Building Better Workplaces
Employees are a company’s greatest asset and often their biggest challenge. Navigating work-from-home and hybrid workplaces; staying on top of ever-evolving local, state and federal employment regulations; and creating environments that cultivate your talent requires vigilance and empathy.
The laws governing employee relations are complex and often conflicting. At Murphy Pearson, we help companies implement policies and procedures that protect workers and the bottom line. When claims arise, we provide efficient, effective and knowledgeable counsel to help safeguard against unnecessary losses resulting from employment-related litigation.
Advice and Guidance
We help businesses avoid potential problems by drafting and reviewing personnel policies, employment manuals, contracts and severance agreements. When questions come up, we bring guidance and practical advice so organizations can make informed decisions. We also understand the nuances of various industry workplace environments, whether engaging with independent contractors, leased employees, labor unions, migrant workforces, commission-based sales teams, skilled professionals, or C-suite executives and boards of directors.
Areas in which we frequently advise, include:
• Hiring, discipline and firing
• Wage and hour compliance
• Leave policies (sick, family, military)
• Disability accommodations
• Mass layoffs and plant closures
• Employment and key executive contracts
• Immigration and worker visas
• Social media policies
• Protection of trade secrets
• Non-compete agreements
Contending With Claims
Whether a claim comes to our team through an insurance company or directly from a client, we bring our years of experience defending companies and individuals in employment-related litigation – both in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies. We have represented clients on a multitude of investigations and claims arising in the workplace, including those related to allegations of:
• Violation of wage and hour laws
• Violation of leave laws
• Breach of contract
• Defamation
• Invasion of privacy
• Sexual harassment and racial harassment
• Social media and cyber-bullying
• Discrimination
• Workplace bullying
• Whistleblower
• Wrongful termination and retaliation
• Trade secret violations
Training
In addition to ongoing advice and dispute resolution, we provide harassment and discrimination prevention seminars specifically designed to comply with California’s training mandate. California law requires all employers of five or more employees to provide one hour of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to nonsupervisory employees and two hours of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to supervisors and managers once every two years. The law requires the training to include practical examples of harassment based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. Bringing our programs into your company, we adjust our presentation materials to fit your specific environment.
