Labor and Employment

Practice Highlights 

• Back when all of Florida's employment lawyers could meet in a single conference room, Carlton Fields’ employment group, which is more than 50 years old, was there. 
• Frequently try employment cases to verdict for employers in state and federal courts and in large, multi-party arbitrations 
• All primary practice group senior members are board certified by The Florida Bar, either in labor and employment law, or civil trial law 
• Represent employers in all types of employment disputes, including state and federal court actions, administrative charges and hearings, arbitrations, class and collective actions, and informal mediations 
• Senior group member with a practice entirely devoted to transactional employment work: executive contracts, compensation and severance agreements, employment issues that arise in mergers, and counseling employers.

Key Matters 

• Obtained complete defense verdict after seven-day federal jury trial in a case brought by former employee against her former employer for violations of Family Medical Leave Act (retaliation), Florida Civil Rights Act (handicap, race, age, national origin, and sex discrimination), Americans with Disabilities Act (handicap discrimination), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (age discrimination), and Title VII (race, national origin, and sex discrimination)
• Secured reversal and entry of judgment as matter of law from the Eleventh Circuit on behalf of employer whose former employee had obtained jury verdict of a sexually hostile work environment and retaliatory termination
• Procured summary judgment, and decision affirming same on appeal, for medical center accused of discrimination in violation of Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violations of state statutes, for the medical center’s failure to provide a sign language interpreter to hearing-impaired patient and his hearing-impaired wife 
• In a case where a former employee alleged he was discharged because his wife sued his employer for sex discrimination and retaliation, established new law that “marital discrimination” under the Florida Civil Rights Act includes only the state of being or not being married, and does not include the status of being married to a specific individual
• Obtained complete defense verdict, after six-day federal jury trial, in section 1981 race discrimination case brought by physician who was denied medical staff privileges at hospital