Senior Legal Counsel, US Employment

Haleon • Warren Township, NJ

10d • $160,876 - $221,204 • Hybrid

About The Position

As Senior Counsel, US Employment, you will provide US and Puerto Rico employment and labor law advice to the business, helping to make pragmatic, commercial, and ethical decisions. You will offer counsel across the full employee lifecycle, prevent issues, and proactively lead on demands, charges, and lawsuits. Responsibilities include supporting HR training and development for self-sufficiency in ER processes, and potentially supporting Canada, LATAM, and global HR legal matters. The ideal candidate has a practical approach, a continuous improvement mindset, and can combine legal expertise with problem-solving skills.

Requirements

• Strong academic background, Bachelor’s Degree and Juris Doctorate or equivalent law degree.
• Must be admitted to practice law and be in good standing with Bar.
• Minimum 5 years legal experience advising clients or Human Resources with employment law matters.
• Experience with workplace investigations and disciplinary actions, wage and hour compliance, contracts (Employment Contract, Non-Compete, Severance Agreements etc.), discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, and other related employment law matters.
• Excellent influencing and stakeholder management skills at all levels of management.
• Ability to partner effectively with HR, Legal team leaders and the business to drive Haleon’s purpose.
• Demonstrated ability to work under pressure, juggle numerous priorities and meet deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to learn and apply new legal concepts quickly, proactively identify issues, and succeed in developing solutions in a fast-paced environment.

Nice To Haves

• In-house experience strongly preferred.
• Experience working in a CPG or FCMG environment.
• Admission and good standing in other parts of tri-state area in addition to New Jersey is an advantage.
• Some experience of working with lawyers outside the US is an advantage.
• Key soft skills: influencing, empathy, analytical thinking, taking initiative, prioritization, pragmatism, solutions-focused approach and resilience in managing ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Align business partners, including HR, Reward and Employee Relations stakeholders, and manage legal risk.
• Provide legal advice and support implementation of employment-related policies, procedures, and initiatives.
• Manage employment-related demand letters, charges, single plaintiff and class action disputes, arbitrations and mediations and advise on effective management of employee grievances, investigations and ADA issues to minimize legal risk to the Company.
• Support drafting and negotiating broad range of employment-related agreements, analyze employment and compensation-related issues, and provide subject matter expertise on issues related to every aspect of the employment lifecycle.
• Provide general advice regarding employee benefits.
• Identify topics for development of guidance, templates and tools to enable HR to self-serve and be self-sufficient in everyday HR Legal matters.
• Participate in creating and providing training on key employment law risks, changes to the law and best practices.
• Provide strategic support for HR risk management efforts.
• Engage and manage external legal counsel effectively and ensure that our engagements reflect our inclusion and belonging legal obligations and policies.
• Interface with company employees at all levels, including senior executives and business lawyers.
• Collaborate with other lawyers on the Global HR Legal team with respect to advice and counselling provided to HR and other business partners.
• Work with Puerto Rico counsel to advise on matters involving Puerto Rico employees.
• Supporting with matters outside the US as appropriate to provide practical, clear support and guidance to market HR teams.
• Assessing local and global litigation and internal case trends and identifying opportunities for training and process/template improvement.
• Supporting Global HR legal projects, including by facilitating the preparation of market versions of global contract and (where appropriate) policy templates and obtaining market legal advice to support the design and delivery of global projects.

Benefits

• Competitive pay
• Comprehensive benefits program
• Generous 401(k) plan
• Tuition reimbursement
• Time off programs
• 6 months paid parental leave
• Healthcare programs (company pays for the majority of medical coverage for employee and family)
• Discretionary bonus based on achievement of key business performance
• Other incentive/recognition programs

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior