Labor and Employment Law
In the documentary Roger & Me, director and producer Michael Moore lampoons General Motors' 1980s labor practices, during which GM closed 11 plants in Flint, Michigan and laid off over 30,000 workers. In the film Moore takes on Roger Smith, General Motors' then-president, concerning GM's plant closings. The documentary takes a look at the effect labor practices have on companies, communities, individual workers, and their families.
Roger & Me raised the American public's awareness of the ways in which labor practices affect auto workers and the auto industry. Yet labor practices affect countless other industries in the United States as well. Airlines, hospitals, trucking companies, and even sports leagues are profoundly affected by their relationships with their employees; pilots, nurses, truck drivers, baseball umpires, and their families are likewise affected by their union's relationship with their employer. Ultimately all Americans are affected by the far-reaching economic impact of labor relations.
Traditional labor practice deals with the relations between workers and their employers. Attorneys play an important role in labor relations matters, providing assistance to both labor and management. These lawyers counsel their clients concerning plant closings, unfair labor practice charges under the National Labor Relations Act, and collective bargaining negotiations. Attorneys advise both management and labor unions with regard to union organizing, representation elections, and related campaigns. Labor attorneys also become involved in union and employee grievances and arbitrations of those grievances.
In addition to involvement in the highly charged atmosphere of union/management relations, attorneys advise labor unions and management on the day-to-day issues. These might include affirmative action compliance or matters concerning wages and work hours. Attorneys assist with preparation of employee handbooks, employee policies, and employment contracts, as well as covenants not to compete (promises not to work for competitors for a period of time after leaving the company), employee terminations, and severance arrangements. In today's work environment, companies need advice from attorneys on drug and alcohol testing, AIDS-related issues, and immigration matters as well.
An important outgrowth of traditional labor practice is employment law. This practice includes the defense of clients' interests in cases involving the violation of civil rights. Attorneys handling these issues may represent clients who allege employment discrimination based on race, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, or other types of civil rights violations; they may also represent the employers accused of these violations. Employment lawyers may also defend employee clients who are sued for breach of employment contracts, breach of covenants not to compete, workplace libel, and slander. They may bring suits for employees who claim wrongful discharge, invasion of employee right of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional harm. More recently employment attorneys have become involved in litigation of claims involving sexual harassment, as well as the institution of "zero-tolerance" policies and other educational programs to eliminate harassment in the workplace.
Labor and employment attorneys represent their clients in state and federal courts as well as in appeals. They may also represent employers and employees before federal and state administrative agencies. These agencies include state bureaus of employment services, bureaus of workers' compensation, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), state civil rights commissions, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the state employment relations boards, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Reproduced from The Official Guide to Legal Specialties with permission. (c) 2000 Thomson Reuters/West. For additional information on this publication please visit 
http://west.thomson.com/products/law-students. Copyright granted via e-mail by Donna Gies, September 16, 2008.