For more than 75 years, we’ve practiced exclusively in the areas of employment, employee benefits and labor law. From its earliest days, Blitman & King gained national attention by representing clients in complex controversies. These controversies take a variety of forms including arbitration, class actions, individual and collective litigation, mediation (formal and informal), and government investigations, audits, administrative proceedings and enforcement actions. Our litigators are comprehensively trained employment, employee benefits and labor practitioners—we are not general practice litigators. Here’s what we excel at:

Employment Litigation: Our body of work includes a broad array of employment litigation claims involving breach of contract, compensation, confidentiality agreements, constructive discharge, civil rights, defamation, deferred compensation, discrimination, disability, employment agreements, false claims act, interference with the employment relationship, non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, medical leave, qui tam, race discrimination, retaliation, severance and severance agreements, sexual harassment, wage and hour, misclassifications, trade secrets, whistleblower, wrongful termination, and termination with cause.

Employee Benefits Litigation: We have been involved in the full gamut of employee benefits controversies relating to bankruptcy, benefit claims, challenges to plan rules, COBRA, collection of delinquent contributions, ERISA’s reporting and disclosure, fiduciary duty, prohibited transaction provisions and preemption of state law, executive compensation, golden parachutes, HIPAA, investments and investment losses, insolvency, mergers, nonqualified deferred compensation, overpayment claims, plan amendments, retiree health benefits, spin-offs, stock grants, stock options, subrogation, termination, and withdrawal liability. In addition, we excel at handling U.S. Department of Labor investigations and audits, Internal Revenue Service audits, U.S. Department of Justice investigations and proceedings involving the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Labor Litigation: Unmatched in its depth of experience, we have the highest capabilities when it comes to labor disputes involving bankruptcy, breach-of-contract, collective bargaining agreements, duty of fair representation, handbilling, injunctive actions, grievances, mergers and acquisitions, picketing, plant relocations, prevailing wage, reorganizations, representation matters, secondary boycotts, strikes, unfair labor practice charges, union de-authorizations and de-certifications, and unit clarification petitions.

The following cases are a representative sample of the types of employment, employee benefits and labor cases we have handled:

• A bankruptcy court claim, on behalf of a coalition of 30 pension plans, seeking $15,000,000.00 in advancements from the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) for theft of plan assets by a broker in connection with investments in hedge funds. Our client coalition represented approximately $72,000,000.00 in bankruptcy claims;
• A dispute, on behalf of a senior level executive of a multi-billion dollar real estate development company, involving compensation, the use of trade secrets and confidential information and the application of non-competition restraints;
• A series of related race discrimination, disparate treatment, hostile work environment and retaliation claims where the federal district court granted summary judgment in our favor and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed;
• A shareholder class action claim alleging that the Board of Directors failed to adequately discharge their fiduciary duties by not maximizing shareholder value in connection with a $2.3 billion merger transaction;
• A federal wage and hour class action involving public sector employees in connection with work performed during and prior to scheduled shifts;
• A claim, on behalf of a large state wide labor union, where we obtained summary judgment in dismissal of a class action that sought substantial damages for alleged violations of the duty of fair representation and ERISA;
• A claim, on behalf of an ERISA health plan, where we recovered millions of dollars in connection with an investment in a hedge fund;
• Various state-law tort claims based on alleged wrongdoing by employees where the federal district court granted summary judgment in our favor and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed;
• A series of eight different U.S. Department of Labor investigations related to investments, including investments in hedge funds, by employee benefit plans;
• Agency fee claims under the First Amendment where federal district court granted summary judgment in our favor; and
• An employment-based business tort action brought in New York State Supreme Court that resulted in a settlement favorable to our client.