Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103
United States
Debbie Sandler has spent nearly 25 years focusing her practice on counseling employers with respect to employment best practices and litigation avoidance, as well as employment litigation involving such issues as workplace discrimination and harassment, wrongful discharge, wage and hour disputes, whistleblower claims, restrictive covenants and non-compete agreements.
Debbie takes a practical approach to solving employment problems for her clients, whether they are start-up companies, “mom-and-pop” operations or multinational corporations. More than 20 years of litigating on behalf of employers has made her adept at spotting and avoiding potential lawsuits, allowing her to guide her clients through the minefields of employee performance reviews, terminations, reduction-in-force and similar issues. Debbie subscribes to the philosophy that while the best lawsuits are the ones that never happen, an aggressive defense is sometimes needed to allow a company to run its business as it sees fit.
She has presented seminars and published articles on many subjects including, attendance policies under the Family and Medical Leave Act, workplace violence, reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and harassment prevention and investigation.
Debbie is vice-chair of the Steering Committee of the Defense Research Institute Employment Law Committee. She is also a member of the Planning Committee for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's Employment Committee and past co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association's Employment Law Committee.
Areas of Practice | 1) Labor and Employment |
Law School | University of Pennsylvania School of Law, (JD, 1984) |
Education | Brandeis University, (BA, 1981) |
Bar Member / Association | Pennsylvania, New Jersey, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Most recent firm | White and Williams LLP |
Ms. Fitzgerald represents employers in a wide range of industries, including the entertainment, financial services, hospitality, manufacturing, retail, and transportation industries.