01
Discrimination & Harassment Defense
Defense of discrimination and harassment claims under Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA, and parallel state law, built on the record and the arguments that make a workplace decision defensible.
Litigation, Disputes & Special Situations
Labor & Employment Litigation
Employer-side representation in discrimination and wrongful-discharge claims, wage-and-hour conflict, and workplace disputes under the federal and state frameworks that govern the workforce, in court and through alternative resolution.
An employee over forty asked to sign a release has 21 days to consider it and seven to revoke it; if the release is part of a group layoff the period is 45 days and must come with the job titles and ages of those kept and those let go. A release that skips a step does not release the age claim, and the employee keeps the severance. Most employment cases are won or lost on paperwork of this kind.
The statutes set the arithmetic. Unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act is doubled as liquidated damages unless the employer proves it acted in good faith, and the lookback stretches from two years to three if the violation was willful. In Illinois a confidentiality clause in a harassment settlement is enforceable only if it was the employee's documented preference and the employee had 21 days to consider it and seven to revoke.
We act for employers, in court, before the agencies and in arbitration. The work begins with the personnel file and ends, when it goes well, with a handbook that does not generate the same claim twice.
What we do
Employer-side litigation and dispute resolution across the employment relationship, from the first claim through judgment, appeal, or settlement.
02
Wrongful-Discharge & Retaliation Claims
Representation in wrongful-termination and retaliation disputes. The defensibility of a discharge usually turns on the separation procedure that was followed, so that is where the work starts.
03
Wage-and-Hour & FLSA Disputes
Defense of wage-and-hour matters under the FLSA and state wage law, covering classification, overtime, and pay-practice disputes, including those that arrive as collective or class claims.
04
Labor & Union-Relations Litigation
Representation in labor and employee-relations disputes under the NLRA, including unfair-labor-practice matters, contract-interpretation conflicts, and the litigation that grows out of union relations.
05
Workplace Disputes & ADR
Arbitration, mediation, and conciliation of employment disputes, chosen where a private forum resolves the conflict faster and with less damage to reputation and working relationships.
06
Trial Advocacy & Appeals
Courtroom advocacy in state and federal employment matters, from early case assessment through discovery and evidence management, trial, and post-judgment and appellate strategy.
What you should know
A few principles that shape how an employment dispute is run, and the points at which it can be ended before it runs away from you.
01
The charge is the gate
Most claims begin with an agency charge, not a complaint. In Illinois the EEOC charge must be filed within 300 days of the act, the right-to-sue notice then starts a 90-day clock for the lawsuit, and a theory that was not in the charge is usually kept out of the complaint.
02
Damages are capped by headcount
Compensatory and punitive damages under Title VII and the ADA are capped by the size of the employer, from $50,000 for one with 15 to 100 employees to $300,000 for one with more than 500. Back pay, front pay and attorneys' fees sit outside the cap, and the jury is never told the cap exists.
03
The personnel file is the exhibit list
An Illinois employee may inspect and copy the personnel file on request, and the employer has seven working days to comply. A document that belonged in the file but was left out generally cannot be used against the employee later, so a warning that lives only in a manager's inbox may as well not exist.
04
Arbitration has a carve-out
A predispute arbitration agreement binds most employment claims, and since 2018 a class waiver inside it does too. Since 2022 neither can be enforced against a sexual-harassment or sexual-assault claim once the employee elects court, while the rest of the agreement stands. The forum is chosen claim by claim.
05
Illinois pay rules carry their own penalties
Wages paid late or short under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act accrue a five percent monthly penalty, plus fees. Employers with 15 or more employees must put the pay scale and benefits in every job posting, and those with more than 100 must hold an equal pay registration certificate, renewed every two years.
06
Fees run one way
A prevailing employee recovers attorneys' fees under the wage statutes as of right and under Title VII as a rule; a prevailing employer recovers them only if the claim was frivolous. Title VII does not reach a manager personally; the FLSA and the FMLA can reach anyone who controlled the pay decision.
Anatomy of a charge
How this work runs
From EEOC charge to a defensible record.
- Stage 01
Charge & position statement
Most employment claims open with an EEOC or state-agency charge, with a deadline attached, long before anyone reaches a courthouse. We lock down the personnel file, interview the decision-makers, and draft the position statement knowing every sentence will be Exhibit A if the claimant later sues.
