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KIM REPRESENTS EMPLOYERS WITH A FOCUS ON PREVENTING DISPUTES

Kim is a board certified expert in labor and employment law. She assists employers in most matters relating to employees and employee conflicts. Kim focuses on guiding employers through compliance with employment laws, preparing needed agreements and employment-related documents, managing and avoiding employment-related conflict and risk, and resolving employee disputes, including, as needed, through mediation, arbitration, administrative agencies (such as the EEOC), or litigation in state or federal court.

Kim represents employers, including private, public, for-profit, and not-for-profit entities. 

Kim is a lecturer and educator on labor and employment issues, providing lectures for individual clients as well as for the Florida Bar, the Sarasota County Bar Association, the Community Foundation of Sarasota, the Sarasota County Chamber of Commerce, the Manatee County Chamber of Commerce, Lorman Seminars, and the Council on Education in Management. Kim has co-authored seminar materials for the National Institute on Sexual Harassment and has been published in the General Practice Section of the Florida Bar.

Kim clerked with the firm in 1993 and joined the firm in 1994, immediately after law school.

MATTERS

  • Labor & Employment Counsel for large and small employers, advising regarding crisis management involving employees and the day-to-day the management of human resources matters, including interviewing and hiring, performance deficiencies and evaluations, performance improvement plans and documentation, accommodations, responses to complaints, layoffs and discharges, and severance arrangements
  • Counsel for employers managing COVID-19 response, including compliance, return to work, leave obligations, office safety, furloughs, reductions in force, and employee privacy
  • Counsel for new employers creating systems and long-term employers updating systems, preparing employment-related agreements, communications, and policies, including employment offer letters, employment contracts, non-competition agreements, confidentiality agreements, severance agreements, releases, employee leasing contracts, and handbooks
  • Legal Auditor of labor and employment compliance to expose and address unnecessary risk
  • Compliance counsel assisting employers with regulatory compliance and interaction with various agencies, (involving ADA, ADAA, FMLA, ADEA, OWBPA, Title VII, FLSA, HIPAA, EPA, WARN, GINA, USERRA, and FCRA)
  • Management trainer, providing management and employees training regarding creating and maintaining a workplace free of unlawful discrimination and harassment
  • Labor Counsel regarding regulation of unions and union professionals (e.g., NLRA, PERA)
  • Former Board Counsel to the Economic Development Committee of Sarasota
  • Board Counsel to Teen Court of Sarasota, Inc.
  • Representation of employers in harassment and discrimination claims brought under the Florida and Federal civil rights and anti-discrimination acts (e.g., ADA, FMLA, ADEA, Title VII, and FLSA) and claims filed with the EEOC, FCHR, DOL, OSHA, private and public arbitration and mediation, and Florida and Federal courts; Won summary judgment for school in whistle-blower claim filed by former accounting employee fired for performance; Won summary judgments in Federal court for public employer wrongfully sued for age discrimination and national origin discrimination following layoffs; Won directed verdict for employer sued for wrongful termination by former employee; Won summary judgment in state law tort claims filed by former public employee; Received EEOC “No Cause found” findings in claims filed by 9 similarly situated employees against a multi-state employer; Obtained EEOC and DOL internal reversals of preliminary negative decisions against employers; Successfully resolved collective action FLSA claims against employers; Successfully prevented large entity from obtaining a tortious interference based injunction against local employer’s hiring of employee with over-reaching restrictive covenant; Successfully obtained dismissals of multiple other claims against employers
  • Representation of employers in enforcement of employment- related agreements (e.g., employment offer letters, employment contracts, non-competition agreements, confidentiality agreements, severance agreements, releases, and employee leasing contracts)

COMMUNITY

  • Education Foundation of Sarasota County, Past Board Chair 
  • City of Sarasota, Human Relations Board, Past Board Chair
  • Sarasota County Bar Association, Labor & Employment Section, Past Section Chair
  • Teen Court of Sarasota, Inc., Past Board Chair 
  • Florida Bar Grievance Committee 12A, Past Chair
  • Florida Bar, Labor and Employment Law Section
  • Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County, Former Board Counsel

ACCOLADES

  • Martindale-Hubbell, AV Preeminent
  • Florida Super Lawyers, 2011-2023
  • Florida Trend, Legal Elite
  • American Lawyer Media & Martindale Hubbell, Top Rated Lawyer in Labor & Employment Law
  • Tampa Bay Business Journal, Top Rate Labor and Employment Law Firm