Elizabeth A. Schartz

Liz Schartz is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Dallas office. Ms. Schartz focuses her practice on representing management in client counseling and litigation of employment and labor law matters.

Ms. Schartz's experience includes litigating discrimination, wage-and-hour, employee benefit, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state-law contract and tort claims; counseling employers on sensitive personnel and complex employment law matters; executive compensation, change-in-control and separation issues; social media and data privacy and security issues; employee classification issues; reductions in force, including Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act compliance; conducting workplace investigations; and drafting and litigating non-competition and related covenants. She has an active workplace safety compliance, emergency response and litigation practice under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Act.

Ms. Schartz has been hired by public- and private-company governing boards to investigate complaints leveled against high-ranking executives and board members. She often is called upon by colleagues to lend her employment-law knowledge and experience on a wide range of investigative matters. Ms. Schartz also has represented private individuals accused of sexual or other workplace-related misconduct.

Ms. Schartz regularly advises companies on the labor and employment aspects of corporate transactions, including management buyouts. She also represents professional and executive-level employees in negotiating employment and severance agreements and arrangements. By working with experienced litigation, environmental and corporate colleagues, Ms. Schartz uses her employment and workplace safety experience to devise internal, external and regulatory responses to high-profile, emergency or other crisis situations such as privacy breaches, whistleblowing allegations, environmental or industrial incidents and employee fatalities. According to Chambers USA 2015, she is "very accomplished and extremely knowledgeable" and wins "particular praise for her OSHA expertise."

Ms. Schartz is Board Certified in Labor and Employment Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.