- Stage 02
Certification battleground
In wage-and-hour matters the case is often won or lost before the merits. Conditional certification under FLSA § 216(b) or Rule 23 class treatment decides whether you face one plaintiff or a workforce. We fight scope here, because exposure is arithmetic, headcount multiplied by pay periods.
- Stage 03
Summary judgment on the record
Discrimination and retaliation claims run through the McDonnell Douglas framework, and pretext is the whole fight. Depositions of HR and the deciding manager either hold the legitimate business reason together or unravel it. Summary judgment briefing is where the documented record pays for itself.
- Stage 04
Verdict, resolution, or redesign
What survives goes to trial, arbitration, or a mediated resolution priced against reputational and insurance consequences. Every outcome then feeds back into handbooks, separation procedures, and pay practices so the same claim does not arrive twice.
The termination meeting lasts ten minutes. The record it leaves behind can be litigated for years.
300 days
to file an EEOC charge in a deferral state, the clock that starts most employment cases
Frequently asked
Common questions on labor and employment litigation.
What kinds of employment disputes do you litigate?
Hart David Carson LLP represents employers in disputes that arise across the employment relationship, including discrimination and harassment claims, wrongful-discharge and retaliation allegations, wage-and-hour disputes, and broader workplace conflict. The work spans state and federal court and alternative dispute resolution, and it is governed by federal frameworks such as the NLRA, FLSA, Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, and the WARN Act, alongside applicable state law.
Which laws govern employment litigation?
The answer depends on headcount. Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act reach employers with 15 or more employees, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act starts at 20. The Family and Medical Leave Act applies at 50 employees, the federal WARN Act at 100 and Illinois WARN at 75. The Illinois Human Rights Act covers employers of any size, and the Fair Labor Standards Act covers nearly every employer. Illinois adds its own wage, leave and biometric-privacy statutes, several with fee-shifting and per-violation penalties. The first step in any matter is to list which of these reach the client, because the deadlines and the damages follow from that list.
Can an employment dispute be resolved without going to trial?
Often, yes. Arbitration and mediation can resolve many employment disputes faster and at lower cost than a full trial, and they spare the relationships and reputation that litigation can strain. We assess each matter early and decide on its facts whether to litigate or to pursue an alternative resolution, and we make that decision fresh for every matter rather than by habit.
How do you defend against a wrongful-discharge claim?
By establishing what the discharge was not. Illinois employment is at will, and the state recognizes a tort of retaliatory discharge only where the firing violates a clearly mandated public policy, such as firing an employee for reporting unlawful conduct or for exercising a statutory right. Most wrongful-discharge claims are therefore pleaded as discrimination or retaliation under the federal and state statutes, and those run through the same three steps: the employee's prima facie case, the employer's legitimate reason, and the fight over whether that reason was a pretext. The defense is the contemporaneous record of the reason, the consistency with which it was applied to others, and the position statement given to the agency, which the plaintiff will hold against every later deposition.
What is at stake in an employment dispute besides the verdict?
Fees, coverage and the next claim. A prevailing employee recovers attorneys' fees in nearly every case, so a modest wage claim can carry a fee award larger than the wages. Employment-practices insurance is written on a claims-made basis, and an agency charge is usually a claim that must be reported within the policy period, so late notice to the carrier can forfeit coverage for a matter that would otherwise have been defended at the insurer's expense. A judgment or a settlement also becomes evidence of practice: the same policy, applied the same way, will produce the same charge, which is why the end of every matter includes a review of the handbook and the pay practices that generated it.
Does Hart David Carson LLP represent employers or employees?
In this practice we act for employers, meaning businesses defending discrimination, wrongful-discharge, and wage-and-hour claims and managing workplace conflict. We also counsel employers on the policies, contracts, and separation procedures that keep a dispute defensible, or prevent it, through our Employment & Executive Compensation practice.
Related
Disputes most often adjacent to a labor and employment matter.
Commercial Litigation
Trial advocacy for complex business disputes, contract breaches, and commercial conflicts in state and federal court, from early case assessment through judgment and appeal.
Explore →Arbitration & ADR
Arbitration, mediation, and conciliation for parties who want a dispute resolved without the cost and uncertainty of trial and with the business relationship preserved.
Explore →IP & Proprietary-Trading Disputes
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Explore →Reviewed by Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., Senior Partner · Last updated October 2026 · Educational overview · Not legal advice