Providing comprehensive coverage for an impressive client base across many sectors, our large transatlantic team offers clear, practical advice on all areas of employment and pension and employee benefit plan law.
We work hard to understand your objectives and the culture of your organization and are trusted by some of the best-known brands across our core sectors. This understanding means our solutions and advice are directly related to the environment in which you operate.
Employment law
We understand that people are your most important asset and that careful management of employment law matters can mean the difference between achieving your organizational objectives and opening yourselves up to financial and reputational risk. We advise clients across the full spectrum of general employment advice including:
Discrimination and equal pay
Executive recruitment and termination
Restrictive covenants and trade secret protection
Outsourcing
Restructuring
Employment disputes and litigation
Contracts, policies and procedures.
Our experience enables us to spot critical issues quickly and present solutions that help you achieve your business objectives.
Pension and retirement plans
We provide the full range of pension and retirement plan law advice to employers, UK pension-scheme trustees, fiduciaries and retirement-plan administrators, from day-to-day benefit queries and complaints through to large-scale restructuring and liability management projects.
This team can draw on other areas of the firm such as litigation, investment and tax lawyers to provide a comprehensive service.
Employee benefits
Our employee benefits lawyers take an innovative and ambitious approach to delivering practical employee benefit plans and solutions.
Our business litigators handle benefits-related controversies ranging from benefit disputes to governmental investigations and complex class action litigation involving employers, plan sponsors, administrators and fiduciaries.
Corporate immigration
Geopolitics, law, policy and national security concerns complicate the process of immigration, yet to compete in the global marketplace you need to be able to move employees across borders easily. We can help with proven strategies for securing and retaining key foreign talent.
We manage inbound immigration services for domestic and international employers and investors, ranging from large publicly-traded companies to small start-ups.
We are acting for IBM in defending a multi-claimant employment tribunal claim (involving approximately 300 claimants) for constructive and unfair dismissal and age discrimination, arising out of changes made to their pensions scheme
We advise Post Office on a wide range of employee relations issues. This has included advising on all aspects of the relationship with their recognised unions and also the recent period of strike action with the CWU and CMA. We also advised extensively on the major transformation project for Crown Post Offices
We successfully defended five ex-employees of a business in an application to the High Court for a springboard injunction and an injunction to enforce restrictive covenants (the reported case of CEF Holdings Ltd and another v Mundey and others)
We act for IBM in relation to day-to-day advice on its occupational pension plans as well as employer-led projects. These include ceasing defined benefit accrual, implementing non-pensionability agreements, and changing early retirement policy. We acted on the subsequent litigation in the High Court / Court of Appeal and Employment Tribunal on the leading case regarding the employer's duty of good faith in relation to pension plans (IBM United Kingdom Holdings Limited and another v Dalgleish and others)
We advise Procter & Gamble in relation to its UK pension arrangements including, most recently, on the pension implications of the sale of its beauty brands to Coty Inc. in a c.$12.5 billion deal, which involved the transfer of hundreds of staff in the company's largest UK pension plan
Successfully defended employers in a class action lawsuit by defeating a 10(j) preliminary injunction proceeding brought by the NLRB; defeated a lawsuit brought by the EEOC to enforce a corporate-wide administrative subpoena; and defeated the OFCCP in a class action lawsuit
Obtained successful administrative law judge decisions for a client in high-stakes OSHA citations and successfully resolved numerous OSHA matters involving workplace fatalities and serious injuries
Represented a software company in a tortious interference trade secret and business conspiracy action by preventing its former Chief Technology Officer and other former employees from pirating its core operating software and poaching its clients
Defended businesses in FLSA collective actions and wage and hour matters in state and federal courts in multiple sectors, including health care, financial services, retail and manufacturing
Defended employers from a variety of industries in claims alleging various types of discrimination and retaliation before federal and state agencies as well as lawsuits brought in federal and state courts
Obtained a successful settlement with the IRS permitting a plan sponsor to retroactively amend its 401(k) plan to conform to plan operation, saving the plan sponsor several hundred thousand dollars
Provided tax advice on executive compensation matters in significant transactions including: spinoff of an enterprise unit of a multinational hospitality company; merger of a manufacturer of high performance radio systems and a notable semiconductor manufacturer; merger of a publically traded bank holding company with a US-based financial institution; and acquisition of an affiliate marketing agency for global brands and retailers by a subsidiary of a global digital retailer
Enabled publicly-traded retail company to eliminate employer stock from its 401(k) plan
Filed employment-based immigrant and non-immigrant petitions including, but not limited to, preparation of treaty investor/trader visa applications, H-1B temporary worker petitions and L-1 intra-company transfer petitions, as well as applications for permanent employment certification for advanced degree professionals and skilled workers and priority worker petitions for individuals of extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and multinational executives and managers.
Overview
Overview
Providing comprehensive coverage for an impressive client base across many sectors, our large transatlantic team offers clear, practical advice on all areas of employment and pension and employee benefit plan law.
We work hard to understand your objectives and the culture of your organization and are trusted by some of the best-known brands across our core sectors. This understanding means our solutions and advice are directly related to the environment in which you operate.
We understand that people are your most important asset and that careful management of employment law matters can mean the difference between achieving your organizational objectives and opening yourselves up to financial and reputational risk. We advise clients across the full spectrum of general employment advice including:
Discrimination and equal pay
Executive recruitment and termination
Restrictive covenants and trade secret protection
Outsourcing
Restructuring
Employment disputes and litigation
Contracts, policies and procedures.
Our experience enables us to spot critical issues quickly and present solutions that help you achieve your business objectives.
