Miami Employment Attorney for Employers
The employer-employee relationship is essential to maintaining a functional company, and employment law oversees all aspects of this relationship. A Miami employment attorney for employers can help you understand your obligations as an employer, help you mitigate future risks by avoiding breaches of employee rights, and represent you when there are employer-employee disputes.
Employment attorneys can support employers in their goals, including reviewing contracts for compliance and ensuring employers are following the law in all areas. Finding an exceptional and experienced attorney is fundamental to a successful outcome.
Representing Employers In A Wide Range Of Work Disputes
The law impacts employers in many different ways, from hiring determinations to working conditions to pay. Understanding and complying with the latest regulations requires constant vigilance. Legal guidance is particularly critical when a dispute or threat of litigation arises. Proactive measures can reduce the risk of costly, protracted litigation.
Call For A Free Telephone Consultation
Call (786) 446-7288 for a free telephone consultation with our office or use our contact form to tell us more about your situation.
At the Law Offices of Gary A. Costales, P.A., in Miami, we offer experienced representation for employers of all sizes. Our attorney is certified as an expert in employment and labor law by The Florida Bar. He draws on more than 20 years of experience — including experience representing high-level management, municipalities and Fortune 500 companies — to help employers navigate legal issues.
Our team aims to bring you accessible and dedicated legal representation, helping you meet your responsibilities, limit risk, make reasoned and informed choices about your business, protect your finances and reputation, and provide support for your employees.
Resolving Disputes ♦ Protecting Corporate Reputations
Employment law is geared toward litigation and going to trial. Trial preparation starts at the initial consultation. Consulting with counsel who is experienced in litigating employment law claims will help:
- Accurately assess risk: Company managers or advising attorneys who are not well-versed in employment law may not appreciate the risk that may exist in connection with an employment dispute, or they may overestimate the risk.
- Avoid overreaction or underreaction: Overreaction can sometimes be as bad as underreaction. As an example, a knee-jerk reaction to immediately fire a manager who has been accused of harassment may be detrimental if the value added to the company by the manager far exceeds that of the accuser. Other times, companies may gloss over complaints of discrimination and “off-the-cuff” comments about discrimination, failing to adequately investigate such claims.
- Better engage in a cost-benefit analysis: Most employers have to undertake a cost-benefit analysis to determine the best course of action. Sometimes the detriment of keeping an employee outweighs the benefit of terminating the employee, or vice versa. You need experienced counsel to accurately enter into that cost-benefit analysis.
All too often, an attorney who knows nothing about employment law will give advice to a company as to how to handle an employee dispute. This often results in overreaction, underreaction or other failures to accurately assess risk.
Who We Serve
We represent employers across South Florida. Many of the firm’s clients are small local businesses in a broad range of industries, including:
- Restaurants
- Hotels
- Retailers
- Corporations
- Professional practices, including doctors, chiropractors and dentists
- Towing companies
- Construction companies
We understand the challenges that employers face. Our firm strives to alleviate clients’ legal burdens so they can focus on running their business.
What We Offer
Your employment case should not be handled by an attorney who is inexperienced or dabbling in employment law. Professionals need professional legal representation. Legal support that is not well-versed in your industry and how employment law impacts your field of work can fall victim to errors or give you a false understanding of the case’s likely outcome.
At the Law Offices of Gary A. Costales, P.A., our team is exceptionally skilled, with decades of experience solely in employment law. We provide dedicated legal representation in a broad range of employment law matters, including:
Attorney Costales is also a certified mediator who serves as a neutral third party in employment-related mediation.
Helping Clients Defend Against Wage And Hour Lawsuits
Employers in the retail and hospitality industries frequently tend to run into wage and hour disputes. Wage and hour disputes can revolve around pay below state minimum wage, unpaid wages, improper break allowance, misclassified employees, and unpaid overtime. Florida has one of the largest volumes of overtime claims in the nation. Employees have the right to be paid for the work they complete.
We have extensive experience handling overtime disputes, minimum wage cases and other types of wage-related issues. Our lawyer also provides legal counsel on how to minimize the risk of disputes before they arise.
