Employment Litigation
The Employment Law Service Group practices much like a “boutique firm” within Stites & Harbison. From workforce-reduction issues to dealing with the Family Medical Leave Act and everything in between, the Employment Law Service Group at Stites & Harbison focuses on providing clients with creative, competitive, and cost-effective employment law solutions. Our group’s diverse and experienced employment litigation attorneys know that responsiveness in helping employers avoid immediate employment law problems is critical. Clients can count on a high level of service with a seamless team approach from our offices in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Georgia.
Our group is dedicated to providing employers with vigorous and zealous defense of all employee-driven lawsuits. Many of the group's attorneys have extensive first-chair trial experience before arbitrators, judges and juries in both employment matters and in business litigation, and are adept at developing and implementing first chair strategy.
The members of our group also understand when it is in the client's best interest to reach a settlement in order to prevent extensive litigation. We will not hesitate to recommend and facilitate as favorable resolution for the client as quickly as possible.
In addition to handling EEOC and state administrative charges, the group litigates complex civil suits involving a wide variety of federal and state discrimination claims, including cases alleging:
- Sex, age, race, religion, or national origin discrimination
- Sexual harassment
- ADA
- FMLA
- Wrongful discharge
- Wage and hour disputes
In litigation involving the breach of covenants-not-to-compete, confidentiality agreements, and nonsolicitation agreements, our seasoned employment litigation lawyers successfully prosecute and defend TROs and other injunctive-relief motions at both the state and federal levels.
Applying in-depth litigation knowledge to develop practical preventative-counseling solutions for clients is another strength of our group. We also provide materials to fit specific client needs for in-house training. Group members regularly draft and review employment documents including employee handbooks, employee contracts, and severance agreements.
Our employment litigation attorneys are frequent speakers on a variety of employment law topics, and have authored numerous articles on employment law issues. The group also regularly sends out Client-Alerts via e-mail to ensure our clients receive up-to-date information in employment-law developments that could impact their businesses.
Several members of our group have also authored treatises on employment law and personnel practice published by the state Chamber of Commerce.
The Employment Law Service Group is always "on the job for you."
Stites & Harbison Attorney Jackson Hurst-Sanders Selected for ELEVATE Kentucky Class of 2025
Leadership Kentucky recently selected Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorney Jackson B. Hurst-Sanders as one of 24 participants for the ELEVATE Kentucky Class of 2025.
Robin McGuffin Appointed Chair of Stites & Harbison’s Employment Law Service Group
Stites & Harbison, PLLC recently appointed attorney Robin E. McGuffin Chair of the firm’s Employment Law Service Group. McGuffin succeeds Shannon Antle Hamilton who has led the group for more than 20 years. Both Hamilton and McGuffin will continue their diverse legal practices in employment law.
GreenHouse17 Elects Robin McGuffin Board President
GreenHouse17 recently elected Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorney Robin E. McGuffin President of its Board of Directors. Prior to this role, McGuffin served as Secretary. She will serve a two-year term.
The Uncertain Future of the FTC Ban on Employment Non-Compete Agreements
Time: 1:00 a.m. EST - 3:10 p.m. EST
Webinar
TJ Mihill will be a speaker at this myLawCLE webinar on February 19, 2025. The webinar will cover the legal challenges of the Federal Trade Commissions ban of the use of non-compete agreements in employment settings.
Robin Miller Honored by Ohio Super Lawyers for 2025
The 2025 edition of Ohio Super Lawyers recently honored Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorney Robin D. Miller on its Super Lawyers list.
Olivia Keller Appointed to Gateway Community and Technical College Board of Directors
Governor Andy Beshear recently appointed Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorney Olivia C. Keller to Gateway Community and Technical College’s Board of Directors. She will serve in this role until July of 2030.
Courts Now Split on Enforceability of FTC Noncompete Rule
On July 23, 2024, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied a company’s motion to enjoin the enforcement of the FTC’s rule banning nearly all noncompetes. This contradicts the Northern District of Texas’s order on July 3, 2024, which granted a preliminary injunction enjoining the rule as it applies to the plaintiffs in that case. With opposing rulings, employers remain in limbo as the rule’s September 4, 2024 enforcement date approaches. Employment attorneys Shannon Hamilton, Robin McGuffin, and Zac Losey take a look at what happened.
Checking in on the Status of the Fair Labor Standards Act Exempt Salary Threshold Increase
It is a little under two weeks until the July 1, 2024, effective date for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Final Rule (the “Final Rule”) raising the minimum salary level requirement for exempt white-collar employees to $43,888 annually. Now is the time to check in on the status of any legal challenges which might effect that deadline and employment attorney Shannon Hamilton takes a look at those challenges in this Stites & Harbison Client
Department of Labor and the Fair Labor Standards Act Exempt Salary Threshold Increase
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued its final rule raising the exempt classification minimum salary threshold. The change is effective beginning July 1, 2024. In addition, the salary threshold for highly compensated employees will raise as well. Finally, the rule also sets automatic increases every three years starting in January 2027. The final rule raises the minimum salary threshold to $844 per week, up from $684 per week. The next increase to $1,128 per week would be on January 1, 2025. For highly compensated employees the minimum threshold increases to $132,964 on July 1, 2024, with the next salary increase to $151,164 becoming effective January 1, 2025. Employment attorney Shannon Hamilton takes a look at the rule in this Stites & Harbison Client Alert.