Services

We are committed to providing our clients with the highest quality service in both litigation and counseling.

We represent employers in all manner of employment litigation, both before the EEOC and in state and federal courts across the country. In addition to traditional employment litigation arising out of claims of discrimination, workplace harassment, wage and hour law violations, leave entitlements, and wrongful termination, we also handle cases involving complex employment contracts, including cases seeking and resisting the enforcement of restrictive covenants. In each matter, we pride ourselves on employing the right combination of aggressive but efficient litigation, diplomatic mediation and effective settlement negotiation.

We also act as counselors, working with our clients to help them stay on the right side of the law and avoid litigation whenever possible. Our clients consider us part of the Human Resources team, and they benefit from our advice – from the recruiting and application process through termination, and everything in between.

Examples of our experience:

Litigation

• We were recently retained to defend a large financial services company and one of its employees in restrictive covenant litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and in a concurrent arbitration. After multiple hearings, depositions, and several rounds of briefing, all within two weeks, were successfully negotiated a favorable end to the litigation.
• When a large public utility company was sued recently by two discrimination plaintiffs seeking millions of dollars in damages, we took aggressive action to end the case almost before it began. The D.C. Superior Court accepted our arguments to dismiss the case entirely for failure to state a claim.
• We were recently retained to represent one of several individual defendants in a far-reaching complaint in Fairfax County Circuit Court against a large government contractor and several of its employees. With only a few days’ notice, we prepared to defend our client against an aggressive motion for a temporary injunction that would have limited his ability to compete with his former employer. Although our client was the only defendant who entered the courtroom having executed a post-employment restrictive covenant, he was also the only defendant who emerged from the courtroom with no competitive injunction issued against him. Thereafter, we quickly negotiated his dismissal from the litigation.
• When a local construction company was sued recently for alleged overtime violations in a potential federal class action, we took immediate action to limit potential liability by narrowing the class and ultimately by negotiating a favorable resolution that allowed the company to avoid class certification, provide minimal back pay, and secure a court-sealed settlement. Our client benefited from our years of experience handling FLSA overtime claims and our realistic and pragmatic assessment of potential defenses and liability. We even earned praise from our opposing counsel, who have since repeatedly referred their own business clients to us for employer-side representation.
• On behalf of a long-standing client, we recently filed suit to enforce a non-competition agreement against a former key employee who had been hired by the client's chief competitor. After several months of discovery, we secured a favorable settlement, pursuant to which the competitor, among other things, agreed to refrain from hiring any of our client’s employees for a substantial period of time.
• We recently represented a significant regional office furniture dealer in litigation in the Fairfax County Circuit Court in which one of its much larger and better-financed competitors alleged that it had committed various torts and contract breaches as a result of its retention of one of the competitors’ former high-ranking executives. After several months of hard-fought litigation, the firm prevailed in a three-day evidentiary hearing in which the court denied the competitor’s motion for a broad preliminary injunction.
• We recently represented the co-founder of an important IT firm who, following her termination, sought to secure relief from a broad post-employment restrictive covenant. When her former company refused to negotiate, Lorenger & Carnell filed a declaratory judgment action the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia seeking to have the non-competition agreement declared unenforceable. After defeating the company’s request to move the case to another jurisdiction, the firm filed an aggressive motion for judgment on the pleadings, which prompted a favorable settlement just days before the hearing and included a complete release from the competitive restrictions.
• Defending a large public utility company in federal court in Maryland, we recently won the complete dismissal of disability discrimination claims brought by a former employee. Before answering the complaint or engaging in any discovery, we filed an aggressive motion to dismiss that the Court granted in full.
• We recently reached a favorable settlement of sex discrimination claims brought against a multinational communications technology firm in federal court in Pennsylvania.
• We secured summary judgment in favor of a high-profile media company accused of national origin, gender, and age discrimination by a female executive who was terminated following a company reorganization.
• We negotiated a favorable settlement on behalf of a client accused of religious and national origin discrimination brought by a employee in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
• We secured summary judgment on behalf of multi-million dollar office products company when a 62-year-old former employee filed a federal suit alleging age discrimination following his discharge.
• We won summary judgment, and defended the decision on appeal before the Eleventh Circuit, in a hard-fought race discrimination case arising out of a hotel employee's disciplinary discharge.
• We negotiated a favorable settlement in a case arising out of an allegedly sexually hostile environment in a hotel bar, and in the process successfully prevented lawsuits by at least three other former employees who were waiting to sue.
• In a difficult case involving a non-competition agreement and claims of trade secret theft, we won a summary judgment decision by urging the court to adopt a new rule of law, and we successfully defended that decision before the state’s supreme court.
• In a suit prosecuted by the EEOC and involving sexual harassment and sexual assault of minor female interns, we negotiated a favorable settlement and provided our client critical public relations advice throughout eighteen months of difficult litigation.
• When a high-profile client was sued for race discrimination, we used a unique aspect of the law of the local jurisdiction to get the case dismissed before discovery had even begun.
• In a case alleging religious discrimination and retaliation, we convinced the court to grant our motion for summary judgment and then successfully defended that decision before the state's supreme court.
• When a client was hit with a motion for a preliminary injunction arising out of its hiring of four key employees from its chief competitor, we filed an aggressive motion to have the restrictive covenants declared invalid – an action that resulted in a favorable settlement the day before the motion was set to be heard.
• When a client's executive inadvertently violated the Family and Medical Leave Act by denying an employee's leave request, we defended the litigation and successfully negotiated a favorable settlement just days before trial.
• We represented a travel-industry executive and his new employer in a proactive restrictive covenant lawsuit. We filed suit seeking a preliminary injunction to preclude the enforcement of the restrictive covenants, won on the critical legal issue at the preliminary injunction hearing, and negotiated a favorable settlement that permitted the executive to work for our client without significant restrictions.
• We defended a satellite technology company in an ERISA suit stemming from a severance plan created in advance of a series of WARN layoffs. After intense discovery and summary judgment briefings, the plaintiff settled for a fraction of his demand.
• We successfully litigated through trial a finder's fee claim brought against one of our employer clients, resulting in a full defense verdict and a strong rebuke to the plaintiff from the bench.
• We successfully mediated a sensitive sexual harassment claim brought against one of our agricultural client's key executives, resulting in a negligible settlement.

