Lovita Tandy is a seasoned litigator and well-recognized authority in the area of labor & employment law. Lovita has extensive experience in traditional labor matters, including negotiating collective bargaining agreements and labor covenants, arbitrating grievances and litigating matters before the National Labor Relations Board, and conducting due diligence in mergers and transactions involving unionized workforces.
Lovita relies on her more than 25 years of experience to guide clients in the defense of employment discrimination and retaliation claims involving federal and state anti-discrimination laws. She also guides clients through the complexities of whistleblower laws and the Fair Labor Standards Act. Lovita litigates trade-secret, restrictive covenant, and class and collective action matters. Highly skilled at internal investigations, Lovita is masterful at interviewing the accused as well as witnesses in a way that respects personal dignity and values operational effectiveness.
Lovita also conducts employment-related training for corporations and high-level executives, designs ADA, FLSA, and other employment-related compliance programs and offers advice and counseling on the full spectrum of employment laws. She serves as a trusted advisor to small, mid-size, and multi-national corporations in a broad range of industries as well as non-profits.
Among her many professional accomplishments, Lovita became the first African American woman elected partner at King & Spalding. She has also served as a full-time professor at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School where she taught Contract, Remedies, Transaction Drafting, and Negotiations.
EXPERIENCE
Investigated allegations of sexual harassment levied against female regional manager of international retail chain.
Represented a national retail chain in EEOC action alleging race discrimination in hiring across more than 75 stores over more than ten years.
Represented a Fortune 100 company with more than 25,000 employees in EEOC action alleging age discrimination impacting raises, bonuses, promotions, and lay-offs.
Investigated claims of widespread mismanagement and abuse against the U.S. division president of an international furniture manufacturer.
Conducted an internal investigation of gender discrimination levied against the general counsel of a high-tech manufacturing company.
Retained by a Fortune 100 company to develop and co-deliver two-day program for HR professionals on conducting high-level internal investigations.
Represented Fortune 100 consumer products company against charges of disability discrimination across its more than 500 U.S. manufacturing facilities.
Revamped national consumer product company’s ADA, FMLA, and leave compliance systems including revising or creating all employee leave letters, interactive process protocols, and forms.
Performed traditional labor, FLSA, and employment diligence in dozens of transactions.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Co-Author with Bonnie Burke, Case Law Updates on Sex Discrimination Arbitration Waivers & Joint Employment Law (October 1, 2018) Law360
Panelist, Harvard University Women in Business’ Consulting Panel, September 2017.
Moderator, “The Business of Practicing Law in the New Millennium: Understanding Law Firm Economics and Knowing How to Put Yourself Out There,” Leadership Institute for Women of Color Attorneys Annual Conference, March 2017
Moderator and presenter, “Understanding Micro-Aggressions,” The Sedona Conference Working Group on Electronic Document Retention & Production’s (WG1) 2016 Annual Meeting, October 2016.
Presenter, "How to Build an Effective Reasonable Accommodations Process Within Your Organization," Society for Human Resource Management - Foothills, GA Chapter, October 2016.
Presenter, "Gender in Negotiations," Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys CLE-at-Sea, Dubai, UAE, October 2016.
Presenter, "When Worlds Collide: Balancing the Responsibilities of the MEC and HR in Physician Peer Review," King & Spalding Healthcare Roundtable, December 2015.
Presenter, “Women’s Federal Statutory Rights in the Workplace,” American Institute of Chemical Engineers 2014 National Convention, November 2014.
Moderator, “The Evolution of Diversity in the State Bar of Georgia: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” State Bar of Georgia Diversity Program’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, October 2012.
Panelist, “Diversity in the Workplace: Microinsults,” American Bar Association’s Midyear Meeting, February 2011.
Presenter, “The Americans with Disabilities Act: New Risks for Employers and a Gold Mine for Employees?” The Seminar Group’s 6th Annual Labor and Employment Conference, October 2009.
H. Lane Dennard and Lovita T Tandy, Unions' Right To Company Information (Third Edition) (2001) (Treatise).
COMMUNITY
Past President and current Board Member, Leadership Institute for Women of Color Attorneys
Former Member, Strategic Planning Committee, Taylor Made Foundation, Strategic Planning Committee
Former Co-Chair of King & Spalding's StreetLaw partnership with The Coca-Cola Company and Emory Law School
Former Volunteer, Emory Law Clinic for Veterans
PRACTICE AREAS
Internal Investigations
Labor & Employment
Employment Discrimination &
Retaliation Claims
EDUCATION
Duke University School of Law
J.D.
Harvard University
B.A.
BAR ADMISSIONS
Georgia
RECOGNITION
Chambers
