As we near the end of January, we will end the month with a spotlight on the part of our practice that involves employment law. Since we counsel many small businesses on a variety of issues, employment law is often weaved into the services that we provide to our business clients.
We represent small to medium size businesses on a variety of employment law related issues, including preventative counseling and guidance on compliance with state and federal law requirements. The matters on which we counsel our clients include wage and hour, restrictive covenants and trade secrets, policies and procedures, employment agreements and other related issues.
The most prevalent issues that we deal with relate to policies and procedures, restrictive covenants, and employment agreements. Business clients often come to us without policies and procedures in place. We have talked on many occasions about how important it is to have an employee handbook with the appropriate policies in place and we always reiterate this to our clients. We can either draft an employee handbook from scratch or revise and update policies if the client already has a handbook that needs to be updated. For our clients that have employees in multiple states, we make sure that they have the appropriate addendums for each state in which they have employees.
With respect to restrictive covenants, we have prepared and reviewed numerous non-compete and non-solicitation agreements over the years and are familiar with what is and is not enforceable in New York as well as certain other states. We have represented both businesses and the employees who were subject to the restrictive covenant in the negotiation of these agreements, as well as in litigation. It’s so important that both the employer and the employee know the terms of the restrictive covenant and what they mean.
Towards this end, we have also drafted, reviewed and negotiated numerous employment agreements, as well as severance packages. As with the other issues discussed here, handling issues relating to employment agreements is encompassed in the variety of issues that we handle for our business clients.
In addition to counseling clients on all of the foregoing issues, when a dispute arises, we represent clients in a variety of employment litigation matters. We regularly appear in state and federal courts on matters involving:
- Complex litigation, such as class and collective actions
- Wage and hour cases including defense of collective and class actions
- Employment litigation defense
We value the relationships that we develop with our clients and work closely with them to develop the best strategy for their specific needs. As we always say, being proactive and prepared can save you time, energy and money in the long run!
For more information about the employment law services that we provide, please visit our website at www.catinamara.com or call our office to inquire today.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this post is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation. We invite you to contact us and welcome your calls and communications. Contacting us, however, does not create an attorney-client relationship. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING.
