Employment law covers a complex network of statutes, regulations and court decisions that control how employers must treat employees, former employees, and applicants for employment. I have significant experience in interpreting,construing, and litigating New Jersey and Federal statutes and case law in areas such as employment discrimination, overtime compensation, retaliation, harassment, whistleblower claims, wrongful discharge, employment contracts, employee privacy rights, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Employers can unleash the power of human capital through understanding the law and using it appropriately. As Harvard Business School professor Constance E. Bagley points out in her 2005 book Winning Legally: How to Use the Law to Create Value, Marshal Resources and Manage Risk (Harvard Business School Press):
“Managers who view the law purely as a constraint, something to comply with and react to rather than use actively, will miss opportunities to use the law and the legal system for increasing the total value created and the firm’s share of that value.”
In working with employers, I stress practical and proactive compliance. Smart businesspeople know that it is expensive to litigate, and much more cost-effective in the long run to prevent problems. With a proactive approach such as preventive compliance, a business avoids the legal and other costs associated with lawsuits and claim settlements. In other words, good law is good business, too.