Employment

Structure Law Group, LLP provides comprehensive legal services to businesses operating in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Austin, TX, and Portland, OR. Our firm emerged alongside the “dot com boom” of the mid-’90s and has since expanded into emerging tech hubs in Austin and Portland. With a dedicated team of Portland employment lawyers, we provide the resources and reach of a large law firm with the personalized service of a small law firm. 

Our employment attorneys can help your company anticipate regulatory changes, adhere to both federal and state employment laws, and avoid costly litigation associated with employee complaints, the disclosure of trade secrets, and other important matters.

Most of the sexual harassment lawsuits, discrimination lawsuits, and wage and hour theft lawsuits that you hear about in the news are completely avoidable. Companies that don’t adequately prepare run the risk of facing serious liability, EEOC lawsuits, federal penalties, and major reputational damage. 

Our goal as your employment attorney is to help you draft comprehensive employment agreements, employee handbooks, and executive contracts that ensure that your company’s interests are protected. A few simple documents can help your company avoid the costs of protracted litigation emerging from weak or misguided policies and agreements. These include:

• Employee contracts
• Employee handbooks
• Executive compensation agreements
• Executive contracts
• Non-disclosure agreements
• Non-compete clauses
• Severance agreements

A well-drafted contract protects your company’s interests and avoids major liability. In today’s business climate, worker-friendly policies that protect workers from unsafe working environments are becoming increasingly more important from a reputational standpoint. If disputes do arise, our attorneys will help mitigate the damage and minimize your liability.

Most labor laws and civil rights matters come from the federal government. However, every state has passed some civil rights legislation that either absorbs or extends the federal government’s protections. Oregon is in the latter category with protections that exceed the requirements of the federal government. Portland also legislates civil rights matters. That means companies are responsible for adhering to three jurisdictions' worth of regulations, especially in a city like Portland.

Since our firm has decades of experience operating in labor-friendly California, we are more than suited to help your Portland business apply aggressive employment protections required by law. Our services include:

• Employee misclassification lawsuits
• Federal and state tax requirements
• Workers’ compensation insurance and agreements
• Advertising of jobs and positions
• Hiring and firing decisions
• Employee discipline and write-up procedures
• Employee discrimination lawsuits
• Hostile work environment lawsuits
• Sexual harassment lawsuits

SLG has helped both Fortune 500 companies and start-ups draft enforceable employee agreements that consider the multiple jurisdictions of regulations your firm has to consider. More often than not, these lawsuits are avoidable with the right policies and preparation. Abiding by these laws keeps your business profitable and honorable in the eyes of the public.

Your intellectual property will be among the most important assets your company has. Nonetheless, non-compete agreements are not enforceable in every state, and even states that do allow non-competes tend to restrict the enforceability of these agreements considerably. SLG can help your company draft agreements that protect your valuable intellectual property from competitors. This includes preventing terminated employees from divulging trade secrets, proprietary secrets, or other confidential information.

Oregon law permits non-competes in specific situations. The court has broad leeway to void such agreements unless any of a number of conditions are met. The law regarding non-competes is subject to change at any moment. The newer the law, the more restrictions there are on non-compete agreements. SLG can help Portland employers draft enforceable non-competes by strictly adhering to Oregon’s requirements.

SLG cannot stress the importance of a well-drafted employee handbook enough. The handbooks not only go over the legal protections that employees have in the workplace, they also describe remedies for disputes, delineate how these matters are handled, and ensure that your employees are aware of your expectations. Employee handbooks also prevent damaging lawsuits by providing an infrastructure for dispute resolution before the matter becomes legally actionable. 

Our attorneys can help your company produce an employee handbook that discusses your company’s values and goals while simultaneously insulating you from liability. Your employee handbook should cover all of the following:

• Discuss “at-will” employment
• Policies for handling discrimination and harassment
• Remedies for employees to file complaints concerning discrimination or harassment
• Work schedules
• Accrual of paid leave
• Workers’ compensation matters
• Workplace safety
• Intellectual property

SLG’s labor law attorneys will work closely with your executives and HR department to draft a comprehensive employee handbook that covers all of your bases.

Terminating an employee is a delicate matter. State and federal laws, as well as Portland municipal laws, can figure into a discrimination allegation. Terminations must be handled in accord with these regulations to avoid allegations of discrimination or wrongful termination. SLG’s Portland business attorneys help companies implement best practices for severance procedures and protect your company’s intellectual property. We can help your company draft severance agreements that minimize your exposure to liability and protect your intellectual property.

Our services include:

• Helping you develop policies for human resources departments to handle employee disputes, discrimination claims, or hostile work environment claims
• Helping you develop corrective actions for employees that violate the rules
• Design checklists to ensure that all of your bases are covered when terminating an employee

Well-written employee contracts and severance agreements help companies avoid costly liability when terminating an employee.

While the majority of lawsuits can be avoided with clearly-defined policies and good communication, some cannot. If an employee files a lawsuit alleging employment discrimination, harassment, or a hostile work environment, SLG will help prepare your defense and minimize your liability. With experience defending our clients in California, we have all the experience your Oregon business will need to protect itself from damaging employee claims.

Structure Law Group, LLP has locations in San Jose, Los Angeles, Austin, TX and Lake Oswego, OR and are ideally suited to help businesses in the tech sector meet multi-state obligations in multiple jurisdictions. Call us today at (503) 388-3000 to schedule an appointment or fill out our online form, and we can begin discussing your company’s goals right away.