Want to love your job? We’re hiring at the Texas Roadhouse Support Center! Flexibility, teamwork, and fun are some of the reasons our employees are proud to be Roadies. Apply today and join our team!
We offer a comprehensive total rewards package on the first day of the month following 31 days of employment to Support Center Employees that meet our benefit eligibility requirements. The total rewards package includes, but is not limited to, the following:
•A choice of medical plans that are best in class
•Dental and Vision Insurance
•Paid Vacation, Parental, Donor, Bereavement and 100% Paid Maternity Leave
•Adoption Assistance
•Short-Term and Long-Term Disability
•Life, Accident and Critical Illness Insurance
•Identity Theft Protection
•Employee Assistance Program
•Business Travel Insurance
•401(k) Retirement Plan
•Flexible Spending Accounts
•Tuition Reimbursements up to $5,250 per year
•Quarterly Restricted Stock Units Program
•Annual holiday bonus
We also offer a variety of services for our Support Center employees! Car detailing and oil changes in the parking lot, on site haircuts, workout gym with personal trainers, spray tans, dry cleaning delivery service, chair massages just to name a few! We also have a Registered Nurse in the building to help with our wellness initiatives and keep us healthy. Willie’s Joynt is our full-service café that serves breakfast and lunch and prepares delicious TO GO meals. We love taking care of our Roadie family and making our company a LEGENDARY place to work! As our founder, Kent Taylor once said, “We are a people company that just happens to serve steaks.” Check us out, you won’t be disappointed!
POSITION SUMMARY & ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
This Senior Counsel is a key member of the Brand Protection sub-team within the Legal Department of a rapidly growing restaurant company. Senior Counsel will provide direct support and leadership to the Brand Protection sub-team and will play a key role in providing legal advice, counseling, and litigation management to the Company in the employment law and litigation space. This individual will provide legal support and advice to the Company on employee relations matters, wage and hour issues, risk mitigation measures, and other employment law matters in partnership with various members of the Legendary People Team. On the litigation front, this individual will handle EEOC and other agency charges, manage threatened employment lawsuits and other disputes, and oversee pending employment lawsuits. This position is responsible for collaborating with outside counsel and employees at all levels within the Company to provide legal advice and guidance.
Essential duties include:
General Responsibilities:
- Manage the company’s employment litigation;
- Advise senior leadership on key issues and opportunities in the employment compliance space and make recommendations on how to address such issues and opportunities, in partnership with various members of the Legendary People Team;
- Maintain strictest of confidence regarding materials they come in contact with (which will include Company trade secrets, confidential information, and intangible assets);
- Provide assistance to Brand Protection leadership in managing and leading Brand Protection sub-team;
- Provide assistance to Brand Protection leadership in managing accrual and budgeting process for the sub-team;
- Provide legal guidance and support to the Company’s restaurants as well as to departments within the Support Center; and
- Provide additional managerial support for team and/or department-wide projects as necessary.
Brand Protection-Specific Responsibilities:
Litigation Management and Agency Defense:
- Represent the Company in all aspects of investigations conducted by administrative agencies that enforce federal and state EEO laws (e.g., the EEOC and its state and local-level equivalents). This may include: conducting internal investigations, drafting position statements and responses to requests for information, attending mediations, and defending the brand during onsite or telephonic conferences;
- Provide legal advice to the Company’s People Compliance team as needed in investigations conducted by administrative agencies that enforce federal and state wage and hour laws (e.g., U. S. Department of Labor and its state level equivalents) and federal immigration laws (e.g., U.S. Department of Homeland Security);
- Serve as front line of defense in pre-litigation employment matters, including demand letter response and communication with opposing counsel;
- Assist in managing Company’s single plaintiff employment lawsuits and arbitrations, which includes, but is not limited to: partnering with various sub-teams within the Legendary People Team and Operations; coordinating discovery; retaining and negotiating cost-effective fee arrangements with outside counsel; providing strategic direction to and close supervision of outside counsel; managing/monitoring outside counsel costs and reviewing invoices; and updating employment matters/reserves reports and matter management system tools;
- Attend mediations, depositions, and court hearings as needed; and
- Partner with Legal Operations Senior Program Manager and members of Brand Protection sub-team to utilize web-based case management software and litigation analytics to help manage docket, inform decision-making, assess and report on trends, and make recommendations on risk mitigation strategies.
