discrimination laws.  We help clients recognize and evaluate these issues and develop strategies to minimize employment and union issues.
• Personnel Policies and Practices:  To strengthen an organization’s record of compliance with the law, we advise on, and frequently draft, the language for employment applications, personnel policy manuals, and other employment related documents.  We also provide training programs for all levels of staff and management.
• Individual Employment Agreements:  We advise on the employment of executives and research and development employees and draft a variety of employment agreements that include non-competition; non-disclosure and intellectual property protection; severance; and consulting agreements.  We also draft policies on the protection of trade secrets and confidential business information.
• Wage and Hour Matters:  We help resolve wage and hour matters and guide clients through Labor Department audits.
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Issues:  We advise on OSHA standards and regulations and can help clients prepare for compliance inspections.  We also defend clients at hearings if they are cited for safety violations.
• Litigation:  We defend employers in a wide range of employment litigation.  We have handled employment cases at all levels of the federal court system, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and before a variety of state courts and agencies.

Labor Law

Ropes & Gray has handled thousands of union petitions, contract negotiations, contract arbitrations, and cases before the NLRB.  Our experience helps us advise our non-union clients on responding to union organizing campaigns, and our unionized clients on the broad spectrum of issues that arise in union-management relations.  When litigation is necessary in the labor context, the full resources of the firm are at your disposal, including the services of specialized litigators who focus on labor and employment cases.  Our experience and success in litigating contested matters does not overshadow our dedication to the concept and practice of affirmative and preventive employee relations.  We are committed to counseling beforehand to help prevent serious problems from arising and, if they do arise, to explore all reasonable means for their resolution.  We assist clients with:

• Union Avoidance:  Ropes & Gray is frequently called upon to advise employers on maintaining non-union status.  We provide advice on legal compliance, as well as supervisory training focusing on effective employee relations and developing and maintaining positive two-way communication between management and employees.
• Union Organizing Drives and NLRB Elections:  We represent clients before the NLRB when they have received petitions for elections and help them respond to the unionization effort by developing effective campaigns that are appropriate for the organization’s needs and goals.
• Unfair Labor Practice Charges:  We investigate and respond to unfair labor practice charges brought against our clients before the NLRB.  We also practice regularly before the Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission. 
• Labor Contract Negotiations and Arbitration:  Our experienced negotiators represent clients in contract negotiations and strategize with them before and during the bargaining process.  Our experience with both traditional and interest-based negotiations helps us achieve successful outcomes.  We also assist in responding to contractual grievances and represent clients in arbitration proceedings. 
• Strike Contingency Plans:  We help develop effective legal and strategic plans for handling strikes and picketing.  We assist in the preparation of standby operational plans should a strike take place, and we advise our clients on how best to communicate with various groups, including the media, before, during, and after strikes occur.

For additional information, please click here to learn more about our Labor & Employment Litigation Practice.

Our Clients

We represent Fortune 500 companies as well as other large and medium-sized and small organizations in a broad and expanding range of industries.  We also work with educational institutions, state and local governments, health care institutions, and not-for-profit organizations.

Contact

For further information on this area of practice, please contact:

• Peter L. Ebb

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