Labor & Employment

Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP assists employers with all aspects of the employment relationship. Our highly experienced attorneys provide counsel proactively; structure and document the employment relationship; facilitate compliance with labor, employment, and employee benefit laws; structure and maintain employee benefit programs; deal with unions and their issues; and represent employers in negotiations, mediations, arbitrations, federal and state administrative agency proceedings, and in litigation in federal and state trial and appellate courts.

We represent industry employer groups and contractors in the construction industry, multi-employer employee benefit trust funds and their fiduciaries, and individual employers in the real estate, entertainment, service, and nonprofit industries.

Labor and Employment Focus. Our representation in the following issues is full service, from counseling and strategic and preventive planning to preparation of all appropriate agreements, policies, forms, and other documents, to negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation.

Sexual harassment

Wrongful termination

Employment-law class actions

Employment contracts

Employment applications and other employment forms

Employment agreements and covenants not to compete

Executive and key employee stock and other profit participation agreements and incentives

Employee benefits and benefit plans of all types

Personnel manuals

Equal employment opportunity policies

Drug testing programs

Workers’ compensation

Injury and illness prevention manuals

Employment severance

Defamation

Privacy issues

Trade secrets

Unfair competition

Wage and hour requirements

IWC Wage Orders

Alternative workweeks

Exempt and nonexempt personnel

Independent contractor relationships

Prevailing wages

Veterans re-employment rights

Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN)

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA)

Title VII (race, sex, national origin, and religious discrimination)

Title VIII (fair housing)

Fair lending practices

Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)

Unruh Act

Public accommodations

Government contracts

Union organizing campaigns

Negotiation of master labor agreements, project labor agreements, and other collective bargaining agreements

Strikes, picketing, and labor dispute violence

Unfair labor practice proceedings

Jurisdictional disputes

We regularly represent employers before the various administrative agencies charged with enforcing a myriad of labor laws, including the following:

Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Federal Department of Labor (DOL)

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH)

Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE)

California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal-OSHA)

California Employment Development Department (EDD)

California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board

California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB)

Employee Benefits Focus. We have a nationally recognized reputation in the ERISA and employee benefits area. Our attorneys have advocated client interests in cases involving ERISA, employee benefits, and labor issues before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the California Supreme Court, and the California Courts of Appeal. We have represented major construction industry, collectively bargained, multi-employer trust funds and provided representation to employers of all sizes in all aspects of employee benefits. These benefits include qualified and nonqualified pension, profit-sharing, and bonus plans of all types; medical benefit plans; vacation and savings plans; apprenticeship and training plans; workers’ compensation alternative dispute resolution plans; unemployment insurance plans; and cafeteria plans.

We assist employers in the following:

Plan design, formation, structure, qualification, and administration

Plan maintenance, amendment, and termination

Fiduciary responsibilities

Plan asset and investment policies and procedures

Benefit denial disputes under pension and health and welfare plans

Withdrawal liability

COBRA continuation of health benefits

Compliance with ERISA

Compliance with the Internal Revenue Code

Prohibited transaction exemptions and advisory opinions

Department of Labor actions

Internal Revenue Service actions

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation actions

ADA compliance

HIPAA compliance

Our nationally recognized attorneys have extensive experience in handling test-case litigation on a variety of employment-law issues at the appellate level and in assisting employer associations in their legislative drafting and lobbying activities at the state and federal levels.