Labor, Employment and Benefits

Technological, regulatory and demographic changes – along with globalization – present companies with more challenging decisions than ever before regarding federal and state labor law, employment law and employee benefits.

Given the complexity of the current labor climate, building a relationship with one legal team that can guide you through new developments, explain your options clearly and help you to make thoughtful, informed decisions can provide efficiency and stability. Our labor and employment law attorneys, who exclusively represent management, are up-to-speed on your industry and can represent you in the United States and abroad in the full range of employment matters that affect your business.

Dedicated to Representing Management

Our Labor, Employment and Benefits Group takes a highly proactive approach in helping companies like yours head off problems and resolve disputes – but we are also prepared to litigate aggressively on your behalf if necessary. We represent management in all labor relations matters and fully understand current employment issues as well as the domestic and international laws and regulations that affect them. As a result, we are prepared to guide you in a wide range of areas, including employee benefit plan design, implementation and compliance, as we do for clients in virtually every major industry sector in the United States and abroad.

Geographic Reach

To ensure the most thorough and up-to-date handling of tax, finance and other aspects of your transactions, Holland & Knight – one of the largest and most comprehensive law firms in the labor and employment field in the United States – regularly enlists the talents of our highly skilled attorneys in these related practice areas. And as part of our international practice, we regularly counsel clients in employment matters abroad, as well as advise global corporations and businesses based outside the United States on all aspects of U.S. labor and employment laws and regulations.

A Proactive Approach to Avoiding Liability

Working proactively to help your company avoid potential liability for employment-related claims and lawsuits is a key part of our labor and employment practice. We counsel our clients on a daily basis on how to implement and enforce effective and protective policies and procedures. Our liability-avoidance services include a wide variety of training and compliance programs designed to help you identify and deal with potential violations of state and federal employment laws. Additionally, the training we provide your managers includes advice on handling performance evaluations, employee terminations and other challenging management issues.

The Holland & Knight Labor, Employment and Benefits Group can also provide your organization with corporate diversity and equal employment opportunity counseling, advice on union-management relations and assistance in developing a record-keeping system for employment matters – preferably, before issues arise. And because bad press can be potentially even more devastating to your bottom line than the measurable costs of protracted litigations, we employ every reasonable alternative dispute resolution method to help you avoid litigation. You can also count on us to represent your company in international arbitration of employment matters.

Vigorous Trial Advocacy When You Need It

In those instances when a dispute stemming from the employer-employee relationship cannot be quickly resolved, our skilled litigators and trial lawyers are fully prepared to represent you in federal or state court and before administrative agencies and arbitrators. Our employment litigation attorneys are part of Holland & Knight's Litigation Team, one of the largest and most experienced groups of litigators in the United States.

Responsiveness Across the Board

In addition to managing all aspects of ERISA, ESOP and other employee benefit programs – including the kind of executive compensation packages you need to hire and retain first-rate managers and leaders – you can rely on our Labor, Employment and Benefits Group for responsive representation in the following areas:

• business restructurings, acquisitions, reductions in force and relocations
• compensation and bonus programs
• class actions
• employment discrimination and affirmative action compliance
• employment-related torts, including defamation and wrongful discharge
• immigration matters
• minimum wage, overtime and wage and hour issues
• occupational safety and health
• responding to government inquiries and investigations
• restrictive covenants
• trade secret and other intellectual property protection
• union-management relations
• whistleblower claims

Experienced Lawyers on Your Side

Members of our Labor, Employment and Benefits Group have been selected for inclusion in leading industry publications based on their work in this area. A number of our attorneys are ranked in the Chambers USA guide, as well as The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers magazines. The group itself received national first-tier rankings in the 2018-2024 editions of U.S. News – Best Lawyers ® in Employment Law ­– Management, Labor Law – Management and Litigation – Labor and Employment. Legal 500 Latin America also ranked the group for Labor and Employment in Colombia in the 2024 edition.