Melissa Jeanine Ackie is a trusted legal adviser and strategic partner to business owners, in-house counsel, and HR professionals, delivering practical, comprehensive guidance on complex workplace compliance issues, including leave and accommodations under the FMLA, ADA, and Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act (PWFA), as well as discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and terminations. She partners with employers of all sizes across the public and private sectors, including nonprofit and governmental entities.
Drawing on her experience as a litigator, investigator, and former secondee for a multinational, publicly traded corporation, she advises clients on managing employment related risk with practical solutions designed for modern, complex workplace environments.
Melissa regularly conducts internal workplace investigations for private and public sector employers related to allegations of misconduct, including discrimination, sexual harassment (including Title IX), and retaliation.
Melissa also is a trial lawyer with an active litigation practice. She represents and defends clients in arbitration and in federal and state courts throughout Texas, as well as in administrative proceedings, alleging discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.
Melissa serves as co-chair of the Littler’s Career Advocacy Program (CAP) and is a frequent speaker at conferences and trainings on various employment law topics.
Melissa also serves as a liaison for Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute (WPI). She focuses on Texas state legislative and regulatory developments in employment and labor law, as well as municipal ordinances impacting the workplace. Her work includes tracking relevant legislation, updating policies and protocols to ensure compliance, and advising clients on the anticipated and practical impacts of new laws before and after enactment.
While in law school, Melissa served as a judicial intern to the Hon. Melinda Harmon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, and represented The University of Texas School of Law at the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition at the national level. She has been a certified mediator for the State of Texas since December 2011 and is a classically trained violist.
