Yelena advises and represents employers in matters arising under employment law and traditional labor law. She has secured victories for employers facing single or multi-plaintiff claims of discrimination, retaliation, and harassment. Yelena also has experience representing clients in collective and class action wage and hour cases as well as in noncompetition and trade secret rights enforcement litigation. Yelena has practiced before federal and state courts, arbitrators, and administrative agencies nationwide.
Yelena’s experience includes issues arising under state and federal employment laws, including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
In addition to her litigation practice, Yelena also partners with business owners and human resources departments to establish best practices and avoid costly litigation. Yelena regularly conducts internal investigations for companies. Finally, Yelena counsels clients in connection with labor and employment issues that arise in mergers and acquisitions and other business transactions.
Yelena is the Vice Chair of External Programming for the firm’s Women’s Initiative and focuses on leading the B-Sharp initiative. B-Sharp serves as a platform for women in-house counsel at all levels to connect with one another and expand their professional network. Additionally, Yelena is involved as an alum in the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), after completing the LCLD yearlong Pathfinder program in 2021.
Representative Experience
- Represented Trivest in the platform acquisition of Province, a leading and nationally recognized restructuring and advisory firm.
- Represented vascular surgeon and his physician practice in sale to national private equity backed platform of vein clinics.
- Represented Shearer’s Foods, LLC in matters including conducting #metoo Sexual Harassment and union avoidance trainings at five facilities, OSHA investigations in Ohio and Iowa, a discrimination lawsuit in Oregon, a business defamation claim in Nevada, a class action in Ohio and a wrongful death claim against four supervisors in Iowa state court arising out of the same incident.
- Represented Shearer’s Foods, LLC in putative nationwide collection action pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Rule 23 class action pursuant to the Ohio Minimum Fair Wage Standards Act. Plaintiffs alleged that they were not paid for pre-shift off-the-clock and rest breaks. Benesch prevailed on a motion and was able to avoid precertification of the class which resulted in negotiating a nuisance value settlement as to the individual plaintiffs, and the entire case was voluntarily dismissed.
- Obtained favorable resolutions for employers in numerous single-plaintiff cases involving former employees.
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Counseled multiple national clients on the creation and implementation of comprehensive employment policies, including revising and/or drafting employee handbooks.
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Represented employers in mediations with the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission and similar state agencies.
- First-chaired a hearing for a civil protection order on behalf of a company client against a former employee.
