Employment Law for Employers

Employment disputes are unusual among business problems because they are so often preventable. The lawsuit that lands on a Tuesday usually traces back to a decision made months earlier: a handbook that promised something the company did not mean, a termination handled in a hurry, a complaint that was never properly investigated. Our practice works both ends of that timeline. We defend the claims that arrive, and we do the far cheaper work of making sure the next one does not.

Defending employment claims

When a claim does come, whether it arrives as an EEOC charge, a complaint with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, or a lawsuit, we defend it with the same discipline our business litigation practice brings to any commercial case: assess the merits honestly, control the cost, and drive toward the resolution that serves the business. If you have just been served with a charge, our guide on how to respond to an EEOC charge covers the first moves. Michigan employers face claims under both federal law and the state's own Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which reaches conduct federal law does not, so a Michigan defense has to account for both.

• Discrimination and harassment claims under Title VII and Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act
• Wage and hour disputes, including overtime and classification claims
• Wrongful and retaliatory discharge claims
• Non-compete and trade-secret disputes when a key employee leaves
• Responses to EEOC and Michigan Department of Civil Rights charges
• Restrictive covenant enforcement and defense

Preventing the claim: counseling that pays for itself

The cheapest employment matter is the one that never becomes a matter. Most of our employment work is advisory, and it is the work that quietly keeps companies out of the litigation the practice also handles. We review and rewrite handbooks so they say what the company means and nothing it does not, we draft the offer letters and restrictive covenants that actually hold up in Michigan, and we advise on the hard personnel decisions, the termination, the accommodation request, the reduction in force, before they are made rather than after they are challenged.

The employee handbook

A handbook is the document most likely to be used against an employer, because it is written down, distributed, and rarely reviewed once adopted. The common mistakes are predictable, and we cover them in detail in our guide on the handbook mistakes that create lawsuits: language that reads like a contract and undercuts at-will employment, a progressive-discipline policy the company does not actually follow, and provisions that have quietly fallen out of step with current law. We audit handbooks against how the company really operates, because the danger is not the policy on the page, it is the gap between that policy and practice.

Terminations, done right

Michigan is an at-will state, which means an employer can generally end employment for any reason that is not an unlawful one. But at-will is a defense, not a shield, and a termination handled carelessly invites the very claim the at-will rule would otherwise defeat. The difference between a defensible firing and a lawsuit is usually documentation, consistency, and timing, which is the subject of our guide on terminating an employee without inviting a lawsuit. We help managers make the decision, paper it correctly, and deliver it in a way that closes the door rather than leaving it open.

Workplace investigations

When a complaint of harassment, discrimination, or misconduct comes in, how the company investigates can matter as much as what it finds. An investigation that is prompt, thorough, and properly documented is both the right thing to do and the strongest evidence an employer can have if the matter is later challenged. A rushed or one-sided inquiry can turn a manageable complaint into a liability. We conduct and guide investigations that hold up under scrutiny, and we make sure the company acts on what it learns.

How we work with employers

We are counsel you can call before you act, not just after you are sued. Camille Duarte and Julian Moss are on the other end of the line when a manager needs a defensible answer today, not a memo next week. We translate employment law into decisions a company can actually make, and we price the advisory work as a fixed fee wherever we can, so getting the question right is never the thing a client hesitates to do because of the bill.