Gavin S. Appleby

Gavin S. Appleby advises and represents employers in a broad range of employment law matters, from defending single-plaintiff and class action employment cases to offering advice on difficult employment issues and labor relations matters. He also has significant experience with:

• HR and compliance audits
• Diversity and inclusion planning, implementation and legal analysis
• Union avoidance
• Defending union campaigns
• Arbitrations and mediations
• Conducting investigations
• Conducting pay equity analyses
• Labor negotiations
• Pre-employment testing
• Equal employment opportunity laws
• Affirmative action and diversity
• The Americans with Disabilities Act
• The Family and Medical Leave Act
• The National Labor Relations Board
• Brazilian laws
• Whistleblowing laws

​Gavin has significant knowledge of pre-employment testing, diversity and inclusion plans and strategy, drug testing and sports anti-doping matters. He has tried cases in 20 different states and regularly appears before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Department of Labor as well as many state agencies. A member of the professional tennis Anti-Doping Review Board and the Anti-Doping Review Board for international cricket, Gavin co-authored professional tennis' anti-doping rules and successfully defended sports federations in international drug hearings. He has also published numerous articles on employment and labor law issues, ranging from union avoidance to dealing with problem employees.

Gavin counsels clients in U. S. and foreign ethics matters, codes of conduct and codes of social responsibility. Additionally, he consults with employers on human resource practices, including:

• Establishing ADR processes
• Developing and supporting Diversity and Inclusion practices
• Developing systems for providing better and more effective advice to managers
• Instituting programs aimed at early resolution of employment problems

Renowned as an exemplary employment law and diversity trainer, Gavin is a featured training resource in employment law at the Institute for Applied Management and Law. He has developed legally-defensible diversity programs, created numerous interactive training programs and trained thousands of human resources professionals and operations managers across the country.

Gavin often works with clients in the following industries:

• Manufacturing
• Healthcare
• Sports
• Financial services
• Retail

Gavin previously served as the chair of Corporate Audit Services, and the chair of Littler Mendelson's diversity practices. He remains active in support of those service areas.  He has also worked for other law firms and as Chief Employment and Litigation Counsel at a large consumer paper products company. In addition, he previously served as an adjunct professor of labor law at Georgia State University School of Law.