Contact:
Rick Bergstrom or
Daniel P. Westman
Morrison & Foerster’s Employment and Labor Practice Group has cross-border capability and global reach in Asia, Europe, and
the United States. We regularly act for and advise U.S. companies with international operations and multi-national companies
on the following issues:
- hiring and firing employees, directors, consultants and independent contractors;
- expatriate assignments, secondments and inter-company agreements;
- compensation and benefits, including equity awards;
- employee handbooks and policies and procedures;
- trans-border data protection and privacy;
- the protection of trade secrets and confidential information and the use and enforcement of restrictive covenants;
- reductions in force, redundancies and collective dismissals;
- corporate and group change, including M&A, joint ventures and restructurings;
- outsourcing, including offshoring, and the effect of the Acquired Rights Directive; and
- contentious employment matters, including claims of wrongful and unfair dismissal, discrimination and breach of contract,
as well as mediation, arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
In addition, we prepare our clients for new developments in the European Union by providing timely and informative legal updates
and offering seminars on forthcoming legislative changes.
In countries where we do not have a presence, we have developed a large network of contacts through years of practice and
experience. We are members of Lex Mundi, one of the world’s leading associations of independent law firms, with more than
158 member firms with 375 offices worldwide.
Representative Matters
Avocent. We represented Avocent on its $475 million acquisition of a software company with significant assets in the United States,
China, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Singapore.
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. We advised Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs on the employment issues that arose from the integration of Inland Revenue and
HM Customs & Excise’s IT outsourcing contracts with Capgemini and Fujitsu. This is the first time that a merger of two such
large IT outsourcing contracts has been undertaken.
iSOFT Group. We represented one of the company’s founders, after company merger and subsequent dismissal.
Orb Communications. We defended against unfair dismissal and section 459 (unfair prejudice) claims by one of the founders.
Pearl Group Services Ltd. We are currently working on the employment issues for Pearl Group Services emerging from its first-generation outsourcing
of closed book life policies.
