Employment Law
Effective representation of today's employers requires an array of legal skills delivered in a cost-conscious fashion, coupled with a thorough knowledge of the industry and an excellent grasp of the ever-changing statutory, regulatory and jurisprudential environment at both federal and state levels.
Lawyers at Taggart Morton represent employers with respect to virtually all labor and employment law issues, including employment discrimination and harassment, employment benefits and ERISA, safety and health, privacy issues, human resources and workers' compensation. Our clients include private and public employers, business and not-for-profit organizations, and trade associations. Taggart Morton attorneys also handle a broad array of administrative charges and investigations before administrative agencies, such as:
• U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”)
• Employment Standards Administration
• Occupational Safety & Health Administration (“OSHA”)
• Wage-Hour Division
• U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”)
Our practice emphasizes preventive measures by which employers can minimize their exposure to the cost and time loss inherent in responding to employee claims. Specifically, Taggart Morton lawyers provide employers consultation in the following areas:
• Development of employment policies
• Reductions in force
• Preparing employee performance evaluation systems
• Drafting employee handbooks
• Employee disciplinary systems and termination packages
• Supervisor/employee training
• Alternative dispute resolution, including mediation
• Handling of harassment, workplace violence and employee misconduct investigations.
Despite employers' preventive efforts, employees nevertheless initiate claims. Taggart Morton lawyers will arbitrate and litigate employment-related matters in either federal or state courts. In defending such actions on behalf of employers, we respond to administrative charges of discrimination or harassment. When an employee action is brought to court, we answer the employee complaint, handle discovery and pretrial proceedings, and finally try the case to judge or jury. Our litigation practice also encompasses the defense of worker's compensation actions brought before the Louisiana Office of Worker's Compensation.
Increasingly employers are faced with problems arising from the retention of talented employees who are not citizens of the United States . Our lawyers assist individuals seeking to obtain permanent residency and temporary work permits such as L-1s, H-1s, H-2s. Our legal staff includes attorneys fluent in Spanish, French, and other foreign languages.
Employment Law Practice Areas
• Discrimination Claims · Retaliatory Actions
• Sexual Harassment · Civil Rights Claims
• Arbitration & Mediation · Wage & Hour Laws
• ERISA, COBRA & HIPAA
• Workplace Privacy
• Employee Benefits · Employee Contracts
• Pension and 401(k) Plans · Non-Compete/Solicitation Agreements
• Workplace Leave (FMLA) · ADA Compliance
• Litigation - all state and federal courts · Risk Management/Consultation
Practicing Attorneys:
Larry E. Demmons | Perry R. Staub, Jr.
LARRY E. DEMMONS
Larry Demmons is the practice group coordinator for the Employment Law Practice of Taggart Morton. Larry practices almost exclusively in the area of employment litigation. His employment litigation practice includes representing employers in all phases of employment law, including:
• discrimination claims (including sex, religion, age, disability, race, national origin and sexual harassment before administrative agencies and state and federal courts)
• retaliation claims
• civil rights law and constitutional law
• public sector employment law (including civil service)
• wage and hour law, state (Louisiana Wage Payment Statute) and federal (FLSA)
• workplace privacy
• workplace leave issues (FMLA)
• employee benefits litigation (ERISA)
• non-competition/non-solicitation agreements
• ADA Title II and Title III compliance
Larry's practice also involves providing proactive advice to clients on daily issues that arise in the employment context prior to, and in an effort to prevent, future litigation. In addition to advising clients on the legal issues mentioned above, Larry provides advice and counseling in other areas, including developing employee policy and procedure manuals, drafting non-competition/non-solicitation agreements and providing anti-discrimination and general workplace practices training for management and non-management employees.
Prior to beginning the practice of law, Larry was a Judicial Clerk for the Honorable Justice Jeffery P. Victory, Associate Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Larry is also a frequent speaker at Continuing Legal Education and Council on Education and Management seminars on a wide variety of labor and employment issues, including:
• sexual harassment
• discrimination
• conducting internal investigations
• employee discipline and discharge
• performance appraisals
• workplace violence
• arbitration/mediation
• workplace discrimination and retaliation
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act
• FMLA
• ADA
Larry Demmons' profile
PERRY R. STAUB, JR.
Perry Staub chairs the Litigation and Health Care Practice Groups at Taggart Morton. Mr. Staub has been involved in the representation of health care entities, including managed care entities, for over twenty years. Perry specializes in health and managed care litigation, including: ERISA, provider contracting, employment and labor law, antitrust & trade regulation, False Claims Act, intellectual property, technology, subrogation and third party reimbursement actions, Medicare, and all manner of business and complex litigation disputes. In addition to his practice in various state and federal courts nationwide, Perry has been involved in cases and regulatory proceedings before the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Labor, the Health Care Financing Administration (now CMS), the Louisiana Department of Insurance and the Louisiana Department of Labor. Perry lectures extensively on issues of interest in the health care industry, as well as on the developing use of technology in both legal and business contexts.
Mr. Staub's interest in technology has led to his involvement in the n egotiation and preparation of medical technology licensing agreements; acquisitions and divestitures of medical technology; joint venture and "partnering" arrangements between developers of medical technology and manufacturers and distributors; encryption issues; counseling on online provision of medical services and on application of HIPAA's Medical Privacy and Transaction Standards.
Mr. Staub presently serves on the Board of Directors of the New Orleans Bar Association, where he also chairs the Technology Committee. He is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association, the Managed Care Interest Group of the AHLA; the Technology Practice Group of the AHLA; the American Bar Association (Sections on Health Law, Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Litigation, Science & Technology, Employment & Labor (ERISA), and Tort & Insurance Practice); the Health Care Compliance Association; the Louisiana State Bar Association's Health Law Section.
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