Discrimination

• We draft and provide enforcement guidance regarding company non-discrimination policies.
• We provide advice and oversight of personnel decisions that could result in claims of employment discrimination.
• We provide strategic analysis regarding claims and complaint-handling.
• We provide advice and counsel regarding employer obligations to accommodate employees with disabilities.

Harassment

• We draft and provide enforcement guidance on anti-harassment policies, complaint procedures and retaliation prohibitions.
• We regularly offer employee training on workplace ethics and professionalism, including harassment and discrimination prevention, as well as specialized training for supervisors, managers and executives on recognizing and preventing discrimination and harassment.

Family and Medical Leave

• We review company family and medical leave policies for compliance with state and federal law.
• We counsel human resources managers and in-house counsel regarding the application of federal and state leave laws.

Wage and Hour Laws

• We conduct wage and hour audits to evaluate compliance with state and federal law, and we provide detailed analysis of the various overtime exemptions.
• We advise clients faced with the difficult task of re-classifying employees from exempt to non-exempt.
• We advise employers regarding obligations under state wage payment laws.

Restrictive Covenants and Trade Secrets

• We assess our client's industry, technology and products or services to recommend appropriate restrictive covenants.
• We carefully craft confidentiality, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements specifically tailored to the business needs of the client and the employee’s unique role in the company.
• We negotiate business solutions to complex restrictive covenant and trade secret disputes when our clients seek to avoid the costs and distraction of litigation.

Employment Agreements

• We have successfully represented several high-level corporate executives who have resigned or been terminated from their public company employers. We have provided invaluable strategic advice, negotiated severance agreements, and taken action to ensure that all required severance benefits are paid.
• We negotiate and prepare all forms of employment agreements, from routine offer letters to the most complex executive contracts.
• We draft contract amendments to address changes in business circumstances, including waivers of change of control, retention agreements and salary reduction amendments.
• We provide clients with tailored severance agreements and releases for use during employee terminations.

Terminations and Reductions-in-Force

• We counsel employers regarding selection criteria for reductions-in-force and assess the potential for resulting disparate impact and other claims.
• We guide HR professionals and in-house lawyers through the process of individual or group terminations, including issues of termination meetings, security, property retrieval, network and computer issues, and post-termination issues such as providing references.
• We draft WARN Act notices, as well as OWBPA-compliant disclosures and releases.

Internal Investigations

• We conduct skilled investigations of employee claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation or other wrongdoing, which often include sensitive witness interviews, complex document analysis and the important evaluation of witness credibility.
• We advise employers regarding the structure and scope of appropriate investigations, the contents of any written report and appropriate follow-up actions.

Created by Matrix Group International, Inc. ®