Employment law attorneys represent employers or employees in legal disputes over terms and conditions of employment. They specialize in consultations and negotiations to avoid litigation, and are particularly valuable in disputes over union organizing campaigns and collective bargaining agreements.
An employment law attorney is a lawyer who represents employers or employees in legal disputes, usually over terms and conditions of employment. An employment law attorney may be in private practice or work for a law firm, but some attorneys work directly for employers or unions. While these attorneys are useful in situations where employers and their employees are arguing a case before a judge, most are not involved in litigation. Rather, they specialize in consultations and negotiations designed to avoid litigation. When an employer opens a new facility, for example, consulting with an attorney will be a routine part of the planning process, to familiarize the employer with things like local labor law and union activity in the area.
Employment law in the United States seems straightforward enough, but it can be quite complex in certain circumstances, and you often find yourself embroiled in disputes over elements of your relationship covered by law, and having to argue your cases before a judge. Employment law attorneys are particularly valuable in these cases.
Employment law attorneys become key resources when an employer is the target of a union organizing campaign. A company that, in such a situation, and wants to fight the union, must first exercise due diligence and learn what actions it can and cannot take under the law. Many employers take union organizing efforts personally, and their response is often emotional. A good lawyer will advise against capricious actions and prevent the employer from taking action that would violate the employees’ rights or poison the employment relationship. Some labor law firms specialize in “union avoidance” and have accumulated a wealth of experience advising employers and even running anti-union campaigns.
Unions, of course, have competent legal assistance when conducting organizing campaigns and will be quick to assert their rights and those of the workers they seek to represent when those rights are threatened or violated. Just as employers can overreact to the perceived provocation of a union organizing campaign, employees can become emotional when their livelihoods appear to be at risk. Legal advice will help unions, and especially local organizing committees, to break the law or damage the employment relationship themselves.
Employers whose employees are represented by a union often employ the services of an employment law attorney to help with collective bargaining, and many unions also bring a lawyer to the bargaining table. This is a prudent step, even when the union-management relationship is friendly, which it usually is, because regardless of the good intentions of the parties, collective bargaining agreements must also follow the law. Neither side benefits from a poorly written contract.
Parties to a collective bargaining agreement will also ask employment lawyers to participate in formal dispute resolution processes, usually arbitration. Although the arbitrator in such cases is also usually an employment lawyer, the participation of lawyers from both sides of the table is justified to ensure that the rights of each side are protected and prerogatives respected.
An employment lawyer in private practice will generally tend to represent either employers or employees, although some successfully represent both. Most of the cases they handle, on both sides of the table, have to do with wage and hour claims, illegal discharge cases, harassment allegations and disability claims.
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