Richard Carrigan advises and represents employers in matters across the labor and employment law spectrum. That representation includes construction contractors, utilities, retailers, manufacturers, information technology companies, educational institutions, health care providers, nuclear plant operators and rocket scientists. His trial experience includes traditional labor, safety, equal employment opportunity, and employment–related tort claims in state and federal courts and before state and federal administrative agencies in Alabama and Florida. Matters defended include a range of disputes from simple misunderstandings, to sharply contradictory versions of an event, to disparate impact or “pattern and practice” claims affecting thousands of employees, to malicious and fraudulent attacks.
Richard litigates in federal districts throughout Alabama, and in the Northern District of Florida. On one memorable occasion, Richard deposed Clarence Thomas, then head of the EEOC, now a Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Richard has tried matters before administrative law judges of the NLRB and the US Department of Labor, and has argued federal appeals to the Fifth Circuit and the Eleventh Circuit. He has appeared in state courts from Mobile to Huntsville, from Fayette to Dothan, and many other venues.
Assessing settlement realistically depends upon knowing the law, the courts, opposing counsel, and the client’s business and its people. Intense and varied litigation experience enables Richard to analyze lawsuits strategically, and to direct resources to reach efficient resolutions, whether prompt disposition or fierce defense of the client’s interest.
Richard’s experience is also particularly valuable in giving practical advice to avoid litigation and to prepare to succeed if litigation ensues.
Active in bar association activities, Richard served as Chair of the Alabama State Bar Labor and Employment Law Section, Chair of the State Labor and Employment Law Developments Committee of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the ABA, and Vice Chair of the Employer-Employee Relations Committee of the ABA Tort and Insurance Practice Section. Richard regularly speaks on labor and employment law issues, and testified before the Alabama legislature to oppose changes in the state’s Right to Work Law.
Experience
- First chair jury trials in Alabama and Florida, including alleged discrimination based on race, age, religion, disability, retaliatory discharge, and employment-related torts
- Litigation of class actions and “pattern and practice” claims, including class certification issues, adverse impact, testing issues, settlement, fairness hearings, consent decree approval, consent decree compliance, and dissolution of consent decrees. One bench trial that lasted more than forty days resulted in approval of an employment selection procedure for a large utility.
- Injunction practice, including Boys Markets injunctions, anti-violence injunctions, and trade secret and noncompetition matters
- Pay equity issues, including internal analysis, corrective action, and defense of litigation. Prospective collective action treatment or class certification for gender-based pay equity claims was defeated for a computer manufacturer; and class certification for alleged race discrimination in pay was defeated for an engineering services company
- Litigation of workplace exposure to toxic substances. Class certification was avoided and summary judgment granted on claims by more than 400 employees of an auto parts manufacturer.
- Advice to employers concerning whistleblower issues, and litigation of whistleblower claims
- Expert witness identification, preparation, and use; cross-examination and exclusion of opposing experts
- Labor arbitrations of contract interpretation, discipline and discharge; arbitration of issues for employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements. Employers successfully defended in arbitration include construction companies, manufacturers, utilities, government contractors, and retailers.
- NLRB matters including representation election campaigns, picketing and secondary boycott issues, unfair labor practice charges against employers and against unions
- Development and implementation of Affirmative Action Plans
- Fair Labor Standards Act compliance advice, representation in Department of Labor proceedings, and defense of FLSA litigation
Advice to employers concerning:
- Selection procedures, hiring processes, drug testing, background investigations, and compliance with Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures
- Discipline and discharge, reductions in force, adverse impact analysis, planning for reductions in force, and development of severance policies an plans
- Assessment of workplace violence risks
- Safety issues, including OSHA compliance and OSHA investigations
- Antitrust issues arising from employment matters
- Internal investigations, including suspected theft, discrimination, and harassment
- Employment issues related to regulations of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, for licensees and contractors
Alabama
Florida
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth and Eleventh Circuits
U.S. District Court, Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama
Education and Honors
- Best Lawyers in America (Labor and Employment Law)
- "Top 50 Super Lawyers" in Alabama in the first issue of Alabama Super Lawyers
- AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell
- Alabama State Bar (former Chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section)
Professional Activities
- Alabama State Bar (Labor and Employment Section)
- The Florida Bar (Labor and Employment Section)
- American Bar Association (Labor and Employment Section; former Chair of the State Labor and Employment Law Developments Committee)
- Birmingham Business Alliance (Board of Trustees)
- CLE Alabama Employment Law Seminar - "Recent Updates To The ADA – Dealing with Disability When Everyone Has A Disability" - Birmingham - December 3, 2010
- CLE Alabama Employment Law Seminar - "Recent Updates to the ADA and the FMLA" - Birmingham - November 20, 2009
- CLE Alabama Employment Law Update - "What You Might Need To Know About the National Labor Relations Act" - Birmingham - November 21, 2008
- Alabama State Bar Labor and Employment Section Seminar on the Gulf - "Overview of the NLRA and EFCA" - Sandestin - October 3, 2008 - October 4, 2008
- Alabama State Bar Labor and Employment Section Seminar on the Gulf - "Litigating Claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act – An Employer’s Assessment of Risks" - Sandestin - October 5, 2007 - October 6, 2007
- 2007 Midwinter Meeting of the ABA Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee - "The Complex and Contradictory Application of Employment Laws to Immigrant Workers" - New Orleans - March 27, 2007 - March 31, 2007
- ABICLE Employment Law Seminar - "E-Discovery" - Tuscaloosa - November 3, 2006
- Alabama State Bar Labor and Employment Section Seminar on the Gulf - "E-Discovery" - Sandestin - October 6, 2006 - October 7, 2006
In The News
- April 1, 2011 - Birmingham Business Journal - "Having an Official Policy for Cell Phone Use Can Limit Your Company's Liability"
- April 19, 2004 - USA Today - "With Interns, You Get What You Pay For"
- June 5, 2002 - Bankrate.com - "Before you hire that teen, know the rules"
- September 29, 2011 - Ogletree Deakins Publication - "Federal Court Blocks Enforcement of Several Provisions of the Alabama Immigration Law"
- June 15, 2011 - Ogletree Deakins Publication - "New Alabama Law Regarding Illegal Immigration Signed by Governor"
- April 14, 2011 - Law360 - "How to Save Compliance Programs After Dodd-Frank"
- December 1, 2004 - The Practitioner’s Guide to Defense of EPL Claims - "The Use and Misuse of Statistics in Employment Litigation"