Downtown Tampa and Brandon, Florida

Employee laws are now as complex as the tax codes. Just as you must know and understand the tax codes, so an employer must know and understand employee law. If a claim is brought against you or your organization, the courts will not be any more interested in your defense of "good intentions" than the IRS would be. All that the court is permitted to consider is whether or not you have followed the law.

Employee laws have technicalities which a good supervisor must know, and supervisors must know what they should or should not say or do in response to a personnel matter.

Managers may fail to take significant action quickly enough when a claim is made against them. Once a claim is made, there are specific actions an employer must immediately take. Failing to take the right action at the right time can result in the problem escalating into a lawsuit and becoming more difficult and expensive to resolve.

Perhaps more than in any other area, employment law disputes are won by how well an attorney has worked with the staff before a problem arose. My decades of experience with employment law has taught me that an attorney's skill in this area of the law is beneficial only to the extent that staff training has been kept current on how to handle hands-on situations. Knowing the importance of getting the law into the on-the-job reality, I provide training seminars on the subjects my clients request.

I provide advice daily to government and corporate managers on how to avoid litigation by understanding issues and problem areas. I counsel businesses and local governmental entities in avoiding personnel disputes and potential discrimination claims, such as EEOC claims involving age, sex, and race, as well as claims under the American's With Disabilities Act (the ADA) and The Family and Medical Leave Act (the FMLA).

I have prepared many corporate and agency responses to EEOC investigations of discrimination complaints made by employees. Prevention and early intervention by the appropriate staff means that EEOC responses can be built on a persuasive record.

I advise public clients on advertisements, interviews, hirings, transfers, promotions, demotions, resignations, disciplinary hearings, and terminations. I have prepared and coordinated personnel evaluations of high-level agency officials.

I have written personnel manuals for local governmental agencies and affirmative action plans for private clients. I have participated in agency self-studies of performance.

I am experienced in the procedures followed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Florida Commission on Human Relations, and I have given seminars on Personnel Practices, Employment Discrimination, and Sexual Harassment.

I have dealt with employment issues such as, "just cause" for termination and unemployment compensation.

My employment law practice includes the representation of employers and employees before civil service boards, counseling, and litigation of employment issues.

I have done extensive work in the area of personnel and I am familiar with the provisions of the Drug-Free Workplace Act in Sections 440.101 and 440.102, Florida Statutes. I am also familiar with the nondiscrimination laws, including: 42 U.S.C. Section 2000e, et seq. (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964); Chapter 760, Florida Statutes, and Chapter 22I, Florida Administrative Code (Non-Discrimination in Employment and other transactions); 29 U.S.C. Section 621 et seq. (Age Discrimination in Employment Act); 29 U.S.C. Section 206(d)(1) (Equal Pay Act); and 29 U.S.C. Section 793 et seq. (Rehabilitation Act of 1973), the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act.