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PRACTICE GROUPS AND INDUSTRY AREAS
Scott K. Sheets has been a lawyer with the law firm of Huddleston Bolen LLP since 1986 and a partner in the firm’s Huntington office since January 1, 1994. Mr. Sheets focuses his practice primarily in the representation of employers in the areas of labor and employment law, employment litigation, and general commercial litigation.
Mr. Sheets represents employers in trial, mediation, arbitration, and appeals at all levels of state and federal courts and administrative agencies in connection with claims of wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination, unemployment, workers’ compensation, unfair labor practices OSHA citations, and other labor and employment.
Mr. Sheets’ practice includes consultation with and representation of employers in traditional areas of labor law, including contract negotiations, employee handbooks, bargaining unit elections, disciplinary proceedings, and the defense of grievances and arbitrations.
Representative examples of his work in this area include:
• Negotiated on behalf of a manufacturing client in its collective bargaining with the United Steelworkers of America
• Assisted a manufacturing client with a decertification election
• Represented a manufacturing client in proceedings before an Administrative Law Judge for the National Labor Relations Board
• Represented an electrical company in federal court litigation with the IBEW in a dispute over a national agreement and a local insider agreement
• Represented an electrical company in federal court injunction proceedings involving the IBEW
• Represented a transportation client in an arbitration involving the Amalgamated Transit Union
• Defended a construction company in labor contract disputes in federal court against the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union
In addition to traditional labor law, Mr. Sheets also represents employers in all areas of employment law, including claims of wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination, unemployment, and workers’ compensation.
Representative examples of his work in this area include:
• Defending age and disability claims against a service industry employer before the West Virginia Human Rights Commission and in federal court
• Defending a mining supply company in state and federal court from a job applicant’s disability discrimination claim
• Defending charges of age and disability discrimination filed with the West Virginia Human Rights Commission against a lumber company in connection with an employee's dismissal for failure to return to work after exhausting all leave
• Defending a manufacturing employer from a lawsuit in which an employee alleged his termination was the result of workers’ compensation discrimination
• Litigating the enforcement of restrictive covenants against former employees on behalf of a medical group
• Defending a banking corporation from state public policy violation claims of wrongful termination involving alleged whistleblowing
• Defending a transportation client with respect to claims of malicious prosecution involving the unauthorized removal of company property
• Defending an electrical company in federal court against claims of a sexually hostile work environment
• Defending various employers from West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act claims
Mr. Sheets frequently conducts seminars and publishes articles of interest to employers and the employment defense bar on such topics as internal investigations, employee disciplinary and job performance strategies, employee handbooks, workplace privacy, limiting employer liability for sexual and other types of harassment, compensation issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and state and federal developments in employment and labor law.
Mr. Sheets received his B.A in history, summa cum laude, from Marshall University, and his J.D. from The College of William and Mary, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, where he was a member of the National Moot Court Team, Order of the Coif, and a political columnist for the law school’s newspaper. He is annually included in the Chambers USA Guide to America’s Leading Business Lawyers in the area of labor and employment law for West Virginia, and listed in Super Lawyers for West Virginia (labor and employment) and Best Lawyers in America for West Virginia (labor and employment).
Scott and his wife Elizabeth reside in Huntington with their daughter Abigail.
EDUCATION
Marshall University, B.A. - Summa Cum Laude (1983)
College of William and Mary, J.D. (1986)
BAR ADMISSIONS
All state trial and appellate courts of West Virginia (1986)
All state trial and appellate courts of Ohio (1997)
United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia (2002)
United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia (1986)
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (1987)
PROFESSIONAL AND CIVIC AFFILIATIONS
American Bar Association
West Virginia State Bar Association
Ohio State Bar Association
Cabell County (WV) Bar Association
Defense Trial Counsel of WV