Legal Updates and Firm News

HAGRS LLP Welcomes New Associate Wayne Cartwright

HAGRS LLP is pleased to announce that Wayne Cartwright has joined the firm as an associate in its Atlanta office.  Wayne joins us from the law firm of Insley & Race LLP, where he gained significant litigation experience representing businesses and individuals in a variety of general liability and professional negligence matters.  Wayne is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of...Read More

HAGRS LLP Obtains Complete Defense Verdict After 5-Day Jury Trial.

Hall, Arbery, Gilligan, Robert & Shanlever LLP has secured a complete defense verdict for its client, a nationally acclaimed sports organization, following a five-day jury trial before Chief Judge Robert C. I. McBurney in Fulton County Superior Court (Atlanta, Georgia).   HAGRS’s trial team of partner Matt Gilligan and associates Elizabeth Newton and Brian Abrams defended their client...Read More

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

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

HGRS 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

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

What is Your Employment Risk Profile?

Are you prepared for a potential lawsuit or government investigation involving your employment practices?  Most employers know they have significant risk in this area, but do not know how to limit their legal exposure.  To properly assess and improve its risk profile, and potentially avoid a legal dispute altogether, an employer should work with legal counsel to focus on the following key...Read More

11th Circuit Rejects “Not Our Fault” Defense

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that an employer is not absolved from liability for unreported overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) if it has actual or constructive knowledge that time records are inaccurate.  The ruling in Bailey v. TitleMax of Georgia (No. 14-11747) reversed a lower court’s decision accepting the defense that an employee could not recover...Read More

Beyond Liability: Get Employees In S.H.A.P.E.

What are you providing employees in exchange for their time and service?  The answer many managers and supervisors probably would give is “a regular paycheck; insurance.”  Unfortunately, most employees probably would give the same answer.  Managers who want more from employees should consider what more they are doing (or should be doing) for employees, every day. Managers and supervisors...Read More