No one wants to become entangled in an employment dispute. Costs can escalate quickly and the results are unpredictable. Failing to comply with a particular statutory provision, mishandling a complaint or having a gap in an internal procedure can have time-consuming, costly and long-lasting consequences.
Pryor Cashman’s Labor & Employment Group helps clients develop proactive measures to prevent conflicts and strives to resolve issues through mediation before relations deteriorate irreparably. Should litigation prove inevitable, we quickly get to the root of the dispute, providing zealous advocacy and a swift resolution.
What We Do
Our Labor & Employment Group represents organizations and individuals across a variety of industries, including entertainment, restaurant, hotel and hospitality, food and beverage, fashion, and financial services.
Specifically, we assist clients with:
- Day-to-day operations, human resources administration and management
- Executive compensation, employment agreements, ERISA and employee benefits
- Discrimination and sexual harassment claims, wage and hour matters, wrongful discharge cases and workplace misconduct charges
- Preventing the misappropriation and unfair exploitation of proprietary information and trade secrets
- Labor-management relations, including collective bargaining and grievance and arbitration proceedings
- Labor and employment issues in the context of business mergers + acquisitions, sales, corporate reorganizations and bankruptcies
When matters must be litigated, our skilled and experienced litigators are well prepared to defend clients before city, state and federal courts and government agencies, such as the National Labor Review Board, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Public Employment Relations Board, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining. We have arbitrated hundreds of employment cases, including disciplinary actions and contract disputes, and have litigated actions to enforce and vacate arbitration awards.
Proactive Workplace Strategies
Pryor Cashman works closely with clients to develop and implement strategies to mitigate liability arising from the employment relationship, crafting employment policies, and investigating and resolving workplace conflicts and problems. We help employers prevent the majority of disputes while ensuring compliance with a multitude of federal and state laws, including:
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We also conduct human resources audits of policies and practices for single-outlet local businesses and national companies with thousands of employees and multiple locations, as well as everything in between.
Demystifying Wage and Hour Laws
Our Labor & Employment Group both asserts and defends wage and hour claims, which provides us with a balanced perspective on the issues. We are particularly experienced in representing clients in industries rife with workplace and personnel challenges. For example, in the hospitality industry, our attorneys have defended more than a dozen high-profile wage and hour cases, including a multimillion-dollar case brought by more than 20 plaintiffs against an established New York City restaurant chain, which we settled on very favorable terms for our client.
The End of the Employment Relationship
Whether terminating a single employee or implementing a workforce reduction, employment transitions are often sensitive and difficult situations. We help companies and employees find the best way to approach and resolve any issues that may arise when work relationships end. Our experience includes representing high-level executives and officers in various termination and severance negotiations, and our attorneys have structured separation packages that maximize severance payments while minimizing tax liabilities.