Pension and retirement plans
We provide the full range of pension and retirement plan law advice to employers, UK pension-scheme trustees, fiduciaries and retirement-plan administrators, from day-to-day benefit queries and complaints through to large-scale restructuring and liability management projects.
This team can draw on other areas of the firm such as litigation, investment and tax lawyers to provide a comprehensive service.
Employee benefits
Our employee benefits lawyers take an innovative and ambitious approach to delivering practical employee benefit plans and solutions.
Our business litigators handle benefits-related controversies ranging from benefit disputes to governmental investigations and complex class action litigation involving employers, plan sponsors, administrators and fiduciaries.
Corporate immigration
Geopolitics, law, policy and national security concerns complicate the process of immigration, yet to compete in the global marketplace you need to be able to move employees across borders easily. We can help with proven strategies for securing and retaining key foreign talent.
We manage inbound immigration services for domestic and international employers and investors, ranging from large publicly-traded companies to small start-ups.
Need legal advice and guidance in Employment and Pensions?
ur team is able to help provide solutions to you and your organization. Browse through our lawyers and professional staff to find the right attorney near you.
Examples of our work and how we’ve helped companies of all sizes with a wide range of challenges.
We are acting for IBM in defending a multi-claimant employment tribunal claim (involving approximately 300 claimants) for constructive and unfair dismissal and age discrimination, arising out of changes made to their pensions scheme
We advise Post Office on a wide range of employee relations issues. This has included advising on all aspects of the relationship with their recognised unions and also the recent period of strike action with the CWU and CMA. We also advised extensively on the major transformation project for Crown Post Offices
We successfully defended five ex-employees of a business in an application to the High Court for a springboard injunction and an injunction to enforce restrictive covenants (the reported case of CEF Holdings Ltd and another v Mundey and others)
We act for IBM in relation to day-to-day advice on its occupational pension plans as well as employer-led projects. These include ceasing defined benefit accrual, implementing non-pensionability agreements, and changing early retirement policy. We acted on the subsequent litigation in the High Court / Court of Appeal and Employment Tribunal on the leading case regarding the employer's duty of good faith in relation to pension plans (IBM United Kingdom Holdings Limited and another v Dalgleish and others)
We advise Procter & Gamble in relation to its UK pension arrangements including, most recently, on the pension implications of the sale of its beauty brands to Coty Inc. in a c.$12.5 billion deal, which involved the transfer of hundreds of staff in the company's largest UK pension plan
Successfully defended employers in a class action lawsuit by defeating a 10(j) preliminary injunction proceeding brought by the NLRB; defeated a lawsuit brought by the EEOC to enforce a corporate-wide administrative subpoena; and defeated the OFCCP in a class action lawsuit
Obtained successful administrative law judge decisions for a client in high-stakes OSHA citations and successfully resolved numerous OSHA matters involving workplace fatalities and serious injuries
Represented a software company in a tortious interference trade secret and business conspiracy action by preventing its former Chief Technology Officer and other former employees from pirating its core operating software and poaching its clients
Defended businesses in FLSA collective actions and wage and hour matters in state and federal courts in multiple sectors, including health care, financial services, retail and manufacturing
Defended employers from a variety of industries in claims alleging various types of discrimination and retaliation before federal and state agencies as well as lawsuits brought in federal and state courts
Obtained a successful settlement with the IRS permitting a plan sponsor to retroactively amend its 401(k) plan to conform to plan operation, saving the plan sponsor several hundred thousand dollars
Provided tax advice on executive compensation matters in significant transactions including: spinoff of an enterprise unit of a multinational hospitality company; merger of a manufacturer of high performance radio systems and a notable semiconductor manufacturer; merger of a publically traded bank holding company with a US-based financial institution; and acquisition of an affiliate marketing agency for global brands and retailers by a subsidiary of a global digital retailer
Enabled publicly-traded retail company to eliminate employer stock from its 401(k) plan
Filed employment-based immigrant and non-immigrant petitions including, but not limited to, preparation of treaty investor/trader visa applications, H-1B temporary worker petitions and L-1 intra-company transfer petitions, as well as applications for permanent employment certification for advanced degree professionals and skilled workers and priority worker petitions for individuals of extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and multinational executives and managers.
Testimonials
‘Womble Bond Dickinson offer the full range of employment law services and have a real good client book.’
Legal 500, 2023
‘High level of skill and expertise in their subject area. Very approachable and responsive.’
Legal 500, 2022
"approachable people with great practical knowledge."
Chambers & Partners 2020
‘My experience working with this team has been 100% plus positive. What struck me as well as their legal expertise was their empathy, understanding and support on a personal level – we went through this together as a team.’
Legal 500, 2021
"Their work is consistently to the very highest standard and the firm has a strong customer service ethic."
Chambers & Partners 2020
You might be interested in…
WBD, British American Business Council Hosts Trade Delegation
This selection will switch the website from presenting information primarily about the United Kingdom to information about the United States. If you would like to switch back, you may use location selection options at the top of the page.
Contact
Although we would like to hear from you, we cannot represent you until we know that doing so will not create a conflict of interest. Also, we cannot treat unsolicited information as confidential. Accordingly, please do not send us any information about any legal matter until we authorize you to do so. To initiate a possible representation, please call one of our lawyers or staff members.
By clicking the “ACCEPT” button, you agree that we may review any information you transmit to us. You recognize that, even if you submit information that you consider confidential in an effort to retain us, our review of that information will not create an obligation on us to keep it confidential and will not preclude us from representing another client directly adverse to you, even in a matter where that information could and will be used against you.
Please click the “ACCEPT” button if you understand and accept the foregoing statement and wish to proceed.
