Employment Law
KMKSC attorneys work with our business clients to achieve their human resources and other employment-related objectives while minimizing the risk of employee claims. Today, even routine employment decisions can create litigation or administrative risks. Our approach is to tailor our service to the needs and comfort level of individual clients. Where appropriate, we can act as an outsourced ‘legal function’ for all aspects of employment law, or we can provide periodic compliance audits or specific advice on non-standard issues to supplement our clients’ internal expertise.
We work closely with our clients to develop processes that ensure that hiring and employment practices are appropriately designed, recorded and implemented to insulate employers from potential legal challenges. We understand that procedures need to be flexible yet robust enough to protect against the innumerable causes of employment actions that can arise from the activities of individual employees. Other issues to be addressed are more general, such as requirements for urgent mass hiring, downscaling employment and relocation of activities.
As in any area of activity stemming from the interaction of a large number of people, the range of employment law issues that can arise is broad. The following are examples of areas where KMKSC assists clients:
- Compliance with the multitude of federal, state and local laws and regulations that bear on the employment relationship.
- State and federal regulatory compliance investigations and audits, including audits by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (affirmative action), or related to wages and hours, OSHA, Americans with Disabilities Act, WARN Act, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act.
- Investigation of allegations raised by employees, both internally and when litigation or administrative proceedings are threatened, and analysis of obligations and potential liability to enable informed and tailored responses.
- Training of managers and supervisors on unlawful harassment, diversity and equal employment opportunity issues and on sound counseling and disciplinary procedures.
- Auditing policies and procedures and the means by which these are recorded and enforced, and adapting these to ensure both regulatory compliance and the least possible risk of claims.
- Audit, revision and preparation of employee manuals.
- Executive employment agreements, including the negotiation, drafting and interpretation of such agreements.
- Employee equity agreements and plans, including stock purchase and buy-back arrangements, ESOPs and incentive stock plan agreements.
- Preparation or revision of employee contracts relating to non-competition, confidentiality, non-disclosure and trade secret protection and ensuring that the wording is supported by the additional steps often essential to legal enforceability.
- Non-competition agreements relating to business acquisitions.
- Wisconsin Workers' Compensation Act compliance.
- Affirmative action planning and compliance for government contractors, including development of action plans at all levels and responses to Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs or state and local compliance audits.