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Practice Areas: Labor & Employment
Latest News:
Judge Strikes Down NLRB's New Ambush Election Rule (5/16/2012)
Washington, D.C. Prohibits Discrimination Based on Unemployment Status (5/7/2012)
McGuireWoods offers clients access to 80 labor and employment lawyers across the United States and Europe. Our clients include local, national and multinational employers – from small businesses to governmental entities and nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies. We counsel employers in every aspect of the employer/employee relationship, including federal, state and international law compliance; traditional labor issues; internal investigations; federal contracting; and executive compensation. Areas of representation include:
- Human Resources Compliance
- Employment Litigation
- Wage and Hour
- Non-Competes, Trade Secrets and Employee Fraud
- Labor-Management Relations
- Affirmative Action and OFCCP Compliance Reviews
- Occupational Safety and Health
- Visa Processing
- Immigration Compliance
- UK, Europe and International Employment
- Management Training
We work with clients proactively to prevent, triage, defend and resolve internal and external workplace disputes, claims, and litigation. We also collaborate with clients to deliver tailored employment services in the most flexible, efficient manner possible, which includes the use of alternative fee arrangements, value-added billing and retainers. If litigation proves inevitable, our team is ready to aggressively defend our clients from federal and state civil rights and antidiscrimination claims, trade secret and employee raiding actions, and whistleblower and other suits. We also represent employers in a wide range of administrative proceedings, including on charges of discrimination filed with the EEOC and state and local human rights agencies, in DOL compliance checks and audits, and in proceedings before administrative forums and in federal court.
Recent Accolades
- Law360 ranked McGuireWoods in the top 25 of the United States’ largest labor and employment practices in 2012.
- Corporate Counsel named McGuireWoods a "Go-To” law firm – highly valued by Fortune 500 clients, and ranked 12th in labor and employment of 900 firms surveyed in 2009.
Human Resources Compliance
At McGuireWoods, we counsel clients to be proactive rather than reactive. We encourage employers to adopt positive, preventive approaches to employee relations at the earliest stage possible. To support employers in these efforts, we provide counseling and on-site training on a number of issues, including:
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Employment Litigation
Accomplishing clients’ goals while avoiding litigation is our primary objective. However, when litigation is inevitable, our team is comprised of seasoned trial lawyers, here to vigorously defend your interests. Examples of the types of claims typically handled by our group include:
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For additional information and representative matters, please click here.
Wage and Hour
Compliance issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage and hour laws are important for employers of all sizes. At McGuireWoods, we counsel clients on how to adopt proper policies and procedures to ensure compliance, advise on ways to minimize the cost of compliance, provide training for managers and supervisors, and assist employers in responding to government investigations. We also represent employers in single party, class and collective actions throughout the country. Examples of related services include:
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For additional information and representative matters, please click here.
Non-Competes, Trade Secrets and Employee Fraud
In today’s competitive marketplace, protecting a company’s trade secrets, proprietary information, assets and customer relationships is critical. We believe a proactive, preventive strategy is the best way to insulate clients from unfair competition and employee fraud. We can assist you in addressing:
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For additional information and representative matters, please click here.
Labor-Management Relations
Whether advising non-unionized employers on strategies to remain union-free or assisting employers with a unionized workforce in negotiations, labor arbitrations and defending unfair labor practice charges, our nationally recognized labor attorneys are ready to help. This includes matters relating to:
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For additional information and representative matters, please click here.
Affirmative Action and OFCCP Compliance Reviews
McGuireWoods has assisted employers with affirmative action plan design, preparation and implementation and related audit defense for more than 40 years. We can assist you in addressing:
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For additional information and representative matters, please click here.
Occupational Safety and Health
McGuireWoods has extensive experience representing employers across the nation in all matters relating to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, state-OSHA programs, and the Mine Safety and Health Act. Our team includes attorneys from several practice groups, including Labor & Employment, Environmental Solutions, and Toxic Tort and Environmental Litigation. This multi-disciplinary team is uniquely equipped to handle all workplace safety and health issues that arise, including:
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For additional information and representative matters, please click here.
Visa Processing
At McGuireWoods, clients count on us to obtain temporary and permanent resident visa status for foreign nationals to work in the United States, including the following visa classifications:
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For additional information and representative matters, please click here.
Immigration Compliance
In addition to visa processing, we also help employers comply with the increasingly complex laws and regulations that relate to employer verification of worker identities and employment authorization. We partner with clients to create effective I-9 programs, which includes training in the completion and maintenance of forms. We can also assist you with:
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For additional information and representative matters, please click here.
UK, Europe & International Employment
Because clients’ interests are not limited to geographic boundaries, McGuireWoods has teams of attorneys based in our offices abroad with experience in all aspects of international employment law. We can assist you in addressing:
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For additional information and representative matters, please click here.
Management Training
If the best offense is a good defense, a good defense is meaningless if supervisors don’t take timely action to spot and address issues on the ground. That’s why we offer proactive training to human resources professionals and mangers on numerous topics, including those below. We also provide training in a variety of “non-traditional” formats, including “Employment Law Jeopardy”, “Termination Deal or No Deal”, “Tales From the File Zone”, “Who Wants to Make a Plaintiff a Millionaire” and interactive role playing. Some of our training classes include:
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Representative Work
For a list of representative matters that reflect the Labor & Employment Group’s capabilities across a range of industries and issues, please click on the individual subject area links referenced above.
MORE INFORMATION
Joel H. Spitz
312.750.5704
jspitz@mcguirewoods.com

