Legal Updates and Firm News

New Counsel Donna Keeton Enhances Firm’s Affirmative Action Compliance Practice and Is Licensed in California

Donna Keeton joined the Firm earlier this month as Of Counsel, bringing more than 17 years of experience in guiding and representing companies with regard to various employment-related issues, including discrimination and harassment, reasonable accommodations and leaves of absence, wage and hour issues, layoffs and terminations, and employment agreements. Donna also brings substantial...Read More

HGRS Selected by Super Lawyers as Georgia’s Top Small Firm in Employment Law

Leading legal industry publication “Super Lawyers” has named Hall, Arbery, Gilligan, Roberts & Shanlever LLP as the 2015 “Top Law Firm” in Georgia in the small firm category for employment law.  We are honored and sincerely grateful to all our clients who have made this possible.  Read More

Maury Bowen Joins Savannah Office as Partner

Our Savannah office continues to grow with the addition of attorney Maury Bowen as a partner.  Maury brings 20 years of diverse experience to the firm, most recently as a partner at another law firm and before that as Assistant General Counsel for a sizable corporation. In her labor and employment practice, Maury advises and defends corporate clients On a wide variety of issues, including...Read More

HGRS LLP Opens Savannah Office with New Partner Kristen Wigh Goodman

We are extremely pleased to welcome Savannah attorney Kristen Goodman as a partner in the firm. Ms. Goodman joins us from Goodman Law Firm, which she founded in 2002. She was the lead appellate Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Department of Justice in the Southern District of Georgia, before founding her own firm. Kristen will continue to practice in Savannah and Atlanta, handling a variety of...Read More

Preliminary Injunction Obtained by HAGRS LLP Leads to Favorable Settlement

We recently resolved a restrictive covenant dispute in favor of our client after obtaining a preliminary injunction to enforce the covenant. After an employee announced her resignation to work for a competitor, we obtained a preliminary injunction against the employee in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, precluding her continued employment. The employee appealed to...Read More

U.S. Supreme Court Will Decide Standard of Proof in Title VII Retaliation Cases

In what is likely to be one of the more important decisions in the employment law arena this year, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case in which it will decide whether, in a Title VII retaliation action, a plaintiff employee must prove that the employer would not have taken an adverse employment action but for the employee’s protected activity, or instead need only prove that the protected...Read More

Training Tip: Hit All the Right Notes in Employment Decisions

Employers often ask whether an employment action would comply with employment laws.  Often, that is the wrong question.  Ultimately, whether a decision is lawful often depends on motive, which can be a matter of dispute.  Employers should ask, “In the event of a legal dispute regarding this decision, who would be believed, and why?” Even better, before taking a significant action,...Read More

Reminder From Texas That Oral Employment Agreements Can Be Enforced

A recent case from Texas serves as a good reminder that promises made in the workplace can be enforced under certain circumstances, even if they are not in writing. The Texas Court of Appeals was not persuaded by an employer’s argument that an agreement to continue providing sales commissions to its employee even after his employment ended was unenforceable simply because it was an oral...Read More

Employer Wellness Program Did Not Violate ADA

A decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit may encourage employers to offset rising healthcare costs through the use of wellness programs and the implementation of fines for nonparticipation in such programs. According to the Eleventh Circuit, under certain circumstances the medical examinations and inquiries connected with wellness programs do not violate The Americans...Read More

Court of Appeals Emphasizes Duty of Employer in Harassment Case

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a finding of liability and reinstated a punitive damages award against an automobile manufacturer based on a jury’s reasonable conclusion that the employer did not promptly or adequately respond to an employee’s complaints of harassment. Although the employee was unable to identify who had left harassing and threatening notes in his...Read More