Higher Education

Overview

Educational institutions, from elementary schools to colleges and universities to ancillary education businesses, are not immune to labor and employment problems. Hundreds of colleges and universities are currently under investigation if not in litigation over Title IX claims made by students against faculty, staff and fellow students. Many more colleges and universities are facing unionization efforts not only from faculty and staff but from student athletes and graduate assistants among others. In this increasingly litigious environment, tenure decisions are often litigated in court rather than decided amongst peers. Our clients range from public secondary schools to independent schools to major colleges and universities to the NCAA.

What Sets Us Apart

Our attorneys work with educational institutions of all levels to try to ensure that our clients are in compliance with the ever changing employment and education related laws at the national, state, and local level. But, we also seek to provide practical, cost-effective advice and counsel to try to avoid becoming the subject of investigations and litigation. We are firm believers in the use of training not only for client education but litigation avoidance and therefore our attorneys have presented on various employment topics from wage hour issues for athletic conferences to Title IX and immigration compliance for major universities and on a variety of other related topics. In addition, our attorneys are frequent speakers on a variety of employment topics at education related conferences.

What We Do

Constangy's attorneys have substantial experience practicing at the intersection of education and employment law. We regularly represent and successfully defend universities and schools in the following areas:

Title IX litigation and regulatory compliance
Title III of the ADA (e.g., whether a school's website is a place of public accommodation)
Title VII issues concerning faculty and staff
Equal Pay Act complaints
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
Union organizing efforts
Auditing employment practices including wage and hour audits
Drafting personnel policies and procedures
Hiring and promotion
Diversity and affirmative action planning including preparation