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Attorneys
Jill Sebest Welch
Partner
Partner
Jill is a partner in Barley Snyder’s Labor and Employment Practice Group, where she counsels companies in handling workplace challenges and helps clients resolve disputes, claims, cases, and litigation in all aspects of labor and employment law.
As an employment law counselor, Jill assists in developing employment policies, employee handbook provisions, non-compete and restrictive covenants and severance agreements, and has assisted companies through difficult layoffs and reductions in force. Jill serves as her clients’ counselor-on-call, advising clients daily on a myriad of employment issues such as Internet and drug and alcohol abuse, evaluating requests for Family Medical Leave Act and military leaves of absence, questions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, using criminal background checks in hiring, conducting terminations, and other workplace challenges.
In her employment litigation practice, Jill represents employers and companies of all types - large and small, public, private, family-owned, emerging companies, entrepreneurs and others - on matters ranging from employment discrimination, benefits, contracts, collective action wage and hour claims, non-compete cases and unemployment compensation appeals to Sarbanes-Oxley and whistleblower cases, and labor management relations before administrative tribunals and state and federal courts.
Jill works with companies across a wide range of industries including manufacturing, products, retail, banking and other finance-related companies, hospitals, long-term care facilities and other health care entities, food processing, hospitality, construction and property management, communication, technology, transportation, agri-business, professional services and non-profit organizations. Examples of select matters which Jill has helped resolve for clients include:
- Served as trial counsel and successfully resolved a number of collective action wage and hour claims.
- Secured a complete defense verdict on claims of overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and breach of contract in the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas.
- Served as co-trial counsel in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on an ERISA claim for benefits in excess of a million dollars resulting in a complete defense victory for the company.
- Successfully defended a manufacturing client in a breach of employment contract claim in AAA arbitration.
- Successfully represented clients before the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review and the National Labor Relations Board in upholding the independent contractor status of their third-party contractors.
- Successfully defended a manufacturer before the American Arbitration Association, where the union alleged that the company violated the collective bargaining agreement, affirming the company’s management rights in response to changing market needs.
- Represented a client in a jury trial in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on an employment discrimination claim resulting in a defense verdict on five of six counts and a favorable resolution of the final count.
- Represented a client in a temporary restraining order/preliminary injunction involving claims of tortious interference with the company’s contracts and misappropriation of confidential client information, involving over 20 pre-trial motions and hearings, resolving the matter favorably for the client.
A frequent speaker, Jill has trained companies, human resources professionals, managers and supervisors on best practices in such areas as: conducting sexual harassment investigations, planning reductions in force, handling mental disabilities under the ADA, understanding wage and hour laws, effective hiring and discharge strategies, EEOC compliance, managing Sarbanes-Oxley and whistleblower claims, and navigating the ADA - FMLA - Worker’s Compensation maze and other subjects . Jill was the editor of the firm’s Employment Law Update newsletter, and was a contributing author of “Conducting Effective In-House Investigations” for the National Employment Law Institute and a contributing author of “Employee Benefits Law, 2nd Edition" for the American Bar Association.
Education
- Rutgers University School of Law, J.D., Rutgers Law Journal, State Constitutional law editor
- Wittenberg University, B.A.
Community Involvement
- Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board; Board Member, Vice Chair 2012-2013
- Lancaster Family YMCA Association; Secretary, Board Member and Chair, Human Resources Commitee
- Leadership Lancaster EOS; 2008 graduate
- Taekwon Do Black Belt, 1st Dan
Awards
- Pennsylvania Super Lawyers ® 2012, 2013
- Pennsylvania Rising Stars ® 2010
Bar Admissions
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
- U.S. Supreme Court
Professional Affiliations
- York Society for Human Resource Management
- Pennsylvania Bar Association
- Lancaster Bar Association; Past Chair of the Employment/Labor Law Section, 2011; Vice-Chair, 2010
- Lancaster Bar Association; Former Judiciary Committee Member
- American Institute of Certified Planners
Clerkships
- Law Clerk to Hon. Thomas L. Ambro, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Publications & Speaking Engagements
- "Contending with Social Media in the Workplace," Pennsylvania Bar Institute, August 2012, panelist
- "Under Attack: Independent Contractor and Contingent Workers Classifications," Pennsylvania Bar Institute, March 2012, panelist
- "Social Media Issues in the Workplace," Barley Snyder Business Seminar, October 2011
- "Basics of the ADA and the ADA Amendments Act," Pennsylvania Bar Institute, July 2011
- "Ethical and Privilege Considerations in the Age of Electronic Discovery," Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Employment Law Institute, April 2011
- "Wage and Hour Overview and Litigation Trends," Lancaster Bar Association, January 2010
- "Ethical Implications of Social Networking," Pennsylvania Bar Institute Employment Law Institute, April 2010
- "Review of the ADA Amendments Act," Lancaster Bar Association, February 2009
- "Minimum Wage and Overtime Requirements," Pennsylvania Bar Institute, December 2007
- "The Ethics of Ex Parte Communications in Employment Disputes," Lancaster Bar Association, August 2006
