Biography
Karen A. Whitley
Shareholder / 617 226-3402 / Email / PDF
Office : Boston :
Experience
Ms. Whitley litigates employment cases before the MCAD and Superior Court and Federal District Court, with a focus on discrimination and harassment claims. She also litigates the enforceability of employment agreements and restrictive covenants. Pre-litigation, Ms. Whitley is often retained by employers to conduct investigations into claims of discrimination, harassment or other inappropriate conduct. Another aspect of her practice involves developing policies, including non-competition agreements, severance and leave of absence policies, and employee handbooks. She regularly counsels employers regarding compliance with state and federal discrimination laws, wage and hour laws, FMLA, the WARN Act, COBRA, and OSHA. She frequently conducts company-wide training on workplace harassment prevention and has developed the firm’s Best Practice Briefing program on cutting-edge employment-law topics.
In addition to employment-related litigation, Ms. Whitley conducts extensive business litigation in the areas of lender liability, insurance coverage disputes, breach of contract actions, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty litigation.
Prior to joining Hanify & King, Ms. Whitley served as a law clerk to the Associate Justices of the Superior Court of Massachusetts.
Representative Engagements
- Represented community bank before the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination on claim involving discrimination on the basis of age and allegations of national origin discrimination. Obtained prompt lack of probable cause findings.
- Represented electric motor manufacturer in Virginia arbitration against former officer and employee, successfully preventing start up of competing company and use or disclosure of employer’s proprietary information, prevailed on claim to recover substantial balance due on promissory note, and proved existence of contentiously-disputed employment agreement.
- Defended magazine publisher against claims under the Massachusetts wage statute, unfair business practices law, and common law implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing brought by an executive who resigned, yet claimed a continuing right to receive substantial commissions. Settled favorably for client following grant of summary judgment in the employer's favor, as confirmed by the Massachusetts Appeals Court.
- Represented multinational medical software company in litigation brought against 12 former employees for violation of their non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure agreements, misappropriation of software and other trade secrets, and breach of their fiduciary duties. The case, which was to be presented using advanced computer technology, settled on the eve of trial.
- Conducted extensive and highly sensitive investigation into allegations of improper conduct by senior employees of publicly traded medical supply company.
- Training to law firm, placement firm, pharmaceutical company: provided one-on-one training to supervisory employee accused of sexual harassment, providing employee with clearer understanding of the law and acceptable parameters of conduct in the workplace, both to remediate an on-going situation and to prevent future instances of inappropriate conduct
Education
- Wellesley College, B.A., magna cum laude, 1990, Phi Beta Kappa
- Boston College Law School, J.D., 1993
- Graduate, Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination’s Certified Train the Trainer Program, 2008
Professional Involvement
- Boston Bar Association, Member, Labor & Employment Section;
- Massachusetts Bar Association, Member, Labor & Employment Section;
- Advisory Board, Boston chapter, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), (2007-2008);
- Past president of the Wellesley College Alumnae of Boston (2005-2007);
- Member, Executive Women's Golf Association;
- Board Member, Art beCAUSE Foundation (2008-2009);
- Wellesley Lawyers Network (2001 to the present);
- Boston Business Advisory Group (2007-present)
Speeches
- Speaker at Council on Education in Management seminars and webinars and at firm-hosted seminars on employment topics.
Recent Publications
- Frequent author of employment law-related articles for Hanify & King At Law and for Council on Education in Management HR Spotlight.
