Labor and Employment Disputes

Barton’s labor and employment team represents clients in administrative actions, arbitrations, and state and federal courts across the United States. We recognize that employment claims eventually arise in even the best-run companies. Our litigation approach is built upon a deep understanding of this area of law, years of advising employers, years of litigating these issues, and client familiarity.

There is tremendous value in having a labor and employment partner who truly understands and cares about the client’s business. To that end, we take an active interest in what clients do, where they are, and who they hire. For most of our existing clients, we also provide labor and employment advice. We advise those clients with litigation in mind, e.g., documenting an employee termination in a way that could help facilitate summary judgment. We also incorporate lessons learned from clients’ employment litigation back into the advice that we provide them. Over time, this cycle often leads to fewer and less consequential employment claims.

While we strive for early dismissal of employment claims and embrace the opportunity to take cases to trial, we are always practical. At every stage of an employment dispute, we provide clients with a realistic, experience-based assessment of strengths, weaknesses, and potential outcomes and associated costs. If a client decides to resolve claims for business or other strategic reasons, we develop and implement a cost-effective plan to best position the case for favorable settlement.

We typically handle clients’ employment litigation nationwide. Through relationships with firms across the United States, we can generally appear in any jurisdiction. We believe that having a dedicated, reliable employment litigation team ultimately results in better results at reduced costs. In many cases, the Barton attorneys litigating an employment dispute have been involved in the matter from infancy. Clients do not have to endure the hassle and costs associated with attorneys meeting them for the first time and getting up to speed on the facts.

While clients can rely on us for virtually any type of labor and employment dispute, we frequently represent clients in the following:

  • Discrimination, harassment, and retaliation lawsuits filed in federal and state courts
  • Wage and hour lawsuits filed with the US Department of Labor and state courts, including lawsuits regarding minimum wage, overtime pay, bonuses, commissions, meal and rest breaks, tip credits, and tip pools
  • Unfair labor practice charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board
  • OSHA complaints
  • Lawsuits involving non-disclosure agreements, non-solicitation agreements, non-competition agreements, trade secrets, and unfair competition
  • Class and collective actions, including FLSA collective actions
  • Investigation of employee complaints and review of risks to help management determine appropriate courses of action
  • Labor negotiations; analysis of collective bargaining agreements; management of strikes, work stoppages, slowdowns, pickets, handbilling, and boycotts
Work in this Area

Labor and Employment Disputes

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Representative Matters
  • Chief Spokesperson in Successful Labor Negotiations
    • Represented a major entertainment company by acting as chief spokesperson in labor negotiations throughout the nation. Over a 17-year period, Barton was successful in reducing the total number of collective bargaining agreements from over 60 to 0.
  • Combatted 100+ Union Organizing Drives
    • Represented another large communications company (with locations in 40 states) against over 100 union organizing drives over a 10-year period. In the only 2 locations where the union was successful, both were decertified within 2 years.
  • Defeated Six NLRB Petitions
    • Represented a company undergoing a state-wide union organizing attempt. Of the six NLRB petitions that progressed to a government supervised election in one year, all six elections were won by the Company.
  • Decertified 50+ Collective Bargaining Units
    • Represented a nation-wide communications company (with locations in all states and Puerto Rico) by coordinating and conducting labor negotiations, successfully obtaining consistent labor contracts that maintained maximum management rights and efficiencies. Over a 15-year period, the Barton team oversaw the decertification of over 50 collective bargaining units.
  • Reduced Overall Costs of Labor in Negotiations
    • Represented a large entertainment company by acting as chief spokesperson in labor negotiations. Was able, in every negotiation, to reduce the overall costs of labor covered by the relevant collective bargaining agreements.
  • Defeated State-Wide Union Organizing Attempt
    • Represented a company undergoing a state-wide union organizing attempt in the mid-west. After 15 months, the union was not successful in gaining enough support in a single location to file an election petition with the NLRB and, eventually, they walked away.