2.    A retainer agreement is required upon your retention of the Firm’s services.  Legal advice will not be provided until the retainer agreement is executed.  The Firm’s billing rates vary upon the nature of the work.

3.    Billing rates are available upon request.

4.    In the instance of litigation, a retainer deposit is required to cover court costs, discovery expense, and costs associated with all motion practice.  Such amounts will be deposited in the firm’s IOLTA account, as required, and dispersed in accordance with the terms of the retainer agreement.

5.    The Firm will take contingency fee cases in certain matters.  A listing of such matters is available on request.

6.    A monthly statement of services detailing work performed and the time associated with all activities will be provided to you at the close of each month.  Fees are due and owing within 30 days.  If your retainer deposit is exhausted, a new deposit will be required so that it may be billed against as services and expenses are incurred.

7.    Remember that there are very short time frames for enforcing many employment and employee benefit claims.  Therefore, always remember that time is off the essence when determining whether and how you wish to enforce your rights and protect your interests.

- Marian Wright Edleman

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The clients for whom I can provide effective counsel are:

• Employees and individuals who have been denied disability and pension benefits.
• Employees and individuals who have been denied continued health coverage during periods of family caregiving or following termination of employment.
• Partners, managers, administrators, and others who need to negotiate executive compensation or severance arrangements, or reasonable exit and non-competition agreements.
• Former employees who are sued over unreasonable non-competition or “non-compete” agreements.
• Employees and individuals who have been discriminated against. 
• Reasonable people who have serious problems in the workplace.
• Whistleblowers (Sarbanes-Oxley, health & safety, and others).

Ms. Clark is the founder of the Law Office of Denise M. Clark, in Washington, D.C., where she practices employee benefit and employment law, representing individuals in litigation involving claims to recover pension, severance, and disability benefits, and related employment claims.

An employee benefit law practitioner for 16 years, immediately prior to establishing the firm, Ms. Clark held the position of General Counsel with HEREIU Welfare and Pension Funds. There she managed employee benefits and employment matters for the organization, implemented the Funds’ compliance with ERISA and related statutes, represented the Funds before the Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service, and handled litigation on behalf of the Funds enforcing subrogation liens, defending and prosecuting fiduciary responsibility claims, enforcing withdrawal liability assessments and delinquency collection before the federal courts across the country.

Ms. Clark’s law practice assists individuals with employee benefit claims and related employment matters.

Ms. Clark co-chairs the Employment Discrimination Subcommittee of the ABA Employee Benefits Committee Section of Labor and Employment Law and is a chapter editor of the Committee’s Employee Benefits Law treatise. She is a Vice-chair of the Employee Benefits Committee of the TIPS Section of the ABA, and a member of the Employment Rights Executive Board of the American Association for Justice. She has been a speaker at the annual ERISA Basics and ERISA Litigation programs sponsored by the ABA, as well as the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans Annual Program.

Ms. Clark routinely teaches ERISA and Fiduciary Responsibility at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Ms. Clark was a founding director of the District of Columbia Employment Justice Center. She was a member of the Steering Committee of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Bar of the District of Columbia.

Ms. Clark earned her LLM in taxation and labor, specializing in employee benefits law, at Georgetown University Law Center. She earned her J.D. at North Carolina Central University School of Law, where she was a senior editor of the North Carolina Central University Law Review, and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Marquette University. She is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, New York, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as numerous federal district and circuit courts.

Disability and Pension Benefits

Protecting and enforcing employees’ rights to employment benefits, through counseling and litigation.

Under the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act (ERISA), participants and beneficiaries are entitled to appeal disability and pension benefit denials.  Effective appeals require that participants and beneficiaries secure information about plan benefits and their administered, as the information will certainly impact benefit decisions, and will assist with an participant’s appeal. Some benefits, such as severance, vacation leave, stock options, and other forms of deferred compensation, are contractual in nature. Federal statutes in addition to ERISA, such as COBRA and USERRA, also contain provisions that protect an employee’s retirement, medical, and dental benefits. Finally, state insurance laws impose certain requirements upon medical, disability, and life insurance policies.

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Employment Agreements and Compensation Arrangements

Negotiating and drafting employment agreements on behalf of individuals.

More and more jobs involve contractual arrangements. Many of today’s employees are classified as independent contractors, project employees, temporary employees who, along with executives and professionals, must negotiate terms of employment that are fair and beneficial. Negotiating such agreements to clarify and secure an employee’s expectations regarding job security, compensation and benefits, and related issues, is an important and valued service. Enforcement of such employment agreements to ensure that promises and commitments are fulfilled can include negotiation of exit agreements, arbitration, mediation, or litigation.

Employment agreements typically involve the following: the term of employment, including extensions or renewals; the employee’s position, title, duties, and responsibilities; compensation, including salary and bonuses; benefits (e.g., medical, dental, disability, life insurance, and retirement benefits); grounds for early termination by the employer (e.g., “with cause”) or by the employee (e.g., “for good reason”); and severance benefits upon termination of employment. Compensation may also include restricted stock and stock option grants, supplemental executive retirement plans, deferred compensation plans, long-term compensation plans, and incidental benefits (automobile, club dues, etc.). Other common issues include non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure clauses, and change-of-control provisions.

