Employment Law Advice, Counseling, and Training

To help employers reduce litigation costs, we regularly review our clients' proposed personnel actions, including discipline, promotions, terminations, and layoffs, for potential discrimination claims. Clients come to Winston & Strawn for day-to-day advice and counsel on virtually every labor and employment issue that can arise, including:

• Affirmative Action and OFCCP
• compliance audits 
• disability laws and accommodations 
• discrimination and harassment laws 
• Equal Employment Opportunity practices 
• employee drug testing 
• employee privacy issues 
• employment-at-will and employment agreements 
• employment terminations 
• FMLA and other federal and state leave laws 
• restructurings and reductions-in-force 
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance 
• Section 17200 claims
• violence in the workplace 
• wage and hour audits 
• whistleblowing

Personnel Policies and Employee Handbooks. We help clients review and analyze existing policies and employee handbooks, and develop and implement new policies and handbooks that address such issues as:

• bonus pay
• corporate ethics standards 
• Equal Employment Opportunity laws 
• employee drug and alcohol testing 
• employment obligations for persons with disabilities 
• family and medical leave 
• maternity and child care 
• meal and rest periods
• overtime
• protection of trade secrets and company property 
• retention of email and other personnel records 
• vacation pay
• wage and hour requirements

Affirmative Action and OFCCP. Winston & Strawn also assists clients in the design, maintenance, and implementation of written affirmative action plans that are consistent with applicable law, implementing regulations, and OFCCP guidelines.

Acquisitions, Mergers, Divestitures, Restructuring, and Reductions-in-Force. We frequently assist clients with labor and employment issues that that may be important to the successful completion of a merger, acquisition, divestiture, asset sale, or other corporate transaction. This work includes assistance with:

• collective bargaining relationships and agreements 
• executive employment agreements 
• noncompetition and trade secret agreements 
• reductions-in-force 
• separation agreements 
• stay bonus agreements

Our attorneys also regularly provide advice to clients regarding their obligations under the WARN Act, and we have successfully defended litigation cases involving WARN.

Training Programs. We add value to our client relationships by providing on-site and online training on preventive steps and programs clients can take to help minimize their risk of litigation. We have developed a library of training materials addressing lawful discipline and termination, harassment avoidance, wage and hour concerns, and other issues, and provide custom-designed training programs at our clients' request.

Winston gives many client seminars each year in the area of labor and employment relations, including our yearly Employment Law Update seminars in Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. In addition, our eLunch Briefings © program offers a series of complimentary mini-seminars on employment-related topics over the Internet.