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Practices

Employers across the Gulf Coast region turn to Liskow’s Labor and Employment team for guidance through their people issues, from performance management, to labor relations, to the defense of discrimination, harassment, whistleblowing, and wage and hour claims, and to everything in between.

Overview

We help our clients navigate the full spectrum of labor and employment issues and employee benefit matters.

With over 50 years of combined experience, our lawyers act as an extension of our clients’ management and human resources teams, providing advice and training, and helping them avoid liabilities that can result from well-intentioned business decisions.

Our diverse group of clients includes local, regional, national and multi-national businesses in a wide range of industries, including energy, chemical, technology, hospitality, manufacturing, and health care.

Sound Guidance on Compliance and Best Practices

Liskow provides our clients with comprehensive guidance involving human resources questions and a myriad of employment laws related to hiring processes and decisions, wage and hour issues, performance evaluation, promotion, discipline, termination, reductions in the workforce, and response to catastrophes affecting the workplace.

Our labor and employment attorneys advise management on best practices for handling day-to-day personnel issues and compliance with federal, state and local laws, and we audit clients’ human resources practices and files to help them fill compliance gaps. We pride ourselves on listening to the facts and our clients’ goals and charting a course to achieve their objectives.

Liskow understands that a company’s policies and procedures are critical to its operations. Our team is experienced at drafting employee handbooks, employment agreements, non-competition agreements, confidentiality and protection of company assets agreements, severance agreements, contracts with labor providers, alternative dispute resolution policies, and policies related to harassment, discrimination, and the use of social media and company information systems. We also draft talking points for supervisors to use in employee meetings and management communications to the workforce regarding a variety of issues.

Your Employment Litigator

Despite a client’s best efforts at prevention, employee lawsuits and grievances are inevitable. The ever-increasing stakes in individual and class/collective action employment law litigation involving claims of discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, and unpaid overtime wages require trusted and skilled advocates.

Our Labor and Employment team has substantial experience representing employers in administrative, state and federal judicial, and arbitral forums. We have handled cases involving nearly every law governing the workplace, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Equal Pay Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and many other federal and state laws.

We also defend employers against claims of wrongful termination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, and other employment torts.

Whether a charge has been filed against you with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or the Department of Labor (DOL), a complaint has been made to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), or you are facing an I-9 investigation from the Department of Homeland Security or a discrimination inquiry from a state agency, Liskow has the expertise to provide exemplary litigation services. With an eye toward maximizing efficiencies and effective allocation of resources, we target our discovery efforts and frequently obtain summary judgments and dismissals for employers at the pre-trial stage of lawsuits. We are also skilled at negotiating favorable settlements in matters where our clients are interested in alternative dispute resolution.

Your Partner in Traditional Labor Relations

Organized labor in the workplace presents unique challenges for employers. We appreciate that our clients need a trusted advisor, a strong negotiator at the bargaining table, and an experienced litigator when disputes reach the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the courts, or an arbitrator.

Our team has extensive experience representing management in labor relations matters, including regularly handling labor arbitration of grievances under collective bargaining agreements. We have successfully handled countless arbitrations related to discipline and termination of employees, contracting out of bargaining unit work, permitting requirements, staffing plans and schedules, safety incentive programs, and dues withholding. Whether the claim relates to interpretation of a contract provision with far-reaching consequences or discipline related to a single employee, our hearing presentations and post-hearing briefs are superior.

We also have experience representing clients before the NLRB, including defending unfair labor practice charges relating to allegations of termination for union participation, interference with protected concerted activity, and salting, as well as defending against 10(j) injunctions. We help our clients navigate unfair labor practice charges through investigations, achieving favorable settlements when desired, and presenting the company’s case at hearings and, if necessary, appeals.

Notable Experience

Liskow’s Labor and Employment team’s successes include:

  • Defeated grievance alleging systematic diminishment of bargaining unit at chemical plant. Proved CBA contained no staffing requirements and there was a binding past practice of use of contractors as an efficiency strategy, which the union accepted. We prevailed, and the decision saved our client millions of dollars in additional labor costs.
  • Defended a major petrochemical company against a grievance alleging that it was systematically diminishing the union’s bargaining unit. Prevailed in arbitration by proving that the company’s actions were not a union-busting tactic, that it made no commitments regarding staffing levels in the CBA, and that it had a history of using outside contractors as a business efficiency strategy, which was well known by the Union.
  • Represented a global oil company in an FLSA collective action in which the employees of its contractor sought unpaid overtime wages. Prevailed on motion to dismiss company based on deficient allegations of joint employer status in the complaint.
  • Defended a regional health care company against ADA lawsuit filed by employee with history of breast cancer who was terminated for poor performance. Deposed only the plaintiff and obtained summary judgment dismissing all claims.
  • Secured Award dismissing contracting out grievance filed by union against global chemical company. Proved that employer had long-standing past practice of assigning work in question to contractors and union had acquiesced in the practice.
  • Defended major chemical company against sex, age, and reverse race discrimination claims of terminated lab technician. Deposed only the plaintiff and obtained summary judgment dismissing all claims.
  • Obtained summary judgment, affirmed on appeal, for major refinery in same-sex, sexual harassment case filed by terminated operator. Sifted through multiple claims to address the crux of the issue, which involved a personality conflict and not harassment based on sex.
  • Represented a Plan Administrator of regional health care company’s ERISA severance pay plan in action for severance benefits. Obtained summary judgment on grounds that Administrator’s denial of benefits was not an abuse of discretion.

We are known for these strengths

  • Being trusted advisors on human resources issues, with an emphasis on practical solutions and reduction of risk/exposure
  • Forming teams with our clients to tackle delicate issues and prepare winning strategies
  • Assessing lawsuits and grievances, developing the plans necessary to marshal evidence to support our client’s positions, and making effective presentations to judges, juries, and arbitrators.
Both the Houston and New Orleans office at Liskow & Lewis have top notch employment attorneys, who know the substantive areas of employment law and engage in good analysis and strategy for the litigation. The attorneys partner well with internal counsel and make our clients feel comfortable.
Best Lawyers Client Comment
Litigation - Labor & Employment, 2021
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