The Clark, Thomas & Winters Employment Law section provides comprehensive advice and counseling to a variety of businesses on human resources and personnel issues. The Employment Law section also has extensive trial experience defending employers and senior executives in state and federal courts in employment law matters, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage and hour issues, wrongful termination, and breach of contract cases. The lawyers in our section have the experience necessary to provide efficient, thorough, and practical advice and counsel on our clients’ employment law issues.

We advise and defend all types of employers — from large corporations to start-up companies and family owned businesses. We also provide advice to individual senior executives on specific engagements, such as employment contracts, non-competition and confidentiality agreements and severance agreements. Among the industries with which we are most familiar are: banks and credit unions, hospitality, construction, healthcare, energy, insurance, manufacturing, production and services, retail, technology, and transportation.

We work closely with other specialty practice groups in our firm to provide cost effective and efficient legal services. We work routinely with lawyers in our firm specializing in business transactions, employee and executive benefits, intellectual property, and tax compliance so as to provide comprehensive and thorough solutions to our clients’ legal issues.

REPRESENTATIVE CLIENT INDUSTRIES

SERVICES

Employment Agreements

From the beginning to the end of the employment relationship, our attorneys draft, negotiate, and offer counsel and advice regarding a wide variety of employment-related agreements, including employment contracts; independent contractor agreements; stock option agreements; non-competition, non-solicitation, confidentiality, and non-disclosure agreements; employment arbitration and jury-waiver provisions; and separation agreements.

Handbooks, Policies, and Procedures

Whether an employer has no existing policies and procedures or an outdated handbook in need of review, the Employment Law attorneys routinely draft and revise handbooks, policies, and procedures to meet an employer’s needs, minimize the risk of employment-related disputes, and conform to applicable state, federal, and local laws.

Training

The section's attorneys conduct executive, supervisor, manager, and employee training at an employer’s place of business or in our offices. Our training is tailored to the employer’s specific policies and procedures. Such training helps employers to identify and prevent employment-related disputes before they start. Moreover, training in conjunction with up-to-date, consistently applied policies and procedures may provide employers with a defense to such disputes if they do arise.

Counseling and Advice

We have long-standing relationships with many of our business clients, and we pride ourselves on becoming knowledgeable about their operations, culture, business strategies, and goals, as well as their personnel issues. We believe the more we know about our clients’ business and business philosophy, the better we can represent them and advise them. Many personnel issues are time-sensitive and involve sensitive subject matters. Therefore, we understand and emphasize the need for prompt and practical responses to client questions.

Employee Benefits

Our attorneys regularly counsel clients on a wide variety of matters regarding employee benefit and executive compensation plans and programs under the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA, including qualified plans, non-qualified deferred compensation plans, supplemental retirement plans, incentive plans, executive compensation, welfare plans, and plans for governmental and tax-exempt employers.

Executives

In addition to representing employers of all sizes, attorneys in the Employment Law section represent executives, physicians, and other highly compensated employees in review and negotiation of employment agreements, benefits, and separation agreements, as well as litigation and other employment-related matters.

Arbitration

For some employers, arbitration programs can be a cost-effective way to manage employee claims. Therefore, our section can design and draft arbitration plans and agreements for such employers. Our lawyers also have extensive experience representing clients in arbitration proceedings.

Administrative Agencies

The Employment Law attorneys represent employers before various federal, state, and local administrative agencies dealing with employment-related issues such as workplace discrimination and harassment, unemployment, and wage and hour issues. Such agencies include the EEOC, the Department of Labor, the Texas Commission on Human Rights, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the Austin Human Rights Commission.

Litigation

We represent employers in all types of employment-related litigation, including non-competition and trade-secret litigation, workplace harassment and discrimination claims, and breach of contract claims. Our attorneys litigate employment-related disputes from trial to appeal in state and federal courts throughout the state of Texas.

ARTICLES