Position: Partner
Address:
15 South Franklin Street
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711-0075
Email: E-Mail Me
Direct Dial: (570)826-5667
Direct Fax: (570)706-3418
Vcard:
Assistant's Name: Kelli Traver
Assistant's E-Mail: E-Mail
PRACTICE
James P. Valentine is the chairman of the Labor & Employment Law Department of the firm. Mr. Valentine is one of the area’s leading labor and employment lawyers who strictly represents employers. For over 25 years, Mr. Valentine’s clients have come from the public sector and a wide range of industries including automotive, higher education, construction, gaming and manufacturing. On a daily basis, Mr. Valentine counsels clients on any number of workplace issues that may arrive and on ways to have a productive and positive workforce. Mr. Valentine has made it his goal to ensure that employers, who have been wrongfully accused of any kind of grievance, are zealously defended and that systems are put in place in the workplace to prevent costly litigation going forward. A large amount of Mr. Valentine’s practice is spent defending employers against discrimination complaints before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and his track record in doing so is impressive. In the labor area, Mr. Valentine represents employers before the National Labor Relations Board and Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board in defense of unfair labor practice charges, in union organizing matters, in collective bargaining, grievance arbitrations, interest arbitrations (Act 111 and Act 195), wage and hour investigations, and FMLA and unemployment compensation matters. A past chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Mr. Valentine is a magna cum laude graduate of King’s College. He received his law degree from Dickinson School of Law.
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
- Regularly negotiates collective bargaining agreements for public and private sector employers
- Represents municipal governments for labor relations matters, including grievance and interest arbitrations
- Conducts training for employers on the topics of harassment, FMLA, and discrimination
- Counsels and advises employers on reductions-in-force, including WARN Act issues
- Negotiation and drafting of separation agreements
- Successfully represented employers before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in defense of age, race, gender, disability, religion, national origin, and sexual harassment discrimination complaints.
EDUCATION
- King's College (B.A., magna cum laude, 1977)
- Dickinson School of Law (J.D., 1980)
