After graduating from college and law school with honors, Jacob M. Sitman spent a year learning about what it means to be successful in a courtroom by clerking for a civil trial judge. Since that time, he has honed his skills practicing, almost exclusively, Labor and Employment law. He worked at a labor and employment boutique firm, and then at a large Philadelphia law firm for more than a decade. Mr. Sitman is also the former Northampton County Assistant Solicitor for Labor & Employment Matters.
Now as a Shareholder and the Chair of the Firm’s Employment Law & Labor Relations Group, Mr. Sitman represents employers and executives in a wide array of employment law and traditional labor matters. A skilled litigator, Mr. Sitman often represents employers in federal and state court in defense of claims of discrimination, harassment, whistleblower, breach of contract, wrongful discharge and workplace safety claims filed in state and federal courts, with administrative agencies and in arbitration (union grievance, Act 111 and private employment claims), including but not limited to matters filed with the U.S. Department of Labor, EEOC, PHRC, NLRB and OSHA. He has also been successful in wage and hour, noncompete and trade secret litigation and appeals.
Mr. Sitman also counsels and trains business owners, executives and human resource managers in ways to reduce the risk of legal claims and how to make smart, strategic and cost-effective personnel-related decisions. He relies on his varied experience in matters of wage and hour compliance, reductions in force, family and medical leave, sexual harassment avoidance and investigations, employee benefits, disability accommodations, employee health and workplace safety, and labor-management relations, including collective bargaining, alleged unfair labor practice charges and union grievance arbitrations. Mr. Sitman drafts employment and severance agreements, noncompete agreements, employee handbooks and personnel policies of all kinds, including those dealing with social media and employee use of technology in the workplace.
He is an author and frequent speaker on labor and employment law topics for various chambers of commerce and industry trade groups, has been awarded a “preeminent” rating, and is regularly recognized by his peers as one of Pennsylvania’s leading attorneys practicing labor and employment law.
New Mexico has just become the latest state to add to the growing momentum of “CROWN Act” legislation across the country, passing laws to prohibit employment discrimination based on a person’s hairstyle, natural hair texture and related characteristics. Title VII & Hair-Related Discrimination Since its passing, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 […]
On April 4, 2021, Governor Wolf amended his November 23, 2020 order requiring all businesses to conduct their operations remotely unless impossible. The new Order removes the mandatory language and now states that “all businesses are strongly encouraged to conduct their operations in whole or in part remotely” through telework. In addition, the order states […]
Yesterday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf rescinded the state-wide order requiring anyone over the age of 11, who visits another state, to quarantine for 14 days upon returning to Pennsylvania. The so-called “quarantine” order had been in effect since November 2020. While the order was in effect, employers were challenged to address a myriad of difficult […]
As we begin year two of a global pandemic, most in-person activities remain severely restricted, and many employees continue to work remotely. Given these restrictions, employers may be lulled into a false sense of security that risks posed by office romance are no more. This, however, is not the case. Rather, it is predicted that […]
In the early days of President Joe Biden’s presidency, his administration has not wasted any time reviewing and, sometimes, revoking employment-related regulatory rules issued in the final days of the Trump administration. For example, the United States Department of Labor (DOL), at President Biden’s direction, withdrew three previously issued opinion letters on now-frozen rules related […]