Sheryl D. Hanley

Sheryl Hanley's practice focuses exclusively on representing management in labor and employment matters, including Department of Labor investigations, proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board, labor arbitrations, and collective bargaining. She also represents employers before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and state human rights agencies to defend against discrimination claims, including those based on race, sex, age, religion, national origin and disability. In addition, Sheryl regularly advises clients on and litigates cases involving a myriad of employment-related issues, including the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, hiring and firing policies, employment agreements, non-competition agreements and employment manuals.

After graduating from college, Sheryl worked in college administration for nine years. During law school, she worked extensively on post-conviction death penalty matters at the state and federal levels. Prior to joining the Firm, Sheryl was an associate with a Bethesda, Maryland law firm, where her practice primarily focused on complex civil litigation, including representing management in employment litigation, commercial litigation, white collar criminal litigation, and professional responsibility issues.

• Sheryl defended a retail client against race, gender and national origin discrimination claims.
• She negotiated the mid-contract shutdown of a unionize facility and the transfer of work to a non-unionized facility.
• Sheryl negotiated a favorable resolution for a healthcare client in a large-scale wage-hour audit conducted by the United States Department of Labor.
• She upheld a financial services client's commission agreement that disallowed commissions that were not payable prior to termination of employment.
• She guided a Fortune 500 company through two significant reductions in their force with no administrative charges or lawsuits filed by affected employees.
• Sheryl was an integral part of the negotiation team in an interest arbitration for a major hospital.
• Sheryl persuaded the court to extinguish an ex parte temporary restraining order and defeated a motion for a preliminary injunction brought in state court by a former employee claiming threats of violence made against her by members of management and several co-workers.
• She achieved a favorable arbitration decision for a hospitality industry client in a contract and disability discrimination case, upholding the employer's policy of not providing light duty work to employees for non-work-related injuries.