Irv is a one-stop shop when it comes to representing and counseling his clients on anything related to employment law and labor relations. Irv has extensive experience representing employers and executives on issues or disputes arising out of the employment relationship. He also handles the gamut of labor relations issues that confront management in a unionized setting. His experience ranges from reviewing and helping prepare employment contracts, policies, and manuals to representing clients in employment-related litigation in state and federal courts as well as before administrative agencies.
Drawing on his years of experience as a trial attorney, Irv regularly counsels employers on the preventive measures they can take to reduce their exposure to litigation. But when avoiding litigation is not an option, Irv has broad experience defending employers sued for employment discrimination under Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the various state and local fair employment practices laws. He has also defended many retaliatory and wrongful discharge actions, as well as housing discrimination claims brought against property owners or managers.
Irv handles a wide range of employment-related litigation matters concerning noncompetition agreements, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and trade secrets violations. He litigates lawsuits relating to collective bargaining agreements; single- and multi-employer pension and health and welfare funds; sexual harassment lawsuits; and breach of employment contract suits, including compensation, commission, bonus, and severance pay claims.
Irv's litigation experience is extensive. He has litigated in courts and forums all over the country. He also has litigated complex commercial cases beyond the field of employment law, such as earn-out disputes in mergers and acquisitions of businesses and claims arising out of commercial contracts.
In the statutory and administrative law arenas, Irv represents employers in investigations by the Department of Labor and defends against wage and hour class or collective action lawsuits alleging minimum wage and overtime violations or violations of the state wage payment laws. He also handles matters relating to the WARN Act.
In the traditional labor law area, Irv frequently counsels management on responding to union organization campaigns; union picketing, boycotts, or strikes; and other union job actions. He also has extensive experience in negotiating collective bargaining agreements. Irv has handled scores of unfair labor practice and representation proceedings (union election petitions) before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), including challenging adverse NLRB decisions in the appellate courts. He also has broad experience in arbitration and mediation, including representing employers in arbitration of union grievances.
Irv also has significant experience drafting or revising executive employment, termination, and trade secret agreements. He helps clients develop employment policies and procedures, including sexual harassment policies and procedures, drug and alcohol policies, employee handbooks, and other types of personnel materials. Irv has performed labor and employment benefits due diligence on both the buy and the sell sides of mergers and acquisitions.
Irv speaks frequently on a wide variety of employment law topics at seminars for industry, trade, and professional groups, as well as continuing education organizations and academic institutions. He has prepared articles for a number of professional journals, including Practical Lawyer, the Commercial Law Bulletin, and the Labor Law Journal.