Employment Litigation
While it is our primary goal to help clients avoid costly and time-consuming litigation in the first place, we are experienced in litigating cases before state and federal trial and appellate courts and before state and federal administrative agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Wisconsin Equal Rights Division and the Illinois Department of Human Rights.
We are experienced in defending employers against disability discrimination claims arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act and analogous state counterparts (e.g., the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act).
Reinhart attorneys assist employers in every aspect of investigations conducted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Wisconsin Equal Rights Division, the Illinois Department of Human Rights and other state administrative agencies. We represent the interests of our clients from the very inception of the investigation, starting with the receipt of the initial complaint through the ultimate determination by the applicable agency.
We have extensive experience with the full array of federal employment discrimination statutes including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Older Workers Benefits Protection Act (OWBPA), the Equal Pay Act and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). We are also experienced in defending clients under similar state fair employment laws, including the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act.
We defend employers against wrongful discharge lawsuits and against emerging "employment tort" theories of liability, such as defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, intentional interference with employment contract, invasion of privacy, fraud, misrepresentation and negligent hiring.
Claims alleging violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act and state law counterparts (such as the Wisconsin Family and Medical Leave Act) are becoming more frequent. Whether the claim alleges that a request for family or medical leave was improperly denied, resulted in retaliation or some other theory under the applicable statute, attorneys in Reinhart's Labor and Employment Practice are experienced in defending clients against such claims.
Our attorneys defend employers against sexual and other workplace harassment claims pending before state and federal trial and appellate courts and against claims pending before administrative agencies.
Recent court decisions have increased the potential exposure of employers to claims alleging unlawful retaliation for engaging in conduct protected by state and federal fair employment laws. We defend employers against such claims.
We counsel employers with respect to the eligibility of former employees for unemployment insurance benefits and represent employers at unemployment compensation hearings.
We have considerable experience defending employers against wage/hour claims including claims that involve allegations of unpaid/miscalculated wages (e.g., allegations of unpaid overtime, vacation pay, commissions and bonuses), improperly unreimbursed business expenses, misclassification of employees as independent contractors and misclassification of "exempt" and "nonexempt" employees.
Federal and state laws provide a variety of protections for "whistleblowers"– employees who report certain violations or activities, refuse to follow unlawful instructions, etc. We defend employers against claims brought by whistleblowers under those laws.
We represent employers in hearings and appeals concerning primary liability for benefits, bad faith denial of benefits, safety claims and unreasonable refusal to rehire claims.