Aisha S. Sanchez

Aisha has represented healthcare clients in nine union-certification and decertification campaigns, participated in the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement, and defends clients in arbitrations of union grievances.  She draws on these varied traditional-labor experiences to advise and train clients on how to avoid unionization. 

Aisha also advises employers on a range of personnel topics, such as policies and practices, management training, executive employment agreements, strategic planning, and compliance with applicable laws.  When disputes arise, she represents employers in responding to charges of discrimination, defending lawsuits and arbitrations, and developing creative strategies for resolving issues effectively and efficiently with the client's best interests always at the forefront.

Aisha frequently writes and lectures on managing transgender-related issues in the workplace, the implications of social media in employment law, union-avoidance, benefiting from diversity and inclusion programs, and the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act.

During law school, Aisha was a Moot Court Board Member and participated in four international competitions, winning the John Marshall Law School International Moot Court Competition in Information Technology & Privacy Law in 2009 and receiving the Best Oral Advocate award at the Florida Bar's International Law Section Pre-Vis International Moot Competition in 2009.  She also served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Elizabeth A. Jenkins, District Court for the Middle District of Florida, and for the Honorable Chris Altenbernd, Florida Second District Court of Appeal.  In addition, Aisha served as a Research Assistant to Professors Marco Jimenez and Lou Virelli, III.  Aisha co-founded an Amnesty International chapter during her first semester of law school, served as a class representative to the Student Bar Association, participated in the Honors Program, and contributed as a student member of her law school's ABA Reaccreditation Committee. 

Recent Experience*

• Represented several companies in employment-discrimination cases, including in administrative charges of discrimination before the EEOC and state and local agencies.
• Represented employer in decertification election for more than two years of organizing efforts, contract negotiations, and onsite access.
• Represented company in four union-decertification campaigns in Florida and Texas in 2012.
• Represented company as second-chair in a race, religion, and national-origin state administrative hearing in 2012.
• Assisted lead counsel in representing a company to negotiate a first collective bargaining agreement in 2011.
• Defended five union-certification campaigns under neutrality agreements in 2010 and 2011.
• Defended two cases before Florida state courts alleging race discrimination, harassment, failure to promote, and intentional infliction of emotional distress in 2010 and 2011.
• Represented company in a disability-discrimination lawsuit based on the same facts raised in a previously dismissed FMLA case. 
• In 2010, worked in-house with a Fortune 100 retail company for six weeks as part of the FordHarrison's Year One Secondment Program.  (For more information on FordHarrison's Year One Program, please see www.fordharrison.com/attorneydevelopment).

Publications

• "Post-Macy Best Employment Practices for a Transgender Workforce," Mondaq Business Briefing, September 12, 2012
• "Eleventh Circuit Affirms Sex Discrimination in Transgender Termination Case," Spring Management Update, Mondaq Business Briefing, September 3, 2012
• "EEOC Permits Transgender Worker to Proceed with Title VII Claim," FordHarrison Legal Alert, April 30, 2012
• "‘Transgender' and ‘Sexual Stereotyping' — New Protected Classes?", Georgia Employment Law Letter, February 2012
• "Section 1983:  Eleventh Circuit Affirms Transgender Employee's Reinstatement and Opens the Door for Title VII Expansion," The Checkoff, The Florida Bar, February 1, 2012
• "Nevada Prohibits Discrimination Based Upon a Person's ‘Gender Identity or Expression'", Management Update, FordHarrison LLP, July 28, 2011

Honors and Awards

• In 2012, Aisha received the FordHarrison's Associate Diversity and Inclusion Award for her efforts in the LGBT community and her counseling employers on adjusting to significant recent developments in the treatment of transgender individuals in employment law. 
• Judge Raphael Steinhardt Award, Stetson University College of Law, 2009
• Book Awards: Contracts I, Arbitration, Pretrial Practice, Stetson University College of Law
• Future Leader of the Year, Stetson University College of Law, 2007

Recent Speaking Engagements

• "Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn, Oh My: The Employment Law Implications of Social Networking," KPA Online Webinar, October 4, 2012.
• "Gender Identity & Expression in the Workplace: Creating Policy and Making Practice," Florida Diversity Council GLBTA Summit, June 22, 2012.
• "Social Media in the Workplace: Benefits and Pitfalls," Client Management Training, June 18, 2012.
• "Clones, Drones, and Animatrons: GINA's Impact One Year Later," Labor and Employment Section, Hillsborough County Bar Association, December 6, 2011.
• "Best Practices for Union Avoidance," Client Management Training, November 15, 2011.
• "Walking in Two Worlds," Florida Diversity Council – College Diversity Summit, November 5, 2011.
• "Social Media in the Workplace: Embrace the Benefits, Avoid the Pitfalls," Suncoast Chapter, Association of Legal Administrator's – Educational Conference, August 26, 2010.
• "Social Networking and the Blogosphere: What Clients Can Do to Limit Inappropriate Conduct Via the Internet," Labor and Employment Section, Hillsborough County Bar Association, April 13, 2010.

*Per Florida Bar rules, information on litigation and other legal successes has not been disclosed but is available upon request.