Tribal Nations Labor & Employment

Practice Overview

Drummond Woodsum’s Tribal Nations Labor & Employment Group is an established national law practice, serving tribal nations and their enterprises in all areas of labor and employment matters.  We assist tribes in exercising and defending their sovereign authority over employment relations.  We work with tribal enterprises to address labor and employment relations, from the routine to the most complex.

Our work is at the forefront of this field and includes:

  • Publishing the leading resource in the field, Labor and Employment Law in Indian Country (2022) in partnership with the Native American Rights Fund.
  • Defending tribes and their enterprises in cases brought by federal agencies (EEOC, U.S. Department of Labor, NLRB) with a full understanding of the sovereignty issues at stake.
  • Counseling tribes and their enterprises on family medical leave, wages and hours, employment discrimination, unions and other issues.
  • Providing everyday HR advice and regular trainings on:
    • Best practices for HR personnel in Indian Country
    • Personnel policies and procedures
    • Hiring and evaluating employees
    • Employee investigations, discipline and termination
    • Grievances and optimal dispute resolutions procedures to avoid litigation
    • Indian and tribal member employment preferences
    • Union solicitation and organizing efforts
    • Wage and hour issues, pay/benefit studies, incentive pay plans
    • Drafting employment laws, regulations and policies that reflect the unique policy values of individual tribal nations, and training for implementation and enforcement.
  • Litigating employment disputes in all forums: tribal, state and federal

Practice Group Leaders

Michael-Corey F. Hinton Attorney

A. Joseph Sarcinella Attorney

Related Professionals

S. Campbell Badger Attorney

Ann S. Chapman Senior Employment, Policy & Higher Education Consultant

Anna B. Cole Attorney

Brian Lewis Attorney

Laurel A. (Van Buskirk) McClead Of Counsel

Daniel J. Rose Attorney

Christina R. Simpson (de Reyes) Attorney

Christopher G. Stevenson Attorney

Kaighn Smith, Jr. Attorney

Kathleen (Landis) Wade Attorney