G. THOMAS HARPER

Mr. Harper has practiced  Labor Relations and Employment Law for over 30 years. He is Board Certified by the Florida Bar in Labor and Employment Law. He is also certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a Circuit Court Civil and Appellate Mediator. Mr. Harper has also studied and received training in Biblical conflict resolution. He has mediated disputes between Church members using the conflict resolution principles stated in the New Testament.

For the past 25 years, Mr. Harper has served as the editor of The Florida Employment Law Letter, a monthly newsletter subscribed to by hundreds of lawyers and Human Resource professionals. He is also a former Chair of the Labor and Employment Law Committee for the Jacksonville Bar Association.

Mr. Harper has tried employment cases before juries in all three (3) federal court districts in Florida– the Northern, Middle and Southern districts. He is admitted to all bars at all levels in all three federal district courts in Florida. He represents a diverse group of companies and organizations in a broad range of employment and labor issues including wage/hour, overtime claims, discrimination claims, FMLA, disability, age and sexual harassment.

Mr. Harper has litigation experience in a wide variety and large number of cases including numerous jury and non-jury trials before federal and state courts and administrative agencies. Mr. Harper is also an employment law Arbitrator and is an approved Arbitrator for the Seventh (St. Johns, Flagler, Putnam and Volusia Counties), Thirteenth (Hillsborough County) and Seventeenth (Broward County) Judicial Circuits of Florida.

Mr. Harper has been selected in The Best Lawyers in America, published by Woodward/White for over the past 20 years (1995-2016). In June, 2016, Mr. Harper was listed in Florida Super Lawyers Magazine as one of the top lawyers in Florida in Labor and Employment Law.

Mr. Harper has been involved in over 200 union-organizing attempts, union elections, de-certifications, contract negotiations, and strikes. He presents seminars for clients and employer associations on all aspects of labor and employment law.

Mr. Harper is a former Adjunct Instructor for the University of North Florida, Division of Continuing Education. He has conducted supervisor training on such diverse topics as National Labor Relations Act Compliance, union avoidance, sexual harassment, the ADA, Wage/Hour law and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family Medical Leave Act. Mr. Harper has:

• Won jury verdicts in age discrimination trials for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.; K-Mart; and Gold Kist Inc.
• Successfully enforced an arbitration agreement resulting in the dismissal of a wrongful termination lawsuit.
• Worked with a large orange juice processing facility under attack by the Teamster’s Union resulting in an overwhelming vote against union representation.
• Won summary judgment in an age discrimination case resulting from a company-wide restructuring.
• Defending a trucking company in a race discrimination lawsuit resulting in the former employee dismissing the lawsuit at the close of discovery.

A list of some of Mr. Harper’s Trial experience is available upon request to:

Tom@EmploymentLawFlorida.com

References furnished upon request.