EMPLOYMENT LAW AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Using statistical analyses and knowledge of current law, we establish ongoing consultative relationships with employers in order to help avoid potential legal problems as regulations and law evolve over time.

In the area of affirmative action, allegations of discrimination often focus on patterns involving the hiring, firing, and promotion of employees.  In these instances, statistical analysis provides the most accurate possible reflection of a client’s equal opportunity performance.

OSHA LITIGATION AND COMPLIANCE

Failure to comply with OSHA can create unwanted liability and exposure to lawsuits when injuries occur in the workplace.  Our attorneys' practice experience encompasses a variety of sophisticated employment-related legal issues, including both lobbying and litigation.

Attorney Dean Sparlin was part of the litigation team that represented industry through a national coalition of trade associations and individual companies in a challenge to the Department of Labor’s proposed ergonomics standards.  His efforts helped contribute to the decision by Congress to rescind the proposed standards.

Affirmative Action Plan Preparation

An affirmative action plan is more than a set of documents that must be assembled each year to comply with government regulations.  If the plan is prepared and implemented carefully, it can be a powerful management tool.

Affirmative action planning involves looking back and looking forward with a trained statistical eye on recruiting and hiring of women, minorities, protected veterans and people with disabilities.  Even if your staff has experience with corporate affirmative action policies, you need in-depth knowledge of affirmative action law and specific legal requirements.  You also should be prepared to apply the increasingly sophisticated statistical methods that are being applied in affirmative action programs.  Software packages are not an adequate substitute for the human insight and grasp of the legal issues that Sparlin Law Office, PLLC can provide.

WAGE AND HOUR COMPLIANCE

Our attorneys have decades of experience in the application of quantitative methods to labor-related legal matters such as wage and hour compliance reviews.

Our innovative, in-depth, fact-based approach has enabled clients to limit damages related to wage and hour dispute litigation.  We provide salary structure analysis and represent employers engaged in wage and hour litigation through statistical elimination of unmerited, inaccurate, or overstated claims.

HR COUNSELING

Sparlin Law Office counsels, advises, and represents business clients in regard to the full panoply of state and federal employment laws and regulations that impact HR policy.

Human resources counseling offered by the Sparlin Law Office ranges from thorough, in-depth audits to informal day-to-day advice on how new regulations by the EEOC, the Department of Labor, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, and other agencies may affect particular businesses’ HR compliance.  Our legal advice and representation, however, is not limited to advising Human Resources departments on regulatory compliance issues.  We also help companies set up payroll systems and develop legally sound employee handbooks in order to minimize the possibility of litigation.

Adverse Impact of Contemplated Employment Action

When an employer contemplates taking employment actions such as a reduction of the work force, salary adjustments, promotions, demotions, early retirement, or severance plans, consultations with experienced employment law attorneys are in order.

Regardless of the employment action under consideration, such moves may disproportionately affect older workers or employees of a particular race or gender.  Through full-faceted human resources counseling coupled with sophisticated statistical analysis, the Sparlin Law Office, PLLC enables employers to anticipate, and mitigate, any adverse impact of contemplated employment actions such as layoffs or reclassification of employees.

STATISTICAL CONSULTING

Sparlin Law Office uses state-of-the-art analytics and software to perform numerical analyses ranging from simple statistical significance tests to complex multiple regressions.  Our attorneys can execute sophisticated, complicated analyses that can’t be obtained or interpreted by just any law firm.

Sparlin Law Office’s statistical and legal expertise can also be an important part of your discovery strategy in litigation.  Our attorneys review and critique expert’s reports, prepare rebuttals, and help employers and their attorneys cross-examine experts at trial.  We can offer these services under the umbrella of attorney-client privilege, permitting a broad and frank assessment of risks without the downside of potential discovery exposure.

DEFENDING OFCCP AUDITS COMPLIANCE REVIEWS

When the OFCCP initiates an audit or conducts a review, it typically asks am employer to submit evidence of a working affirmative action plan.  Our attorneys combine statistics with legal experience to ensure full compliance with affirmative action laws.

Statistical analysis of employment practices also can reveal areas of weakness and may uncover vulnerability to litigation demanding back pay or other monetary remedies.  Regular examination of HR issues through statistical analysis suitable for responding to OFCCP audits and compliance reviews gives an employer a strong leg to stand on — a legally sound means of being a proactive affirmative action practitioner.

EEO Litigation

Sparlin Law Office represents employer in the defense of claims of discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or other protected characteristics.  We advise clients on complaint processing requirements and class action suits related to alleged violations of EEO-based laws of states throughout the U.S.  Statistical analysis often figures in our most effective defense strategies.  Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws enforced by the federal government include the following:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), (prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin);
• the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA) (protecting men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination);
• the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) (protecting individuals who are 40 years of age or older);
• Title I and Title V of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) (prohibiting employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector and in state and local governments);
• Sections 501 and 505 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (prohibiting discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities who work in the federal government); and
• the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (providing monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination).