Elizabeth Darby Rehm
Attorney Assistant
Lexi Brown
Phone :(251) 441–9268
lgb@johnstoneadams.com
PARALEGAL
Candy Knickerbocker
Phone : (251) 441-9256
cgk@johnstoneadams.com
Related Practices:
Business and Corporate
Employment, Labor and Workers’ Compensation
Insurance Defense
Oil and Gas
Education:
College: Auburn University, BA, magma cum laude, 1991
Law School: The University of Alabama School of Law, 1994
Elizabeth Darby Rehm
Beth Darby Rehm is a native of Mobile, Alabama and has devoted the past 27 years of her career exclusively to representing management in labor and employment law. Throughout her career, she has represented employers in the healthcare, aeronautical, dairy, manufacturing and service sectors, as well as municipalities.
Beth values working with clients taking a “hands on” approach to resolving labor and employment issues before they reach administrative agencies or the court system. She enjoys counseling and training employers in all aspects of labor and employment law to help avoid claims arising from day-to-day employment decisions, as well as significant decisions such as reductions in force. As part of her practice, Beth regularly drafts employment policies and procedures, employment applications, background check disclosure and consent agreements, employee handbooks, and employment contracts (non-compete agreements and trade secret agreements).
She additionally regularly conducts training for clients on a variety of labor and employment issues. Beth works with clients to create a customized training program which relates to each individual client’s industry and employees to allow for an interactive experience.
In addition to employment law, Beth also has experience with “traditional” labor law, including representing employers in all aspects of management-union relations, including: negotiations, union representation and decertification election campaigns; arbitration of grievances; unfair labor practice claims; and preparation of strike contingency plans.
However, Beth understands that administrative charges and lawsuits cannot always be avoided, and actively defends employers both in state and federal court and before administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor, OSHA, the National Labor Relations Board and various state agencies across the United States.
Beth has also successfully defended clients in Federal Court under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act relating to the accessibility of their premises to the public. Beth works with owners of businesses to ensure they understand the requirements of Title III of the ADA and come into compliance to avoid liability.
Bar Admissions
Alabama (all state and federal courts); United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit; United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida; United States District Court of New Mexico, United States Tax Court
HONORS + AWARDS
- AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
- Alabama Super Lawyers
- Employment and Labor Law (2012, 2013, 2015)
- Mid-South Super Lawyers
- Employment and Labor Law (2016, 2017)
- Best Lawyers in America (Selected from 2012-2020)
- Litigation – Labor and Employment Law
- Labor Law – Management
- Employment Law – Management
- 2013 “Lawyer of the Year,” Employment Law – Management, Mobile, Alabama
- 2017 “Lawyer of the Year,” Labor Law – Management, Mobile, Alabama
- 2020 “Lawyer of the Year,” Labor Law – Management, Mobile, Alabama
Representative Experience
Successfully defended numerous restaurants and retail establishments accused of violations of the public accessibility provisions of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Successfully defended national scaffolding employer in race discrimination lawsuit
Motion to Dismiss granted for international aerospace employer in Americans with Disabilities Act and Equal Pay Act suit
Motion to Dismiss granted in wage and hour lawsuit against local restaurant.
Summary judgment granted for national hardware retailer in lawsuit brought under the Alabama Age Discrimination in Employment Act
Summary judgment granted for international retailer on harassment and discrimination claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act, decision affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
Successfully defended nursing home in case alleging race discrimination
Summary judgment granted to transportation company in action brought by union to enforce arbitration agreement
Successfully defended nursing home in Pregnancy Discrimination Act lawsuit
Successfully defeated union’s certification petition to organize employer
Summary judgment granted in a sexual harassment lawsuit against large disposal company
Summary judgment granted for the international aerospace employer in workers compensation retaliation suit
- Mobile Bar Association, Lawyer Assistance Committee, Chairperson 2022
- Member, National Society for Human Resource Management
- Volunteer, National Society for Human Resource Management, Advocacy Team
- Board Member, Baldwin County Society for Human Resource Management
- Member, Mobile County Society for Human Resource Management
- Past Board Member, Friends of the Mobile Public Library
- Leadership Mobile Graduate, Class of 2016
- Sustainer, Junior League of Mobile
In addition to speaking to numerous human resources groups and conducting training for clients, Beth has made the following presentations:
Employers’ Top 10 FMLA Mistakes,” Alabama Society for Human Resource Management, May 2022
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Technical Assistance Programs; Requested by the Birmingham EEOC District Office to provide employer defense perspective on various subjects:
The FMLA, ADA Workers Compensation: Employer Best Practices,” Orange Beach, Alabama, August 2018
“The ADEA, Traditionalists, Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y in the Workforce,” Biloxi, Mississippi, June 2015
“Workplace Violence and Bullying,” July 2011, Jackson, Mississippi and San Destin, Florida, April 2011
“FMLA Master Class, Advanced Skills for Employers” Sponsored by BLR, 2014-2018
“The Changing Face of Supervisory Harassment,” The University of Alabama School of Law, Annual Employment Law Conference, December 17, 2015
“The Legal Minute,” a monthly presentation to the Baldwin County Society for Human Resource Management, 2017 – present
Conducting numerous workshops on the FMLA
Publications
Past Editor of “The Developing Labor Law,” a publication of the American Bar Association, Section of Labor and Employment Law, 1998-2010
“Employee Use of Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drugs While at Work,” HR Professionals Magazine, April 2015