Legal Updates and Firm News

HAGRS LLP Obtains Summary Judgment in Race Discrimination Case in U.S. District Court

HAGRS LLP recently obtained a grant of Summary Judgment and a complete dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that its client, a national financial institution, discriminated against the plaintiff (a current employee) on the basis of her race.  The plaintiff alleged that our client failed to promote her to a senior management position.  HAGRS Partner Wit Hall and associate Thomas Cox represented our...Read More

HAGRS LLP Lawyers Included in 2019 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America©

Two attorneys at Hall, Arbery, Gilligan, Roberts & Shanlever LLP have been included in “The Best Lawyers in America© for 2019.”  Attorneys Matt Gilligan, Chris Arbery were selected by their peers for their “high caliber of work” in the practice area of Employment Law – Management.  Inclusion in Best Lawyers is based on a “rigorous peer-review survey.”  Corporate Counsel magazine has called...Read More

HAGRS LLP’s Florida Office Expands with Addition of New Partner Mark Bonfanti

HAGRS LLP is pleased to announce that Mark L. Bonfanti has joined the firm as a partner in its Seagrove Beach, Florida office.  Mark joins us from the law firm of Allen, Norton & Blue, P.A., where he was a Senior Attorney, representing employers in a wide spectrum of employment litigation matters and traditional labor matters.  Prior to that, Mark served as in-house Labor and Employment...Read More

Associate Elizabeth Newton Recognized as Georgia “Rising Star.”

HAGRS LLP associate attorney Elizabeth M. Newton has been recognized as a 2018 “Georgia Rising Star,” as published by Atlanta Magazine and the Atlanta Business Chronicle.  According to the selection committee, Rising Stars are those “outstanding” lawyers age 40 and under who have “attained a high degree peer recognition and professional achievement.”  The Rising Star designation is limited to...Read More

HAGRS LLP Partners Recognized as Georgia Super Lawyers for 2018

Several partners at Hall, Arbery, Gilligan, Roberts and Shanlever LLP (Wit Hall, Chris Arbery, Matt Gilligan, and Dave Roberts) have been recognized as 2018 “Georgia Super Lawyers,” as published in Atlanta Magazine and the Atlanta Business Chronicle.  According to the selection committee, Super Lawyers are those who have “achieved excellence in their practice” and are selected based on “a high...Read More

Are You Ready for the New Overtime Exemption Rules?

The new salary requirements for overtime exemptions are expected to take effect in 2016.  As reported in a previous legal update, the proposed final rule would more than double the salary level required for exemptions applicable to executive, administrative, or professional employees, from $455 per week ($23,660 per year) to $970 per week ($50,440 per year). Employers are urged to review their...Read More

New Federal Trade Secrets Law Features “Civil Seizure” Remedy

The “Defend Trade Secrets Act” has passed through Congress and is awaiting signature by President Obama, which is expected any day now.  Up to now, trade secrets have been the exclusive province of state law.  Although the new law will not displace state laws, it will provide an overlapping set of procedures to protect trade secrets and allow for enforcement of misappropriation claims in...Read More

Untimely Discrimination Claims Could Be Revived

A recent decision by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals (covering Georgia, Florida, and Alabama) may have opened the door for countless otherwise-expired claims of age discrimination with no evidence of intentional basis. In Villareal v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the Court ruled that an unsuccessful job applicant could pursue a claim of age discrimination under the federal Age...Read More

DOL Continues Expansion of “Joint Employer” Coverage

The US Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recently issued an Administrative Interpretation that greatly expands the possibility that two or more businesses are “joint employers” of one employee.  Joint employment status means two or more employers may be held jointly and severally responsible for fulfilling minimum wage, overtime, and other obligations under the...Read More

NLRB Widens the Goalposts for Labor Union Organizers

A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board could have a major impact on tens of thousands of employees who never thought that they would have to worry about labor unions.  In Browning Ferris Industries of California, Inc. et al., NLRB Case No. 32-RC-109684 (August 27, 2015), a majority of the five member Board held that a company was required to recognize and bargain with a union...Read More