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Severance Agreements

Negotiating and enforcing severance agreement in connection with individual termination of employment or as part of reductions in force and reorganizations.

Employees who face employment termination or a reduction of force due to a corporate change or business closing, need to understand the conditions of a severance agreement, evaluate the severance benefits, ascertain ways a proposed severance package might be improved, and develop a plan of action. Employees need to understand the value of a severance package, timing of payments, tax consequences, relationship of the severance package to other employee benefits, such as vacation pay, bonuses, stock options, and health benefits. Other considerations include, deferring the effective date of termination to bridge vesting dates for stock options or retirement benefits, extending employer-paid medical benefits, securing career consultation payments (where and if applicable), and limiting the scope of any non-competition clause.

Where necessary, counseling and coaching, instead of direct representation is provided in order to minimize a perception of an adversary or contentious position during the exit process.

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Retiree Health Benefits

Enforcing an employee’s contractual rights to promised health care coverage.

Typically, such claims arise under collective bargaining agreements and other employment agreements.  Promised benefits conflicting with plan documents containing reservation of rights to modify such benefits create conflicts that need to be redressed.

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Responsible Caregivers

Assisting employees enforce their rights under employer established leave policies as well as state and federal laws when faced with work-family conflicts.

Many employees who are primary caregivers suffer disparate treatment by their employers, and such treatment should be redressed. Under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), covered employees are entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid continuous or intermittent leave to attend to their serious health conditions or those of their immediate family. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employees with disabilities may be entitled, under certain circumstances, to the “reasonable accommodation” of time off from work. Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, and recently the EEOC issued enforcement guidance on disparate treatment of caregivers that may violate Title VII.

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Restrictive Covenants and Contractual Rights

Assisting employees to understand the applicability and enforceability of restrictive agreements or covenants, and negotiating the language and scope of such clauses, in negotiating the termination, narrowing, or construction of such clauses, and in litigating their enforceability.

It is an increasingly common practice of employers to require employees to sign non-disclosure, non-competition, and non-solicitation clauses. These may arise in initial employment agreements, in special agreements required as a condition of initial or continued employment, as a condition to receiving bonuses, stock grants, or other compensation, or as part of a severance agreement.

Claims for unpaid compensation or severance pay, such as claims for failure to pay bonuses or commissions and for compensation and benefits after termination of employment are typically contractual in nature. Enforcement of employment contracts requires a review of plan documents to resolve conflicts between the plan and the employment contract, if any. Under certain circumstances, oral promises, if provable, and promises made in company manuals, may be enforceable.

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Discrimination and Retaliation

Representating and counseling employees, prospective employees, and former employees with respect to all types of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.

Federal, state, city, or municipal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, and other grounds—sexual orientation, marital status, and conviction and arrest records, also prohibit harassment of employees for the grounds listed above, as well as prohibiting employer retaliation against employees who complain about such discrimination or harassment, against themselves or others, within the company or in any agency or court proceeding, or who participate in any such proceedings.

Discrimination is not limited to on-the-job issues. It may occur during the hiring process, during the employment relationship (e.g., discrimination in compensation, promotions, or other terms and conditions of employment), or at the end of employment (e.g., discriminatory discharge).

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Wage and Hour Claims

Enforcing wage and overtime claims on behalf of individuals and classes of individuals.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (”FLSA”) protects the wages earned by employees, including their right to be paid overtime.  Numerous state laws have been adopted to provide additional wage protections for indivduals.  Misclassfication of individuals as employees exempt from coverage or as independent contractors to whom no overtime is required to be paid has negative consequences even beyond unpaid wages, espcially upon retirement benefits.  

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Federal Employees

Assisting federal employees enforce their rights under federal laws before the EEOC, the Merit System Protection Board, and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.

Assisting public employees at the state and municipal levels to enforce their workplace rights under federal, state, and local laws.

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Collectively Bargained Employee Benefit Plans–Multiemployer Plans

Assisting plan fiduciaries and plan sponsors with plan drafting, compliance, and litigation.  Representing fiduciaries of multiemployer plans with administrative proceedings before the DOL, IRS, and PBGCon plan compliance issues or agency investigations.

Litigation on behalf of multiemployer funds includes enforcement of employer collection obligations and plan withdrawal liability assessments.  

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Pro Bono & Community Service

Through the District of Columbia Employment Justice Center, I serve the community during weekly clinics and pro bono cases.  Additionally, I volunteer in a broad range of law-related public service organizations, including the District of Columbia Bar Pro Bono Program.

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Although my practice is based in our Nation’s Capital, I am a member of several state bars and can represent you with the assistance of local counsel.

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Martin Luther King Jr.,
Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16 1963

1250 Connecticut Avenue, NW

Suite 200

Washington, DC  20036