Labor and Employment

Offering sensible solutions to your HR challenges and experienced counsel for your litigation needs.

The employment attorneys at Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP provide counsel to employers of all sizes and from varying industries. We work closely with our Human Resources Consultant to advise clients on significant employment decisions and help resolve day-to-day workforce management problems in a sensible manner. Our practice stresses preventive measures and proactive human resource management in order to help clients avoid litigation through the development of appropriate employment practices and procedures. However, if it comes to litigation, our experienced attorneys are trial lawyers ready to aggressively defend our clients or go on the offensive when necessary. Our employment lawyers also routinely represent employers in administrative proceedings before federal and state agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Department of Labor, and the Colorado Civil Rights Division.

Our labor law attorneys also represent management in traditional labor law matters involving unionized companies. We routinely represent management in union grievance arbitrations, and advocate for management in proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), including the defense of unfair of labor practice charges and matters involving union election petitions.

Our highly experienced employee benefits attorneys assist clients with a range of employee benefits issues. We help employers with all aspects of employee benefit plan design, implementation and administration. For example, we routinely assist clients with executive compensation programs, severance programs, stock option and other equity-based compensation programs, parachute arrangements, non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements, employee stock ownership plans, 401(k) plans and traditional pension plans. We also represent jointly-administered plans. Our employee benefits attorneys have extensive experience with ERISA-related matters, such as fiduciary responsibilities issues, prohibited transactions and leveraged and nonleveraged ESOPs, and with Internal Revenue Service determination letters, corrections programs and audits. Our benefits attorneys regularly represent clients before the Employee Benefits Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service.

Our employment, labor and employee benefits attorneys have experience in the following areas:

Benefits Planning and Plan Drafting
Deferred Compensation Plans
Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Investigations
Employee Stock Ownership Plans
Employment Contracts
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Proceedings
ERISA Advice and Litigation
Equity-Based Compensation
Executive Compensation
FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) Advice and Litigation
Litigation of Class and FLSA Collective Actions
Litigation of Federal and State Law Discrimination and Harassment Claims
Litigation of Federal and State Law Retaliation Claims
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Proceedings
Non-compete Agreement Drafting, Advice and Litigation (including injunction proceedings)
Personnel Policies and Procedures
Taft-Hartley Plans
Tax-Qualified Plans
Trade Secrets Protection
Union Grievance Arbitrations
Welfare Benefits Plans
Wrongful Termination Claims

