Employee/Employer Relations

Employees are universally acknowledged to be the most important assets of a business. Defrees & Fiske has been proactively involved in counseling its clients and drafting documents relating to such matters as employment contracts, discipline and discharge, severance agreements, personnel policies and procedures, and employee handbooks.

Although employers and employees may take all reasonable steps to establish a good legal relationship, disputes may arise. In such cases, Defrees & Fiske has successfully represented its clients in resolution of employment related disputes in both federal and state courts, as well as before various administrative agencies.

Our attorneys have prosecuted and defended claims arising out of:

• Employment contract disputes
• Wrongful and constructive discharge
• Retaliatory discharge
• Violation of “Whistleblower” statutes
• Trade secrets, restrictive covenants and non-competition agreements;
• State and federal employment and anti-discrimination laws, including Title VII, the ADEA, and the ADA
• Unemployment benefits,
• Plant closures (“WARN Act”)
• Sales representative commission disputes
• Wage/Hour complaints/overtime (FLSA) and employee benefits (ERISA),
• OSHA issues