Sr Employment Counsel

Overview

This role serves as a strategic legal advisor on employment, labor, litigation, and pre-litigation matters across the enterprise. The Employment Counsel partners closely with Human Resources, Employee Relations, Finance, Internal Audit, and business leaders to provide practical, risk-based legal guidance on employment and labor law compliance.

Responsibilities

• Advise on a broad range of employment law matters, including employee relations, workplace investigations, wage and hour compliance, leave and accommodation issues, reductions in force, restrictive covenants, separations, and policy interpretation.
• Manage and help develop strategy for employment-related litigation and pre-litigation matters, including claims, demand letters, agency charges, subpoenas, and other disputes from early assessment through resolution.
• Provide legal risk assessments and practical recommendations to business partners on sensitive and high-impact workplace matters.
• Partner with Human Resources, Employee Relations, Internal Audit, and other leaders to assess legal risk, support investigations, and guide decision-making.
• Support development and maintenance of employment-related policies, templates, trainings, and playbooks to strengthen compliance and consistency.
• Assist with transactions, reorganizations, and other business initiatives by identifying employment and litigation risks.
• Advise on onboarding and offboarding practices and policies, including background checks, separation agreements, termination letters, hiring notices, and related templates.
• Partner with Human Resources on policy rollouts, handbook updates, required trainings, and manager guidance for sensitive employee matters, including employment investigations.
• Manage outside counsel effectively, including staffing, budgeting, and billing discipline to ensure high-quality legal work and efficient spend management.
• Monitor legal developments and emerging risk areas and provide proactive guidance to support compliant people practices.

Requirements

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school.
• Active membership in at least one state bar in good standing.
• At least 8+ years of employment law and employment litigation experience.
• Significant experience advising multi-state employers in-house, at a law firm, or both.
• Deep knowledge of federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations, including wage and hour, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, leave, disability accommodation, reductions in force, and workplace policy compliance.
• Demonstrated experience advising Human Resources and business leaders on complex employee relations matters and high-judgment workplace decisions.
• Strong collaboration skills and ability to build trusted relationships across functions.
• Ability to balance legal risk with business realities and deliver practical, solution-oriented advice in a fast-paced environment.
• Sound judgment and discretion in handling sensitive and confidential matters.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong preference for a California-based lawyer.
• Ability to advise on labor and union-related issues, including collective activity, organizing responses, unfair labor practice risk, and matters involving represented and non-represented workforces.
• In-house counsel experience.
• Litigation experience.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $125,000 to $165,000 (final salary determined based on skills, background, experience, and location).
• Additional compensation may include a 10% Annual Incentive Plan (AIP) bonus paid out according to policy.
• Healthcare benefits including medical, dental, and vision.
• Retirement savings: 401k with a company match.
• Income protection programs such as life, accident, and disability insurance.
• Paid time off for sick leave, vacation, bereavement, jury duty, and holidays.
• Wellbeing program.
• Commuter benefits.
• Adoption assistance.
• Education assistance.
• Legal services.
• Employee merchandise discounts.

Location & Work Environment

• Hybrid office location near the California Corporate Office or remote location, as business needs require.
• Regularly scheduled for 40 hours per week, with additional time as work dictates.
• Physical requirements include ability to sit and work at a computer for extended periods; ability to stoop, kneel, bend at the waist, and reach daily; ability to lift and move up to 25 pounds occasionally.
• Must have the visual acuity, speech, hearing, hand-eye coordination, and manual dexterity necessary to operate a computer and office equipment.

Work-Life Programs

• Meeting-Free Fridays (encouraged)
• Summer Fridays (from Memorial Day to Labor Day)
• Holiday Early Departure (close out early the business day before a company observed holiday)

Note on Application

Unauthorized individuals or organizations may attempt to solicit personal information or payments by impersonating the employer through fraudulent job postings. During the initial stages of the application process, the employer does not request personal identifying information such as Social Security numbers, bank details, or copies of identification documents.