labor, employment & benefits

labor, employment & benefits

Experts in Labor, Employment & Benefits 

Expert representation of employers and senior executives across all major industries from small companies to major corporations.

Broad Expertise 

Expertise in representing employers in employment, labor and benefits litigation and personnel counseling, including:

Employment

  • Discrimination: age, disability, race, gender, pregnancy, national origin, religion, ancestry, sexual orientation 
  • Sexual harassment
  • Retaliation 
  • Wrongful discharge 
  • Employment contract disputes
  • Noncompetes
  • Defamation/other employment torts
  • Intellectual property covenants
  • ERISA


Labor

  • Arbitrations
  • Collective bargaining
  • NLRB proceedings
  • Union organizing


Employee Benefit & Personnel Counseling

  • Executive employment agreements
  • FMLA/ADA
  • Pension/welfare benefit plan design and administration
  • Personnel manuals/policies
  • Plant closings/WARN Act
  • Stock option/other equity incentive plans
  • Wage and hour compliance 

Highly Experienced in Litigation

Highly experienced in litigation before courts and administrative agencies, including:

  • Federal and state trial and appellate courts, including US Supreme Court
  • Administrative agencies including Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, EEOC, US Dept of Labor
  • Arbitration
  • Mediation

Leading Cases 

Significant employment litigation, including:

  • Aon v. Renaissance Insurance (noncompete)
  • Daly v. Raytheon (ERISA)
  • Davis v. Lucent Technologies (sexual harassment, wrongful termination)
  • Douglass v. Ernst & Young (misrepresentation, FMLA)
  • Gallinas v. Avaya (wrongful termination)
  • Goetz v. EMC (retaliation)
  • Kinsellagh v. AT&T (disability discrimination)
  • Kirk v. Dartmouth College (sex discrimination, defamation)
  • Maier v. Hewlett-Packard (disability discrimination, retaliation)
  • Scott-Harris v. Bogan (civil rights)
  • Thomas v. EquiServe (race discrimination, retaliation)
  • Torchetti v. IBM (age discrimination)
  • Vision BioSystems v. Autrey (nonsolicitation)

Lean Staffing 

Staffing based on client needs.  Lawyers consistently receive national recognition for excellence.

Counseling and Preventing Problems 

Work closely with clients to take steps necessary to prevent future problems.

blue chip clients

Lawyers have represented blue chip clients, including:

Agilent Technologies

AT&T

Avaya

Computershare

Ernst & Young

Hewlett-Packard 

IBM

Martha’s Vineyard Hospital

Mass Medical Society

Mass Turnpike Authority

New England Journal of Medicine

NMS Communications 

Pegasystems

South Shore Hospital

Travelers

Thermo Electron

U.S. Foodservice

ZOOTS

broad range of industries

Represent clients in a broad range of industries, including:

Consumer products

Education

Energy

Financial services

Healthcare

Insurance

Life sciences

Manufacturing 

Media

Private equity/venture capital

Professional services

Retail sales & services

Software

Technology

Telecommunications

choate represents blue-chip investment management firm

Choate represented this blue-chip investment management firm in a critical action to enforce a non-solicitation agreement against a departing portfolio manager and her new employer.  The matter involved both arbitration proceedings in Boston and litigation in federal court for the Southern District of New York.  Choate won a dismissal of the federal court action and obtained a favorable settlement for our client shortly thereafter. 

Choate Defends Ernst & Young

Choate successfully defended Ernst & Young in this multi-claim lawsuit brought by a former senior manager who alleged that she was improperly denied partnership at the firm.  Choate obtained a favorable settlement for our client at the conclusion of trial in the Boston federal court. 

Choate wins complete victory for Fortune 100 client

The firm represents major corporations in complex employment arbitrations in disputes involving senior executive officers.  In early 2007, Choate won a complete victory for a Fortune 100 client in an arbitration proceeding brought by a former treasurer seeking lucrative separation benefits under a change-in-control agreement on the theory that he had experienced a significant restructuring of duties and responsibilities following a merger.