Clarence T. Pollard’s passion is providing the counsel and representation that help to create workplaces which all major stakeholders – employees, management, shareholders, and external watchdogs like unions and government agencies – can view as fair, productive, responsive, respectful, rewarding, and legally compliant.

 

Mr. Pollard  earned his B.A. at Yale and his J.D. from the Maurer School of Law of Indiana University (Bloomington).  After studying at Maurer, Pollard had the privilege of clerking in Birmingham, Alabama for the first African-American federal judge in Alabama history.  Thereafter, Mr. Pollard began learning the fundamentals of practicing both “traditional” labor law and employment law by working with some of the country’s ablest workplace lawyers at two of the nation’s premier workplace law firms in Chicago and San Francisco.  Since then, various attorney and management roles in San Francisco, Oakland, New York, and New Jersey have allowed Mr. Pollard to develop his skills as a counselor and policymaker on workforce issues, including crafting legally compliant affirmative action programs for minority and women-owned business enterprises, and as a litigator representing both management and plaintiffs in disputes venued in state and federal administrative agencies and courts.   

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Specifically, with respect to labor and employment law counseling, more than 15 years of practicing employment law in four jurisdictions, including as a sole practitioner in San Francisco, have given Mr. Pollard the opportunity to provide counsel on virtually all aspects of creating, training, disciplining, and otherwise managing diverse, contemporary workforces for for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises of various sizes and in numerous industries.  These duties have included explaining the meaning of U.S., state, and local legislation and judicial mandates, and translating these pronouncements into employee handbooks and company policies using layperson’s terms on such topics as leaves of absence; preventing discrimination and harassment; discipline; attendance; interpreting and helping to draft collective bargaining agreement (CBA) terms; helping to create affirmative action programs that comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Croson and Adarand decisions; classifying employees properly for compensation purposes; defining and enforcing appropriate “ethical” conduct both within and without the business enterprise; protecting intellectual property; and the proper uses of social media.  They have entailed formulating responses to the day-to-day requirements of managing employees with dozens of rights and many different kinds of needs, demands, agendas, and crises; helping management investigate and properly respond to possible violations of company policy or external laws; training managers and supervisors on how they can nurture company performance and marketplace competitiveness, while not running afoul of their employees’ rights; and planning and executing Reductions in Force in compliance with the disclosure, notice, and non-discrimination requirements of U.S. (e.g., the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act/Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and the WARN Act) and State laws.  

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Additionally, Mr. Pollard has extensive litigation experience helping to resolve workplace disputes arising under U.S., state, and local law, on behalf of both employees and management.  Thus, Mr. Pollard has both drafted and responded to administrative charges; drafted complaints and answers, in both state and federal courts; participated in arbitrations and NLRB proceedings generated by CBA-related grievances and ULP charges; participated in numerous pre-trial judicial conferences; formulated and implemented comprehensive litigation strategies; drafted and argued a broad spectrum of motions in both state and federal courts, including several U.S. district courts and before the Ninth and Seventh U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals; prepared many witnesses for sworn testimony and taken and defended numerous depositions; propounded and responded to multiple hundreds of interrogatories, document requests, and requests for admissions; represented clients in mediation proceedings and settlement conferences; and negotiated and drafted many related position statements, severance/settlement packages, and releases. 

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Significantly, Mr. Pollard has found that there is a close synergy between litigation and counseling.  Understanding how strategic decisions are made at the workforce acquisition, development, management, and reduction stages has facilitated Mr. Pollard’s formulation and execution of successful litigation strategies.  Knowing how litigation develops once a dispute has crossed a Rubicon has helped Mr. Pollard advise clients on how best to structure their workplace practices and transactions to diminish the likelihood of litigation, or to contain the damage if litigation ensues, and participating in mediation has helped Mr. Pollard acquire a sense of some of the human, emotional factors that can exacerbate, or ameliorate, a simmering workplace dispute.  These experiences pro-actively anticipating workplace problems through counseling and drafting, and resolving workplace disputes through advocacy or mediation, complement Mr. Pollard’s work on behalf of both employees and management.  Collectively, they give him a uniquely informed and nuanced perspective on preventing, resolving, and redressing workplace problems for both individuals and businesses.     

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Because of these experiences, Mr. Pollard is able to help you, or your business enterprise:

 

• Attract, screen, and retain a diverse, competent workforce;

• Qualify for government-authorized women- or minority-owned business enterprise accommodations;

• Properly classify and compensate employees in compliance with state and U.S. wage payment laws;

• Formulate internal policies, and draft employee handbooks and statements, on workplace requirements;

• Assess, train, and promote staff members;

• Properly discipline employees;

• Prevent and redress discrimination and harassment;

• Train your managers and supervisors on carrying out their oversight duties consistently with legal requirements;

• Investigate and resolve allegations that your employees or managers have acted improperly against the business itself (e.g., embezzled funds), or violated fair employment practice or other laws;

• Protect your intellectual property and the integrity of your workforce through drafting and enforcing confidentiality, non-compete, and similar agreements;

• Design and carry out reductions in force, including negotiating appropriate severance packages;

• Take action in administrative agencies and/or courts to vindicate your rights as an individual employee under federal, state, or local law, or pursuant to company policy or a CBA; and

• Defend your business from allegations of improper or unlawful conduct arising from company
  policy, a CBA, or local, state, or U.S. law.

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Thus, if you or your business enterprise are looking for creative workplace counsel or vigorous representation, your search might have come to an end with Clarence T. Pollard. To arrange a consultation with Mr. Pollard about your workplace counsel or advocacy needs, whether as an employee or on behalf of your business, please call him at (646) 893-6049, or email him at c.pollard@mitlawgrp.com.

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