Amy L. Bess

Amy Bess helps employers manage sensitive workplace issues, comply with employment laws and regulations, and resolve disputes before they escalate. Drawing on more than three decades of experience, she works closely with employers of all sizes to minimize litigation and cultural risk.

Known for her thoughtful, business-oriented approach, Amy guides organizations toward employment decisions that are well-documented and legally sound. Clients rely on her expertise and years of experience to help them navigate difficult employment challenges, negotiate solutions, conduct internal investigations and develop strategies and policies for creating fair and compliant workplaces. She often counsels managers and business leaders facing challenging performance, discipline or termination conversations, including by drafting scripts to ensure clear communication and avoid costly missteps.

With decades of first-chair litigation experience, Amy helps clients manage and document employment decisions in a proactive manner with an eye toward placing the client in the strongest possible position to defend future litigation, while at the same time helping clients favorably resolve matters short of litigation.. In addition, Amy regularly advises senior executives in transition, helping them navigate contractual obligations and maximize professional opportunities moving forward.

Before becoming a lawyer, Amy trained and practiced as a social worker. She credits this experience with shaping how she listens, questions and skillfully navigates emotionally-charged workplace dynamics. Her ability to uncover what drives workplace behavior – and to use that insight to craft creative solutions that satisfy competing interests – allows clients to arrive at resolutions that support both legal compliance and business goals.

Experience

• Helped a communications company resolve claims of discrimination and retaliation by a former senior finance executive who claimed her position was eliminated as pretext for gender discrimination and in retaliation for participating in an internal investigation. When plaintiff’s counsel demanded approximately five times the severance offered, Amy was able to demonstrate that the amount offered was consistent with prior comparable payments, and arrive at a successful resolution that allowed the client to move forward with an effective restructure of its finance operations.
• Supported a large nonprofit organization through its internal investigation of a senior executive with more than 20 years of service, following claims of bullying, harassment and gender discrimination. Upon its termination decision, the executive retained counsel and made extensive legal demands. Following aggressive and contentious negotiations, Amy helped the client reach a multi-faceted resolution that allowed the departing executive to preserve reputational interests and enabled the employer to repair cultural impacts caused by the executive across the organization.
• Investigated multiple claims of sexual harassment by a senior member of a prominent professional services client and made recommendations that helped the client remediate the conduct and avoid litigation.
• Represented a large construction company client in connection with multiple related EEOC charges alleging race discrimination and retaliation after numerous employees were terminated for time-card falsification. The charging parties alleged that the accusation of misconduct was pretext for gender discrimination and retaliation based on the employees’ prior complaints of safety violations and racial harassment. After extended settlement negotiations with counsel representing all the claimants, Amy obtained a favorable settlement for the client.