Engelmeier & Umanah PA

10 years later, folks are still talking about pay equity and the importance of our Ewald v. Norway case in that longstanding fight for justice.

The gender wage gap continues to plague Minnesota, U.S. The gender pay gap exists at all income levels, but it widens as women earn more. Race exacerbates the disparity.

Engelmeier & Umanah is looking for an Associate Attorney

Labor & Employment Attorney Associate

Exciting Opportunity at a Dynamic Labor & Employment Law Group in Minneapolis Firm

We have a busy employment practice, and we are looking for an experienced attorney to hit the ground running! Our firm is unique; we represent employees and employers. We also regularly assist in neutral work – investigations, mediations, boundary coaching and audit work. By counseling, litigating, educating, and advocating on both sides (and in the middle), we have the insight to provide strategic advantages to our clients, exciting opportunities for our employees to make a difference, and chances to make broad impacts in the employment law field.

Our Associate Attorneys work directly with clients and take leadership roles in the administration of our collegial firm in a hybrid work environment. We use a team approach to holistically serve our clients, and we collaborate and support each other. We expect our associate attorneys to do what all attorneys in our firm do: provide our clients with superior representation and contribute to the success of our firm. Doing so includes client intake; legal research; mediations; providing advice and counsel on a wide range of labor and employment laws and regulations; drafting policies, handbooks, charges of discrimination, demand letters, and pleadings; representing clients in court, before administrative agencies, at mediations, and in arbitration; and overall problem-solving and relationship building.

Candidates for this exciting opportunity will have:

• Graduated from and ABA-accredited law school;
• An active Minnesota Bar admission, or the ability to obtain admission quickly;
• 2+ years of employment litigation and/or counseling experience;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills;
• Impeccable ethics and integrity;
• An attention to detail and a commitment to excellence;
• The ability to multitask in a fast-paced environment;
• Strong organizational, time management, and project management skills;
• A sound commitment to professionalism, collegiality, and teamwork, along with the ability to work independently;
• A demonstrated commitment to justice; and
• The ability to think strategically and creatively to act in the best interest of our clients.

We anxiously await hearing from you! Email your application submissions to [email protected]. We are looking to act as soon as possible, but we currently expect to consider all submissions on or before January 15, 2024. Tell us how you will hit the ground running as an associate attorney in our employment law group.

E&U congratulates our own, Tiffany Sanders, as one of Minnesota Lawyer’s 2022 Attorneys of the Year!
https://minnlawyer.com/2022/12/22/minnesota-lawyer-announces-attorneys-of-the-year-2

The POWER 30: Sheila Engelmeier

By: Minnesota Lawyer April 28, 2022

Some cases need to be litigated, but mediation is important because many companies want to do the right thing, Sheila Engelmeier believes. Those that don’t, go to court.

Engelmeier became attracted to mediation after representing individuals against bullies, she said. “It made me start mediation practice. I thought, there’s got to be a better way.”

She works both sides of the line in employer-employee disputes, trying to help the employees find common ground. You can make a difference on the defense side while being sympathetic to
plaintiffs, Engelmeier said.

“You teach [employers] how to build an environment and they come back when there’s a problem,” she noted.

Engelmeier, of Engelmeier & Umanah in Minneapolis, started out at Mackall Crounse & Moore representing truckers. Now she has a vibrant employment practice, with clients ranging from the
child of a company owner who is being harassed to another owner of a company, combined with a mediation practice that has about 60 cases per year.

State courts are starting to be more friendly to plaintiffs, Engelmeier said. In 2019 in Daniel v. City of Minneapolis, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a firefighter injured on the job could bring claims for workers’ compensation and for disability discrimination because the city allegedly discriminated against him by failing to accommodate his disability and retaliated against him for seeking an accommodation.

To hold that the exclusivity provision of the workers’ compensation act does not bar human rights claims, the court overruled its 1989 opinion in Karst v. F.C. Hayer Co. and reversed the Court of
Appeals.

Additionally, in 2020, the Supreme Court stated unequivocally in Kenneh v. Homeward Bound that it was not controlled by federal decisions. The federal courts need to follow that lead, Engelmeier said. “I’m not for opening floodgates,” she said. The 8th Circuit and other courts should “just give plaintiffs a shot. They shouldn’t automatically lose,” Engelmeier states.

While Engelmeier and her team have represented about 1,000 individuals, she also represents hundreds of employers. It’s fulfilling to bring the law’s lessons to life, Engelmeier thinks.

And she cautions against dogma. “You cannot represent only individuals or companies,” she says. “The pain that accompanies employer/employee conflicts is real. If you don’t recognize that you’re lying to yourself.

“If you become a ‘true believer’ for only one side you’re doing a disservice to both sides.”

Congrats to Power 30 Employment Lawyer, Sheila Engelmeier!
https://minnlawyer.com/2021/04/26/the-power-30-employment-law/

The POWER 30: Employment Law Welcome to POWER 30, a new regular feature from Minnesota Lawyer that will examine the power bro...

Article by Sheila Engelmeier and Heather Tabery

https://www.mnbar.org/resources/publications/bench-bar/articles/2020/07/29/paskert-and-kennneh-the-severe-or-pervasive-standard-in-2020

Paskert and Kennneh: The ‘severe or pervasive’ standard in 2020 About two years had passed since the launch of the movement when the Minnesota Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Kenneh v. Homeward Bound in late 2019. Since then a great many observers have awaited the Court’s pivotal decision in the case, which posed the question of how the “severe ...

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