Labor & Employment Law
Equal Employment Opportunity Litigation and Advice
The attorneys at Tindall, Holmes & Kestenband regularly represent clients before federal and state agencies that enforce employment discrimination laws, and are experienced in trial practice in both federal and state courts. These cases typically involve a detailed factual investigation of the circumstances surrounding the claim, preparation of a position statement for submission to the investigating agency, appearance of witnesses before a fact-finding conference at the agency, representation in mediation at the agency, and administrative trials. As noted, we represents clients in the more traditional court-based litigation, state and federal, that may follow the filing of an administrative charge of discrimination.
We also counsel clients on matters of compliance with both federal and state employment discrimination statutes, wage and hour law, unemployment compensation laws and general employment practices.
Sexual Harassment Advice and Litigation
We advise and represent clients in many situations involving allegations of sexual harassment by supervisors and colleagues. The advice and counsel has guided human resource professionals and line management in drafting and publication of sexual harassment prevention policies and procedures, design and implementation of an internal investigation to determine the validity of the allegations of sexual harassment, coordinating on evaluation of the information learned in the internal investigation and working together to determine whether disciplinary action is appropriate or required.
The experience in handling sexual harassment lawsuits includes the use of psychiatric experts, assertion of defenses and meeting theories of continuing violations.
Equal Protection Litigation
Advice and protection to employees who have been discriminated or retaliated against for protected speech, including whistleblower activity. Also handle cases for those individuals who have been singled out for unfair treatment or discriminated against on the basis of gender or race. Litigation on these matters includes trial and appellate work in both state and federal courts.
Wage and Hour Issues
We have advised clients in all aspects of state and federal wage and hour laws and have represented employers in both administrative and court proceedings responding to claims brought by employees alleging violations of these statutes, including overtime complaints and claims for unpaid wages. We have also advised clients on issues related to these laws including the classification of exempt and non-exempt employees.
Employee Contract Review
Tindall, Holmes & Kestenband routinely draft, negotiate and enforce employment agreements and severance packages for clients, including agreements concerning non-competition, confidentiality, non-solicitation and trade secrets. In addition, given the state of Connecticut law of employment contracts, we litigate cases involving allegations of wrongful discharges, breach of employment contracts, as well as common law tort claims in an employment setting such as defamation and negligence.
