Hirzel Dreyfuss & Dempsey, PLLC
EMPLOYMENT LAW
Our attorneys provide experienced legal assistance to employers with claims brought by employees, particularly concerning claims involving overtime pay disputes.
Additionally, our firm can help resolve disputes between an employer and its executive level employees.
If a negotiated solution proves elusive, our attorneys will fight to protect our client's rights in litigation or arbitration proceedings.
Employment Law
How Hirzel Dreyfuss & Dempsey Can Help
We represent employers in disputes with their employees, and we represent executives in disputes with the companies they work for. The common thread is that both are contract and litigation problems before they are anything else.
Our work in this area is in Florida circuit courts, in the United States District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, and in arbitration.
Wage and Hour Claims
Fair Labor Standards Act cases are the most common employment claim a Florida business faces. They usually turn on a small number of factual questions: whether the employee was exempt, whether the hours were recorded, whether the classification was defensible, and whether the violation was willful. The fee-shifting provision is what makes an otherwise small case expensive.
We defend employers against overtime and unpaid wage claims, including through trial. In one such case tried to a jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, we obtained a defense verdict for the employer.
Executive Employment Disputes
Disputes at the executive level are different from ordinary employment claims. The agreement is negotiated rather than standard, the compensation includes equity or deferred payments that are contested on departure, and the relationship is usually close enough that the dispute is personal.
We handle disputes between companies and their executive level employees, including claims over compensation, equity, severance, and the terms of a departure.
Non-Compete and Restrictive Covenant Disputes
Florida enforces reasonable restrictive covenants by statute, which makes these cases move quickly. They typically open with a motion for a temporary injunction, and the first hearing often decides the practical outcome long before the case is resolved.
We litigate non-compete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality disputes, and our attorneys prepare the agreements themselves, including non-compete agreements, confidentiality agreements, and license agreements.
Employment Disputes Inside Franchise Systems
Franchise systems generate employment questions that a purely employment-side firm does not usually see: who the employer is for a given claim, how the franchise agreement allocates responsibility for employment practices, and how restrictive covenants operate against a departing franchisee or its personnel.
Because the firm also runs a franchise practice, we handle these where they overlap, including wrongful termination and non-compete disputes arising inside franchise relationships.