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Labor and Employment Law PracticeIn its representation of the City, the City's legal counsel will necessarily face issuesinvolving employment law, human rights, whistleblower complaints, workers' compensation/and collective bargaining. The City's legal counsel must be equipped to providepreventative/risk management oriented advice to the City in the areas of personnel policies,benefit issues, collective bargaining, union contracts/ HIPAA, and employee discipline. The City'slegal counsel must also be able to defend the City in all labor and employment related matters.As a result of NG&N's commitment to a wide variety of legal services to localgovernment, we have had the opportunity to provide representation and counsel to numerousgovernmental entities throughout the State of Florida on labor and employment issues. In ourrepresentation of local governments, we always seek to take a proactive view of issues andproblems which face governmental entities. Nowhere is this more important that in the area ofemployment and labor, including civil rights. The approach which we have utilized in ourrepresentation involves three separate and distinct aspects.The first is to anticipate potential problems which local governments may face relatingto employment and labor law issues. NG&N, on behalf of our county and city clients/ has hands-on experience in reviewing and drafting personnel policies and plans and providing interpretiveguidance to staff in numerous employment and labor issues. This is primarily addressedthrough the review of existing policies, pay plans and other relevant documents to determinewhether potential amendments should be adopted which would aid staff in administeringemployment and labor matters in a consistent and lawful manner.Second, we recognize that problems in the employment area arise frequently andgenerally need to be addressed in an expedited manner. In this regard, we provide severalexperienced attorneys who are available to respond to any inquiries that the City might haveconcerning a potential problem relating to an employment or labor matter. We have beencalled upon to address numerous issues relating to disciplinary actions, claims of sexualharassment/ racial and gender discrimination, fair labor standards issues/ including wages,overtime and coverage-related problems; and implementation of Americans With DisabilitiesAct and Family and Medical Leave Act requirements. In fact, Mr. Dion previously served asgeneral counsel to the Florida Department of Labor and Employment Security and NG&N hasserved as general counsel to the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council on all matters,including labor and employment.Further, we have been involved, both directly and through the provision of legal advice,in the investigation of numerous claims made against governmental entities. We recognize thatin this unique area of the law, the actions that are taken by the governmental entity in theinitial phases of the process may direct how a matter is ultimately resolved many months later.Therefore, the importance of providing quick and accurate guidance to the City to address theparticular problem which the City may face is crucial to our effective representation.Response to the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida RFP No. 19-02-01 Page I 10