Terminating Employees on Job-Protected Leave: Avoiding FMLA and ADA Claims

Mr. Slocum focuses his practice on labor and employment law, including the defense of discrimination, retaliation, wrongful discharge and whistleblower claims. He has represented employers in a broad array of industries, including healthcare and life sciences, pharmaceutical, private security, and retail, and has experience defending against both individual employee claims and class actions. Mr. Slocum has written and spoken numerous times on a multitude of issues facing employers in diverse industries.

Mr. Grisham has over 30 years of successful experience counseling and representing employers in all aspects of workplace law in Tennessee and across the U.S. He has helped employers avoid claims, charges, and lawsuits with a focus on preventative practices, including counseling on discipline, termination, demotion, promotion and other workplace changes,  investigations, wage and hour compliance, reasonable accommodation assessment, supervisor training and the review of employment policies and procedures. Mr. Grisham has successfully litigated hundreds of administrative charges, employment lawsuits, and arbitration demands on behalf of employers, including federal and state law claims alleging discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, invasion of privacy, defamation, breach of contract, and wage and hour violations, among others. He represents employers in the prosecution and defense of trade secret claims, and in the enforcement of post-employment restrictive covenants such as non-compete, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure agreements. Mr. Grisham also represents employers in unfair labor practice and union representation election proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board. He is a Member of the American Employment Law Council, a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and of the American Bar Foundation. Mr. Grisham is a past Chair of the Memphis Bar Association's L&E Section and of the Tennessee Bar Association's L&E Section where he currently serves on the Executive Committee.

Ms. Koblin assists employers with labor and employment disputes, including litigation of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, unpaid wage and class action claims in state and federal courts as well as mediation. She provides counseling on employee handbooks and policies, noncompete agreements, anti-discrimination statutes, wage and hour laws, and joint employer liability. Her experience providing human resources training covers topics ranging from conducting effective investigations, to complying with the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and state and local employment laws concerning paid sick leave, leaves of absence and employee accommodations. governance. Ms. Koblin also represents clients responding to OSHA citations and unfair labor practice charges before the National Labor Relations Board, and defends clients who arbitrate employee grievances before the American Arbitration Association.