The attorneys in our Employment Services Group understand that employees are often both a company’s greatest resource and its most significant potential for liability.
Proper management of a company’s workforce can therefore mean the difference between success and failure. Our attorneys team with the employer to ensure that the employer is following the best human resources practices and complying with all applicable laws. We are adept at counseling our clients through challenging work situations and collaborating with them on employment policies and practices that enhance, rather than disrupt, business goals and objectives. We help employers create meaningful performance review and compensation systems that improve the workforce and encourage valuable employees to remain with the company. The Employment Services Group also offers counseling in collective bargaining agreements and labor union matters. In all that we do, we are sensitive to client costs and strive to value-add.
Non-competition agreements and other post-employment restrictions are a significant part of our work. We know the complexities and nuances of the law and can draft agreements for our clients that maximize the protections available to employers for their intellectual property, business relationships, and proprietary and confidential information. For executives changing jobs and for companies who want to hire an employee under restrictions from a prior employer, our lawyers provide advice on the enforceability of non-competition agreements and other post-employment restrictions. We routinely counsel employers in how to effect terminations in compliance with the law and in a manner that reduces the risk of a suit or agency complaint.
Our Experience
Our goal is to keep our clients from facing lawsuits or agency complaints. But where clients do face agency or legal action, members of the Employment Services Group are experienced trial lawyers with an impressive record of successes. We have significant experience in Federal and state court and before governmental agencies including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations. We are highly experienced in litigating non-competition agreements and similar restrictions, both in enforcing and in challenging them. We staff injunctions relating to non-compete and similar agreements to maximize speed and efficiency and work with the client to keep the fees associated with the injunction as contained as possible. We also counsel clients through Wage and Hour audits and OSHA investigations.
Attorneys in our Employment Services Group routinely represent physicians in a variety of matters. In the current challenging climate for physicians in Western Pennsylvania, our depth of experience can be particularly helpful. Our lawyers can guide physicians through their employment contracts, non-compete provisions, and practice transition issues as they move from one employer to another. We also represent physicians in the purchase and sale of practices and in the formation of new practices, including drafting and negotiating ancillary employment contracting and human resources matters relating to new practices. Our representation of physicians includes providing advice on issues relating to Stark compliance and compliance with ethical guidelines.