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Labor and Employment Disputes

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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.

Practices > Labor and Employment Disputes
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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. Our experience is backed up by our national ranking in Chambers USA for Labor Relations (Band 1) and Labor & Employment (Band 5) for our “…experience representing management clients in collective bargaining negotiations and complex employment litigation.” We have also been recognized in Chambers’ Regional Spotlight New York Guide as a leading law firm delivering “specialized support to in-house counsel needs.”

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
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Labor and Employment Disputes

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Representative Matters

Won a Second Circuit appeal in a discrimination matter for one of the cultural institutions of New York.

Won an age retaliation jury trial for Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District.

Won a complete dismissal of three charges filed at the NLRB by employees of a home security company who were suspended for creating a workplace disruption in the middle of the employer’s office. The dismissal was appealed and then affirmed.

Won a dismissal of a charge filed at the NLRB by an employee of a telecommunications service provider who was terminated in a restructuring.

Successfully represented in a full panel hearing at the National Labor Relations Board headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Successfully won an arbitration, defeated unfair labor practice charge before the NLRB, and won the dismissal of an Article 78 proceeding in N.Y. Supreme Court following the termination of a resident superintendent for a property management company.

Advised national logistics company in successful settlement of wage and hour claims in Massachusetts.

Represented various companies against claims brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Served as outside general counsel to numerous mid-market companies, including those in the freight, delivery, logistics, restaurant, hospitality, and wine and spirits industries. Oversaw all aspects of their legal representation including corporate and transactional, financing, employment, real estate, and litigation matters, thus directly contributing to the successful operation and substantial growth of these businesses.

Has represented companies in cases involving allegations of sexual harassment, including conducting thorough internal investigations. After the investigations, we provided reports to top management, including conclusions and recommendations.

Has successfully represented several employers accused of misclassifying workers as “independent contractors” or “exempt employees” to avoid overtime pay.

Represented a high-profile company in an investigation by the Department of Labor into the Company’s classification of many workers as “independent contractors.” Were successful in proving to the DOL that all such classified workers were, in fact, independent contractors and not employees.

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 team oversaw the decertification of over 50 collective bargaining units.

Has represented multiple companies in both sexual harassment lawsuits and wrongful discharge suits.

Has represented employers before the EEOC and various state and local human rights agencies, successfully defending them against charges of sexual harassment, race discrimination, sex discrimination, age discrimination and disability discrimination.

Represented a major entertainment company by acting as chief spokesperson in labor negotiations throughout the nation. Over a 17-year period, were successful in reducing the total number of collective bargaining agreements from over 60 to 0.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Co-represented the defense in a thirty-two-party lawsuit in the Western District of New York arising from a months-long labor dispute.

Won preliminary and permanent injunctions against raiding of client’s employees by competitor and former employee working for competitor.

Defended health care clinic and physician owner in sexual harassment case that threatened the clinic’s continued existence.

Successfully defended auto collision repair chain in whistleblower retaliation case.

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