Cathy J. Beveridge

Cathy J. Beveridge provides employment counseling and litigation services on a full range of federal and state employment laws and regulations. This includes leave and time off policies, pay issues, Title VII and Title IX discrimination, age discrimination and claims related to the Americans with Disabilities Act. She forms valuable, longstanding partnerships with human resources professionals by resolving immediate employee-employer disruptions in the context of bigger picture workforce management and process improvement goals.

How Cathy Helps Clients

Cathy appreciates the growing challenges businesses face as they manage employee populations that may be working remotely, seasonal, multi-generational, caregivers, physically or mentally challenged or more. She offers significant experience across these issues, and proposes solutions that bridge employee needs with achievement of business objectives. She provides practical advice, recognizing that effective workforce management isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition.

While employment counseling and litigation prevention are key services Cathy provides, she is an ardent litigator with broad experience resolving disputes in or out of the courtroom. Her litigation experience spans the range of federal and Florida discrimination and employment issues, ERISA litigation and state tort claims that often are bundled into employment cases—such as retaliation claims.

What Clients Can Expect

Cathy brings highly analytical thinking to resolving issues packed with emotion. She is a diligent investigator skilled at uncovering foundational issues that maximize resolution and minimize interruption of the business. Her solutions-focused, root-cause approach supports employer goals related to productivity, positive culture, risk management and litigation avoidance.

I’m a practical problem-solving systems engineer who assembles the right data, analyzes it, and proposes solutions that keep your workforce moving.

Cathy has the AV^® Preeminent Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell and is Florida Bar Certified in Labor & Employment Law, the Florida Bar's highest level of evaluation of attorneys' competency and experience. She has been honored by Best Lawyers in America consecutively since 2005 in the areas of Employment Law: Management; Labor Law: Management and Litigation: Labor and Employment. She is honored as a leader in the field of Employment law in Florida by Chambers USA since 2004. She has been named to the Florida Super Lawyers list each year since 2006. Since 2020, Cathy was named one of Lawdragon's 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employment Lawyers. Most recently, Cathy was recognized in the 2022 edition of Florida Trend’s Florida Legal Elite™.

Proof Points

• Investigated and recommended termination of a College President to the Board of Trustees at a public meeting.
• Investigated claims of mistreatment from a faculty member lodged against the Chair and other members of the discipline.
• Trained College faculty and personnel in ADA accommodation process and issues after Office of Civil Rights investigation into a student complaint.
• Defended and successfully resolved claims for gender discrimination from high level College administrator.
• Integration of new sick leave and time off policies for clients in states balancing the interaction of Federal and state FMLA and other leave laws across multiple jurisdictions with an overlay of STD and LTD policies.
• Helped organization gracefully exit high level executive while managing potentially explosive issues with multiple internal and external constituencies, including threatened whistleblower claims.
• Worked with client integrating multiple acquired companies and their conflicting policies into one standardized, but adaptable, set of personnel policies.
• Worked with client on a complex reorganization of business units and corresponding layoffs, WARN Act, and separation agreement issues.
• Helped client manage current employee with numerous internal EEO and external EEOC discrimination retaliation complaints while focusing on productivity and the effects on co-worker and manager morale.
• Prevailed in arbitration of Union member’s claim of wrongful termination after employee misconduct and angry outbursts toward management.