Shawn Fabian is a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in the firm's Chicago and New York offices.
Areas of Practice
Litigation
Shawn represents management-side clients before federal and state courts across the country and before administrative agencies, including the DOL, EEOC, NLRB and various state and municipal human rights commissions and labor agencies. He also regularly represents clients in arbitrations and other avenues of alternative dispute resolution.
Shawn analyzes the enforceability of restrictive covenants and structuring enforceable restrictive covenants to protect his clients’ business interests, and he prosecutes and defends actions across the country involving the enforcement of non-compete, non-solicit and other restrictive covenants, as well as misappropriation of trade secrets claims under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act. His litigation experience also includes defense of collective and class actions alleging misclassification and other wage and hour claims; defense of multi- and single-plaintiff cases alleging discrimination, retaliation and sexual harassment; and defense of whistleblower claims.
Counseling & Internal Investigations
Shawn regularly counsels domestic and international clients on day-to-day workplace issues, such as preparation, administration and enforcement of personnel policies, reductions-in-force, executive and employee discipline and separation, leaves of absence and reasonable accommodations.
Shawn is well versed in conducting complex internal investigations and audits on behalf of his clients. His investigations range from issues affecting the entirety of a client’s workforce that require scores of interviews of employees at all levels of the corporate hierarchy to issues affecting small departments or complaints of a single employee. Shawn ensures efficiency and minimal disturbance to his clients’ operations during the course of an investigation. Relatedly, he is well versed in conducting investigations and audits in response to inquiries from various regulatory agencies and institutions, including JCAHO and ACGME. He also conducts interactive trainings on issues such as recruitment, sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying and other workplace behavior, discipline and general legal compliance.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Shawn works closely with the firm’s Corporate Practice Group on mergers and acquisitions to evaluate the labor and employment liabilities associated with a specific transaction; develop pragmatic, business-oriented solutions to issues that arise during the course of fast-paced transactions; and structure sophisticated executive employment, separation and retention bonus agreements in connection with such transactions.
Shawn joined the firm after serving as Chief Counsel for Labor and Employee Relations at a nationally recognized hospital in New York City. Previously, he served on the staff teams for a U.S. Senator and U.S. Congressman in Washington, D.C.
