Labor & Employment

Overview

Building Stronger Workplaces Through Trusted Legal Partnership

We understand that strong employer-employee relationships are essential to business success. Our nationally recognized Labor & Employment Relations team partners with organizations across the country to navigate complex employment laws, mitigate risk, and foster productive workplaces. Our goal is to help you make informed decisions and plan strategically for the future.

Chambers & Partners

Received Band 1 recognition for Labor & Employment Law and Band 2 for Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation

Best Law Firms

Ranked National Tier 1 for Labor & Employment Law

Employment Law Alliance

Member

Our Approach: Workplace Law That Moves with Your Business

We deliver strategic legal counsel shaped by deep familiarity with the challenges our clients face. From navigating employment decisions and building compliant policies to managing disputes, our team provides practical, proactive solutions grounded in hands-on legal insight. We take the time to understand your business, your industry, and your internal dynamics—partnering closely with HR teams and general counsel to ensure seamless collaboration. From tailored training and real-time legal updates to policy advocacy, we equip you with the insight and integration needed to stay ahead of regulatory change and business demands.

“They are always available when you need them.”

— Chambers & Partners, 2025

“The team is very good at analyzing complex issues and providing practical solutions. They consistently show an understanding of the subject matter and dig into research for the appropriate solutions.”

— Chambers & Partners, 2025

“Michael Best & Friedrich have a depth and breadth of knowledge on employee relations and employee law”

— Chambers & Partners, 2025

Focus Areas

Tailored Legal Support for Every Workplace Situation

Build benefit programs and executive compensation strategies that strengthen your workforce and meet complex regulatory demands. Our nationally experienced team guides employers through plan design, fiduciary governance, ERISA compliance, and risk management—helping you align benefits with business goals while staying audit‑ready.

View Our Solutions

Representing employers in individual and class action lawsuits, administrative agency proceedings, and alternative dispute resolution involving a wide range of employment issues, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour compliance, workplace safety, family and medical leave, disability accommodations, unfair competition, trade secrets, employee benefits, and executive compensation.

See Our Litigation Capabilities

Enable seamless global mobility with strategic, end‑to‑end immigration support. From visas and permanent residency to I‑9 compliance, corporate restructuring, and outbound assignments, our team helps you move talent across borders while staying ahead of regulatory change.

Explore Immigration Services

Providing strategic counsel to employers during union organizing efforts, elections, collective bargaining, strikes, and proceedings before the NLRB and state agencies; guiding grievance and arbitration processes; and advising on employee relations strategies to support and maintain a union-free workplace.

Get Guidance on Labor Relations

Assisting clients in safeguarding trade secrets and intellectual property, crafting and enforcing restrictive covenants, preventing employee poaching, and establishing proactive policies and procedures to minimize asset loss, while also providing strong representation in unfair competition and trade secret litigation.

Safeguard Your Competitive Edge

Protect your organization with proactive, real‑time support across OSHA/MSHA compliance, safety program development, investigations, and hazard mitigation. Our team helps you build compliant policies, reduce risk, and maintain a safe, productive workplace backed by deep regulatory insight.

Protect Your Workplace

Experience

Proven Legal Guidance for Everyday Workplace Challenges

Assisted five technical colleges in establishing a consortium for purposes of offering health benefits to their employees, with joint administration and joint self-funding of the cost of claims administration and re-insurance premiums. Because the colleges are state governmental entities and it was unclear whether state law allowed them to jointly self-fund employee health coverage, we helped draft changes that were enacted into state law. We created governing documents and protocols for the member colleges and oversaw creation of the consortium and its “going live.”

Represented a chain of dental clinics in collective bargaining and negotiated innovative agreements with two unions to facilitate comprehensive restructuring of our client’s clinic workforces.

For a large international manufacturer that had grown through acquisition over the prior decade, we completed the process of consolidating multiple qualified retirement plans into a single plan. In addition to advising on the design of the combined plan, we obtained an IRS ruling, assisted with recordkeeping conversion, and provided guidance on operational changes resulting from the company-wide consolidation. This project impacted over 5,000 plan participants and allowed our client to decrease its overall cost of plan administration.
Represented a major manufacturer of iron castings in a precedent-setting “hybrid” collective/class action involving claims under the FLSA and state law. The plaintiffs are foundry workers who contend they should be compensated for time spent donning and doffing work gear, showering, and walking because it is a necessary part of their workday. We won summary judgment before the district court, which found that the activities were not required to be performed on-site at the foundries and thus were not compensable. The Seventh Circuit reversed on appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari, and the case went back to the district court, which certified both classes. We sought an immediate appeal from the Seventh Circuit, and the parties are currently briefing certification issues on appeal. This is a unique case, as the outcome hinges on the safety of the work environment.
Defended a national taxicab company in a wage and hour case in which cab drivers challenged the industry business model. The plaintiffs asserted that cab drivers were employees under state law and, therefore, the defendant cab companies had violated the law by failing to pay minimum wage and overtime and by deducting fees from the drivers’ wages. The Seventh Circuit rejected these claims and found that the cited law did not apply to the drivers, because the cab companies did not promise or contract to pay wages to the drivers.