Labor and Employment Law

Because the healthcare industry is so heavily regulated, healthcare providers may overlook the fact that a number of state and federal employment statutes apply to healthcare businesses as employers. The rapid growth of employment-related claims in recent years demonstrates that employment practice issues, such as hiring, managing, and discharging employees, deserve particular attention.

Our attorneys in the labor and employment section provide a wide range of services to employers and insurance providers to address areas involving employment law. These services include consultation on day-to-day employment issues, liability and compliance assessments, policy and procedure development and review, internal investigations, and training and education programs.

Our employment practices attorneys routinely represent clients in federal and state courts and before state and federal regulatory agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Virginia Employment Commission. Assistance is provided in identifying key documentation, drafting and revising EEOC responses, and recommending future policy changes to reduce future exposure.

Examples of recent projects include:

• Responding on behalf of a hospital to an EEOC Charge of Discrimination and in a hearing to contest state unemployment benefits for an employee who was discharged for cause.
  
  
• Assisting a hospital to determine whether it was required under the Family Medical Leave Act to provide an employee with a new job when the employee’s former job was eliminated.
  
  
• Providing advice to a hospital on what documentation it could request from an employee’s physician under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  
  
• Successfully representing a healthcare provider in obtaining the dismissal of a wrongful discharge suit in state court.
  
  
• Securing the return of unearned compensation from a former employee of a healthcare provider through litigation in General District Court.
  
  
• Providing defense for healthcare providers in federal court for a case involving alleged employment discrimination and alleged noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  
  
• Providing defense in an employment law case involving allegations of conspiracy, defamation, and wrongful discharge.