From our experience, some of the more frequently asked questions and our common responses:
After confirming there is no conflict of interest with any existing or former client, Bowles Law offers initial, confidential consultations without charge to get acquainted and help an inquiring employer understand the nature of our services. 15 minutes is the usual duration. Addressing an inquiring party’s particular legal problem beyond such preliminaries is time charged at the firm’s current rates.
Bowles Law is dedicated to advising business management on employment-related matters, whether defending actual or threatened litigation or advice resolving personnel conflicts or workplace policy issues. Advice to an employee is rare, for instance help in understanding a severance package when our firm does not otherwise have a conflict of interest by any current or past representation of that individual’s employer.
Bowles Law’s experience and skill on workplace matters are exemplary. Client attestations reflect our high degree of effectiveness. See:
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Tim Bowles has been in practice since December, 1977, with a wide background in litigation in courts nationwide and a specialty in employment law defense since 1995. Among other recognitions, Mr. Bowles holds Martindale-Hubbell’s highest possible “A/V” rating as a skilled, experienced and ethical practitioner. See: https://tbowleslaw.com/timothy-bowles/
Cindy Bamforth has been a member of the California bar since 1996. She too brings decades of employment law practice to the firm, focusing particularly on employee dispute resolution as well as workplace policy and compliance issues. See: https://tbowleslaw.com/cynthia-s-bamforth/
Helena Kobrin brings similar long experience and expertise as “of counsel” (independently associated) with the firm. Admitted to the Florida bar in 1978 and California in 1991, Ms. Kobrin addresses the full spectrum of our management-side employment law services as well as her intellectual property specialties of copyright and trademark. See: https://tbowleslaw.com/helena-k-kobrin/
As a management-side employment law firm, Bowles Law works on fees-per-unit-of-time basis with the terms for any significant amount of work specified by our written representation agreement. Our rates are in keeping with our experience and regionally consistent with comparable law firms and practitioners, specifics on request. See: https://tbowleslaw.com/contact-us/
Yes. We frequently help management sort out a failing relationship with a worker by any number of preventative measures, including steps that can and should be taken in the course of a termination calculated to reduce the chances of legal repercussions to as close to zero as possible.
Yes, Bowles Law regularly represents or guides clients through such proceedings. Our assistance includes determination of a business’s strengths and possible weaknesses in responding to such claims and the ensuing advice on that employer’s options and approach to the proceeding.
Yes. For many years now, Bowles Law has advised haulers on critical matters such as driver piece pay, meal and rest requirements, timekeeping and overtime exemption. This includes experience in sorting out the potential complexities of conflicting federal and state labor laws unique to transportation industries. Our help in resolving such matters has prevented many trucking clients from closing their doors in the face of the seemingly crushing costs and consequences of legal challenges.
Yes. Bowles Law often advises on the critical distinctions between employee and independent contractor status. The process is especially important in California where the courts and legislature have imposed in recent years some of the most restrictive standards for independent contractor classification in the nation.
Yes. We have particular experience and skill assisting owners and managers in this important service sector, including on matters of compensation and other workplace policy and practice, government audits, and personnel dispute resolution.
Yes, we regularly assist management in such vital work. In California particularly, workplace laws are in a state of near-constant change and expansion. Thus, a company’s employee handbook/policy manual may well be out-of-date or incomplete within a year or less of its initial publication.
Yes. Bowles Law encourages clients to take preventive actions to lower the prospect of successful government or employee challenges to the maximum extent possible. Thus, clients commonly ask us to review their wage protocols and other workplace practices for possible improvement.
An employer may be particularly motivated to take such action in the wake of an expensive defense against a former employee’s legal challenge. Best management practice is to discourage and build protections against such claims before they occur by regularly reviewing and modifying company practices where warranted by changing law.