Ms. Ricketts concentrates her practice in the areas of Labor and Employment Law. She servesas the Co-Chair of the Ogletree Deakins OD Family business resource group and the Firm’s national RIF/ WARN Practice Group. Her employment litigation experience includes defending employers against claims of race, gender, disability and age discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, FMLA claims, and wage and hour violations before federal and state courts and various administrative agencies.
Ms. Ricketts has successfully handled numerous litigation matters involving a wide range of topics such as negligent misrepresentation, fraud, and employment contracts. Ms. Ricketts has successfully enforced restrictive covenants in state courts, and regularly drafts and counsels employers on enforcing such restrictive covenants.
Ms. Ricketts has broad experience counseling clients on litigation avoidance, FMLA and ADA matters, negotiating and drafting severance agreements, and conducting complex internal investigations. She has structured over 100 large and small-scale reductions in force for a variety of employers across the nation in diverse industries. She also has vast experience handling plant shutdowns, mass layoffs and other events triggered under the WARN Act. She has regularly counseled large entities engaging in a stock or asset purchase deal on employment risks involving mergers, acquisitions and the sale of businesses. Ms. Ricketts has represented employers in numerous diverse industries in almost all states. She served as the Managing Shareholder for the Kansas City office from 2013-2018, when she became the co-chair of Ogletree Deakins’ firm-wide business resource group ODFamily. In May of 2021 she was selected to serve as Co-Chair of the Firm’s RIF/ WARN Practice Group.
Ms. Ricketts also devotes a significant amount of her practice to preventive training for clients on a wide variety of employment law and related topics. Ms. Ricketts tailors such trainings to the client’s needs and workforce culture. Her trainings are known to be effective, interactive, and entertaining. She is a sought after national speaker and panel member on a variety of timely employment and women in leadership topics.
