Ms. Hayes routinely provides practical and business-oriented advice to clients facing complex employment law issues involving discipline and terminations, leave, disability accommodation, policy creation and enforcement, drug-free workplace, and similar matters. She is licensed in both Tennessee and North Carolina and regularly assists clients with internal and state/federal investigations involving harassment and discrimination and pro-active training and policy development. Ms. Hayes excels at providing savvy and practical advice to clients about the risks and benefits associated with the everyday handling of employment law issues, including FMLA, ADA, FLSA, ERISA, OSHA, Title VII, workers' compensation, unemployment compensation, and the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, as extended by the Defense Base Act.
Ms. Hayes represents a wide variety of employers, but has particular experience advising staffing agencies, quick service restaurants, manufacturing clients, construction companies, health care providers, and non-profits, as well as two local municipalities, on the ever-changing landscape of daily employment law issues. She routinely handles and advises clients in conjunction with audits conducted by the Tennessee Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Labor. Ms. Hayes also handles traditional labor matters that evolve into arbitrations and unfair labor practice proceedings before the NLRB.
As a litigator, Ms. Hayes has significant experience before various administrative agencies, including the Department of Labor, Tennessee Court of Workers' Compensation, North Carolina Industrial Commission, EEOC, OSHA, NLRB, and THRC. She is a regular practitioner in the Court of Workers' Compensation and her skill set expands beyond the routine defense of workers' compensation claims. She handles high-exposure complex occupational exposure and death cases and routinely advises clients on the interaction between workers' compensation, FMLA, and ADA.
She defends employers in a multiple of state and federal courts throughout the country. In addition to her labor and employment practice, Ms. Hayes is a skilled litigator involved in the extensive representation of real estate companies in the defense of breach of contract and misrepresentation cases. Further, she works with financial and credit institutions, banks, and commercial equipment creditors with loan recovery matters, including collection actions and workout strategies.