ARTICLES AND ALERTS

Raising the Stakes for Misclassifying Workers as Independent Contractors (08/16/2010 )
Alert - The Privacy Limits of Accessing Employee Emails (05/03/2010 )
Understanding the Legality of Unpaid Summer Internships (04/13/2010 )
MMSEA Alert: Personal Injury Settlements & Medicare Compliance (02/12/2010 )
Big Changes for Health Care Continuation Coverage (03/01/2009 )
Employers Must Comprehend the Employee Free Choice Act (03/01/2009 )
The WARN Act's "Unforeseeable Business Circumstance" Exception (03/01/2009 )
New Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Has Sweeping Implications for Employer Pay Practices (03/01/2009 )
The Significant Changes to the Americans With Disabilities Act (12/22/2008 )
When Is an Undocumented Worker a Lawful "Employee"? (12/22/2008 )
NEW STATE LAW ALERT (12/22/2008 )
NEW FEDERAL LAW ALERT: Significant Changes to the FMLA Effective January 16 (12/22/2008 )
Rumors and Gossip: Managing Inappropriate Talk in the Workplace (12/22/2008 )
The Limits of Monetary Protection Afforded Employers by the After-Acquired Evidence Doctrine (10/01/2008 )
The Internet Age: Technology and the Workplace (10/01/2008 )
Frequently Overlooked COBRA Rules During Active Employee Open Enrollment Periods (10/01/2008 )
Charities and Politics: Beware of Mixing the Two (10/01/2008 )
Amendments to Family Medical Leave Act Expand Leave for Service Members and Their Families (07/01/2008 )
Policies Prohibiting Employees from Sharing Wage Information: Unfair Employment Practice in Colorado (07/01/2008 )
The Aging Of The Baby Boomers: What Does It Mean For The Legal Profession? (12/04/2007 )
Rewarding Healthy Behavior: Wellness Programs Help Employers Contain Health Care Costs (12/01/2007 )
Timely Notify Your Insurer to Prevent Loss of Insurance Coverage for Employment Claims (12/01/2007 )
EEOC Issues Guidance Concerning Disparate Treatment of Employees with Caregiving Responsibilities (12/01/2007 )
Colorado Court Lays Down New Rules for Interpreting and Enforcing Non-Compete Agreements (12/01/2007 )
Colorado Adds "Sexual Orientation" and "Religion" to the List of Protected Classifications (09/01/2007 )
When is Disparate Pay Actionable? The Law According to Ledbetter (09/01/2007 )
Communicating Compensation Decisions (09/01/2007 )
New 401(k) Plan Deferral Rules (09/01/2007 )
Small Employers Speak Up Early Lest Liability Await (09/01/2007 )
Restoring PERA Contributions by Returning Employees (06/01/2007 )
Know the Risks Before Developing an Affinity for Affinity Groups (06/01/2007 )
Conducting Effective Investigations of Employee Complaints (06/01/2007 )
Amendments to the Colorado Wage Act Increase Penalties for Offending Employers (06/01/2007 )
"Cat's Paw" Fable Becomes Legal Doctrine to Support Subordinate Bias Liability (06/01/2007 )
Employers Sued in Federal Court Must Preserve Electronically Stored Information (06/01/2007 )
Critical NLRB Decision Clarifies Who May Be a "Supervisor" Under the NLRA (12/01/2006 )
Be Careful With That Language Used in Severance Releases (12/01/2006 )
An Uptick in Discrimination Lawsuits Based on Family Responsibilities (12/01/2006 )
Can Employees Really Change? Five Ways to Address Difficult Performance Problems (12/01/2006 )
Employers May Be Held Liable for Retaliation by an Employee Who Has Alleged a Violation of Title VII (09/01/2006 )
The "I-deal" Response to I-9 No-Match Letters (09/01/2006 )
When Non-Union Workers' Rights and Mandatory Arbitration Policies Collide (09/01/2006 )
Organizing the Union-Free Company: A Salty Proposition (06/01/2006 )
The "My-Employer-Is-Picking-on-Me" Claim (06/01/2006 )
Yet Another Reason for Employers to Adopt Mandatory Arbitration Policies (06/01/2006 )
"Jurassic Park" Revisited: Violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by Employees (06/01/2006 )
Some say 'Alito,' Some say 'Scalito': What Does it Mean to Employment Law? (03/01/2006 )
Are Non-competition Agreements Enforceable in Colorado? (03/01/2006 )
Trucking Operations: A Taste of the Davis-Bacon Act (12/01/2005 )
Supreme Court Broadens the Scope of Title IX (06/01/2005 )
The Personnel File: Making Sure You Have the Right Information (06/01/2005 )
Supreme Court Lets Stand NLRA Preemption of State Law Claims Against Union "Salt" (06/01/2005 )
To Vote or Note to Vote? That is the Question (03/01/2005 )
Five Ways to Tell If Your Performance Appraisal System is Working (12/01/2004 )
Weingarten Rights and Nonunion Employees: The NLRB Returns to Its Thinking of Old (07/01/2004 )
Mum's the Word: Confidentiality of Employee Information (06/01/2004 )
FEDERAL LAW UPDATE: Warning! WARN Act a Quagmire of Confusion (03/01/2004 )
Investigations of Employee Misconduct (03/01/2004 )
ADA Update: Courts Curtail ADA Retaliation Claims (03/01/2004 )
Corporate Officers Are Off the Hook for Payment of Wages in Colorado (03/01/2004 )
ADEA Does Not Prohibit Discimination in Favor of Older Workers (03/01/2004 )
The Impact of the Patriot Act on Employers (09/01/2003 )
Supreme Court Set to Drain the "Mixed-Motive" Quagmire (06/01/2003 )
Can an Adverse EEOC Determination Be Admitted at Trial? (03/01/2003 )
How Can an Employer Protect Confidential Information? (03/01/2003 )
Nonunion Companies Beware the National Labor Relations Act (03/01/2003 )
Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 on Employment Decisions (12/01/2002 )
When Domestic Violence Comes to Work (09/01/2002 )
Courts Expand the Ellerth/Faragher Affirmative Defense Beyond Sexual Harassment
Supreme Court Holds Retaliation Claims Allowed Under Section 1981 and Federal-Sector ADEA Provision

EVENTS & SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

NEWS

Twelve RJ&L Attorneys Named to "Best Lawyers in America®" (09/30/2008)

NEWSLETTERS

Real Estate, Construction & Land Update, Fall 2010 (08/19/2010 )
Employment Law Update, Spring 2009 (03/01/2009 )
Employment Law Update, Winter 2008/2009 (12/22/2008 )
Employment Law Update, Fall 2008 (10/01/2008 )
Employment Law Update, Summer 2008 (07/01/2008 )
Employment Law Update, Winter 2007 (12/01/2007 )
Employment Law Update, Fall 2007 (09/01/2007 )
Employment Law Update, Summer 2007 (06/01/2007 )

ATTORNEYS
S. Kato Crews
Michael Francisco
Nicole K. Gorham
Eric V. Hall
Kris J. Kostolansky
H. William Mahaffey
L. Martin Nussbaum
Susan Strebel Sperber
Jan A. Steinhour
Amy D. Wills
Joy Allen Woller

OTHER PROFESSIONALS
Joan M. Rennekamp, SPHR

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