Advice/Counsel, Research, Policy and Training Review:
- Support Team Legal, Legendary People Team, other Support Center departments, and Operations by providing timely, ongoing, on-demand legal counsel, as needed, related to interpretation and application of employment laws, including those affecting recruiting, hiring, performance management, reasonable accommodations, FMLA and other types of employees leaves, immigration and I-9 issues, criminal background checks, worker’s compensation, unemployment, employee benefits, employee misconduct, and workplace investigations;
- Provide legal advice and counsel related to investigations of employee incidents that could give rise to liability for the Company;
- Monitor and research rapidly changing federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations and advise internal stakeholders on legal risk and impact as well as how to address such risks, in partnership with various members of Legendary People Team;
- Provide legal review of HR policies, forms, processes, guidance, and programs as well as trainings on relevant employment or HR topics, in collaboration and partnership with various members of Legendary People Team; and
- Identify areas of risk associated with significant employment litigation, assess possible brand exposure, and recommend mitigation strategies to provide to Legendary People Team and leadership and/or appropriate internal subrisk committee(s).
Employment-Related Agreements:
- Assist in updating arbitration agreement templates, settlement and separation agreement templates, and/or employment agreement templates, as needed;
- Negotiate and draft settlement agreements, separation agreements, and other resolution documents; and
- Provide advice/counsel as needed on interpretation of Company employment-related agreements.
Partnership/ Communication:
- Provide strategic partnership to various Support Center departments outside of Team Legal (including, but not limited to, various sub-teams within Legendary People Team and the Training Team) to understand Company operations, policies and processes, and initiatives and to build credibility with those teams;
- Build collaborative and constructive working relationships with members of Brand Protection, Team Legal, Support Center departments (including, but not limited to, the Legendary People Team), store operators, and outside counsel;
- Provide effective oversight and direction to, as well as development opportunities for, Brand Protection Paralegal(s) supporting the employment docket as well as other members of Brand Protection team, as needed;
- Engage in effective collaboration/partnership with Associate General Counsel, Legal Operations Senior Program Manager and other members of Brand Protection team to develop robust litigation analytics and trend-spotting; and
- Effectively communicate complex legal concepts to various internal audiences.
Reasonable Accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Education: Juris Doctor degree from an ABA accredited law school.
Experience: Minimum of 6 – 10 years of employment compliance (including employment litigation) experience in an established law firm and/or corporate legal department. Prior in-house legal experience or comparable employment litigation management oversight experience preferred.
Computer Skills: Proficiency with Microsoft applications (Teams, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Adobe, and comfort with databases and web-based processes preferred.
Certificates & Licenses: Certificate of admission to practice of law in the Commonwealth of Kentucky or meets requirements of SCR Rule 2.111 (Limited certification admission) pending full admission to the Kentucky bar.
Other Required Skills: Proactive service-oriented mindset; professionalism; excellent listening skills; outstanding organizational skills; sound judgment; ability to multi-task, meet deadlines, and change priorities under pressure; strong attention to detail; excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills; proficiency on cross-functional teams with demonstrated ability to influence others; high ethical standards and behaviors; ability to establish credibility and trust across organization; strong analytical, strategic thinking and problem-solving skills; and the ability to work in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment.
This job description includes essential functions and basic duties and is intended to provide guidelines for job expectations and the employee's ability to perform the position described. It is not intended an exhaustive list of all functions, responsibilities, skills and abilities. Additional functions and requirements may be assigned by supervisors as deemed appropriate. This document is not a contract of employment, and the Company reserves the right to change this job description and/or assign tasks for the employee to perform, as the Company may deem appropriate.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, gender, pregnancy, gender identity, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, citizenship, national origin, or any other legally protected status. We encourage and welcome all applicants to apply.