Susan focuses her practice on labor, employment, and OSHA compliance, defense, and crisis response. She provides comprehensive OSHA representation of employers across all industry sectors. She has counseled and defended employers regarding all aspects of the employer/employee relationship, with particular emphasis on reconciling state, local, and federal laws in the areas of drug use, disability and leave for national employers. She is a sought after third party investigator of workplace misconduct allegations.Susan has over 35 years of experience. Her work includes counseling to employers and litigation defense in the areas of discrimination, harassment, whistleblower, tort claims, contract claims, defamation, wrongful discharge, trade secret, covenants not to compete, duty of loyalty, wage/hour, retaliation, FMLA, ADA, and WARN Act. She has particularly broad experience regarding accommodation and leave issues, with a keen understanding of the interplay between federal/state family and medical leave laws, federal/state disability laws, state/local sick pay and paid family leave laws, OSHA, and workers' compensation. Her experience extends to representation of employers with unionized workforces and includes collective bargaining, labor arbitration, and unfair labor practice matters and advice relating to contract compliance and grievance handling. She has handled numerous large and small reductions in force and voluntary retirement programs. She has comprehensive experience representing religious and secular non-profits.Susan conducts and oversees investigations following workplace accidents and infectious disease outbreak as part of her OSHA work. She also is a "go-to" lawyer for crises relating to allegations of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation involving senior and executive leadership. She has a significant track record of meticulous and thoughtful investigative work.Susan is admitted to practice in the Virginia state courts, Eastern and Western Federal District Courts of Virginia, District of Columbia Superior Court, District of Columbia Federal District Court, Federal District Court of Maryland, Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and US Supreme Court. She has represented employers in employment and/or OSHA/MSHA litigation in almost every state in the continental United States.

Bar Admissions
District of Columbia

Virginia

Education
JD, Wake Forest University School of Law, cum laude, 1989

BA, English and Government, The College of William & Mary, 1984

2020 Retail Industry Year in Review

2023 Retail Industry Year in Review

2024 Retail Industry Year in Review

All Things Considered: Loper Bright and the NLRB, OSHA, Wages, and Non-Competes

Assessing Repeal of OSHA's Injury Reporting Rule, Law360

Balancing Workplace Safety with Employment Protections for Cannabis Use, Risk Management

Chasing Compliance-A Year of Uncertainty in COVID-19 Workplace Safety Law, Retail Industry 2021 Year in Review

Considerations for retail employers before mandating the COVID-19 vaccine, Westlaw Retail YIR

Davis Bacon Obligations under ARRA, Hunton & Williams Renewable Energy Quarterly

EEOC Issues Anti-Harassment Guidelines For Worksites

Federal Courts Raise the Bar on Employee FMLA Retaliation Claims

Getting Hot in Here: Workplace Safety Regulators Address Employee Heat Illnesses, Retail Industry 2022 Year in Review

H1N1 Preparation for Virginia Lawyers and Employers, VBA Journal

Legal and Practical Consideration Associated With COVID-19 Vaccine Programs for Electric Cooperative, NRECA Legal Reporting Service, vol. 57 no. 1

New Regulation Extends CalOSHA COVID Enforcement into 2025, Society for Human Resource Management

New York Retail Workplace Violence Prevention Law

NLRB and OSHA to Enhance Enforcement Cooperation, Occupational Health & Safety

OSHA Is Falling For You, Facility Executive

OSHA Is Finalizing COVID-19 Rule for Health Care Employers, SHRM

OSHA Proposes Nationwide Workplace Heat Safety Standard

OSHA Walk-Around Proposal Opens Inspection To Outsiders, Industry Today

Revised OSHA Hazard Communication Standard: Upstream Risks for Downstream Uses

States Tackle Workplace Violence Risks, With Retailers in Focus

Three Key Things in Health Care

What Employers Need to Know About Marijuana Drug Testing in the Age of Legalization

What Employers Should Expect from OSHA's Evolving Regulatory Landscape

What OSHA 'Severe Violator' Updates Mean For Employers, Law360

What OSHA's Walkaround Rule Means For Employers

Workplace safety in the time of COVID-19, Thomson Reuters Westlaw