Our attorneys know the law.  As it has for more than 60 years, our work for clients is firmly anchored in a comprehensive and up-to-the-minute understanding of employment and labor relations law.

We take the time to understand our clients’ business and operational goals, and the particularities—economic, demographic, regulatory and practical—of employee hiring and management in their markets and industries.

But we know that’s not enough.

We know that clients don’t want exhaustive dissections of legal issues.  They want practical solutions to their problems.

So we provide answers and options, not formulaic legal analyses.

And we never forget that the legal advice we provide has implications far beyond the issue or problem at hand – an impact on employees and management, the company’s reputation and good will, and its business and operational objectives.

Client Counseling

Our Labor and Employment attorneys know the heavy cost of employment litigation—costs that go well beyond potential damages and the expense of defending against lawsuits to the emotional, reputational and public relations costs that employee lawsuits can cause.  And we believe that prevention is most the cost-effective, long-term solution.

We provide timely, business-focused advice on the full range of employee-relations issues:

• Compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)


• Recruitment, compensation, benefits and Equal Pay Act compliance


• Compliance with the state and federal wage/hour laws, as well as skilled representation to employers facing wage and hour litigation


• Performance management, discipline and termination


• Reductions in force


• Employment contracts, non-compete agreements and restrictive covenants


• Workplace and human resources policies, and the preparation and review of employee handbooks


• Sexual harassment and hostile workplace training


• Preparation of affirmative action plans


• Drug and alcohol issues

Traditional Labor Relations

Our attorneys help companies navigate the challenges and opportunities they face with organized labor.  We work closely with leaders across industry sectors to develop and drive company-wide strategies for promoting union-free workplaces, and for responding effectively to union organizing and public relations campaigns.  We practice extensively before the National Labor Relations Board in regions across the country.  Our attorneys’ extensive experience also means that our clients benefit from our deep practical knowledge of the real-world, real-time tactics that make a labor strategy effective.  We know how to work effectively with stakeholders not only in the boardroom, but on the shop floor.  We also help our clients work with unionized workforces, including in major collective bargaining, unfair labor practice disputes and labor arbitrations.  Above all, our labor relations attorneys know how to tie legal strategy to business goals, recognizing that the real value of labor relations advice is to minimize the risks and costs of organized labor, while maximizing positive employee relations.

Global Labor and Employment Network

We understand the challenges of an international workforce and bring a distinctly cross-border perspective to multinationals on employment law, regulation and compliance, employee benefits and incentives, global mobility, pensions, redundancies and reductions-in-force, and organized labor.  Because our clients are multinationals engaged in cross-border ventures, we work with a global network of trusted counsel to address our clients’ global employment law challenges wherever they arise, providing pragmatic, cost-effective solutions with an emphasis on reducing risk and maximizing employee relations.  The firm’s work is recognized around the world; indeed, Legal Era Magazine named Kelley Drye the “Best International Law Firm of the Year” for 2016.