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Will Manuel focuses his practice primarily on commercial and employment litigation. Will advises businesses on issues involving age discrimination, sexual harassment and wage/overtime disputes for both large and small businesses in across Mississippi and other jurisdictions. His clients include numerous manufacturers and commercial interests as well as various insurance and financial services companies. He has worked to defend these clients in both MDL litigation and individual actions brought in Mississippi. Will’s focus is on active litigation from the initial discovery process through trial. View articles by Will.

Do you have a “no fault” attendance policy or some other way in which employees get points for absences? If so, be careful. A recent Eleventh Circuit matter, EEOC v. Eberspaecher North America, Inc. suggests that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) wants to check out those policies to see if there is an ADA

Can you require your workers to arbitrate claims? What if they work in interstate commerce? Recently several courts have addressed the scope of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and when it applies to arbitration agreements included in employment contracts. Typically, courts have held that the FAA compels employees to pursue certain disputes before a private

Mass shootings have been increasingly in the headlines in recent years, and many of these incidents have occurred in the workplace. Regardless of anyone’s politics, employers are having to face either the fear of, or the actual experience of, murder in their own offices, factories and schools. What steps should an employer take to keep their employees

On February 28, the White House issued a memorandum giving federal employees 30 days to remove the TikTok application from any government devices. This memo is the result of an act passed by Congress that requires the removal of TikTok from any federal information technology. The act responded to concerns that the Chinese government may

For employers, figuring out what constitutes an adverse employment action under Title VII may seem elusive. In general, an adverse employment action is an ultimate employment decision that affects job duties, compensation or benefits. There are obvious ones like termination, demotion and failure to promote. But what about ones like shift changes, days off and other more

On December 13, President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which passed the Senate and House with bipartisan support. Many see the bill as a reaction to a concurrence in the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that hinted at some of the justices’ thoughts on privacy rights and

If you have or want enforceable non-compete agreements with employees, read on. 

Here’s a hypothetical: You are looking to hire a salesperson, and you find just the right person, John. Your company has a great non-compete agreement that will ensure that when John leaves your employment, he cannot work for a competitor for two years.

Employment lawyers always win war story contests at cocktail parties. Facts like the ones in Davis v. ULP provide ample fodder for those type of conversations. 

Performance Problems or Age Discrimination?

The University of Louisville Physicians (ULP) hired Frank Davis as a surgical assistant. After 10 months on the job, Davis’s supervisor, Lisa Motley, met with

A familiar sight behind the scenes at many employers is the mandatory publication that describes employee rights and remedies under various federal statutes. The EEOC has a new version of the poster entitled “Know Your Rights:  Workplace Discrimination is Illegal.” The new version uses “plain language and bullet points” to hopefully make the laws easier to understand. The