Employers must review their employees and their job duties, ensuring that employees are correctly classified as exempt or nonexempt from overtime pay or other benefits. An attorney can help with this preemptive work that could avoid future wage and hour claims.
If an employee does file for a wage and hour claim, an employment attorney can help employers follow the process, investigating the issue, defending the company’s interests, and providing employees with fair settlements when necessary.
Helping Employers Navigate Discrimination Complaints
Discrimination claims may be filed by employees when they experience a negative employment action that is based on their protected characteristics. Negative employment actions can include the individual not being hired, an employee being fired, or an employee being reassigned, harassed, or demoted. Discrimination based on protected characteristics is illegal under state and federal law, and employers must take action to prevent discrimination in the workplace.
Protected characteristics include age, sex, race, national origin, pregnancy, genetic information, marital status, and disability.
The laws that address discrimination in the workplace can apply to different employers in unique ways, and different types of discrimination are reported in unique ways. In some cases, employees are required to go through the company’s HR process, at which point the employer must take proactive action to address the complaint. If they don’t, a claim can follow.
In other cases, an employee can immediately file a claim. An employment lawyer can help employers with each unique situation, determining what protections apply to employees and what processes they are required to follow before filing a claim.
Addressing Sexual Harassment Cases With Clients
Employers are obligated to maintain safe workplaces free of sexual harassment. Reports of sexual harassment must be addressed, including a hostile work environment created by coworkers or quid pro quo sexual harassment committed by a manager or supervisor.
If employers do not address a workplace culture of sexual harassment or the illegal actions of those with employment power, they could face incredibly costly and damaging claims. It is important to protect employee rights and complete due diligence when investigating and addressing these complaints.
Reviewing Employment Contracts and Contract Issues for Employers
Both employers and employees must be aware of their contractual obligations in an employment contract, including clauses like non-compete agreements. Employers can review these contracts with an employment lawyer to ensure they are enforceable, fair, and that they understand their own obligations. If disputes over the contracts arise, an employment lawyer can protect an employer’s interests.
FAQs
An employment attorney can help employers in numerous situations, including:
- Explaining an employer’s rights and obligations as an employer.
- Reviewing the employer for compliance with state and federal laws, including wage and hour laws, discrimination and harassment laws, and more, limiting the future risk for the employer.
- Helping review and draft employment contracts, non-compete agreements, and other complex legal contracts.
- Defending the employer against claims and complaints, helping to resolve the dispute as efficiently as possible prior to litigation.
Employment arbitration enables employers and employees to negotiate a resolution without litigation, and it has several benefits:
- It saves all parties time and money. Litigation is costly and relies on the court’s schedule. Arbitration can be resolved more quickly and with fewer court costs.
- It protects privacy and security. Avoiding litigation means avoiding the potential airing of company information and the impacts the case could have on the company’s reputation.
- It is more predictable. Jury trial outcomes can be more uncertain.
Employers must be aware of the protections and rights that employees have in employment, including:
- The right to have a safe workplace without the presence of discrimination or harassment.
- The right to a fair wage and overtime pay in some cases.
- The right to take certain protected actions without fear of retaliation.
- The right to job-protected leave in certain situations.
Employers must be responsible for upholding these rights, or they could face complaints and legal claims.
The cost of an employment lawyer for employers depends on the type of legal services being provided, and other influencing factors. A lawyer who is drafting or reviewing employment contracts will charge differently than a lawyer who is representing an employer in an ongoing complaint by an employee. Depending on the scope of representation, an attorney may charge a flat fee or an hourly fee.
Lawyer fees also depend on their experience and ability in the field and the firm’s location.
Contact The Firm | Free Telephone Consultation
Employers can benefit from an employment lawyer in several aspects of their responsibilities. The team at the Law Offices of Gary A. Costales, P.A. can help you understand your rights and your obligations to employees, and how to limit your future risk by ensuring you uphold these obligations. Our firm can also support you if you are facing claims by employees for unpaid wages, discrimination, or other issues. We want to help you resolve the issue fairly.
For experienced employer-side representation, use our online contact form or call 786-446-7288. With offices in Miami and Boca Raton, we serve employers throughout South Florida.
