Garrett partners with clients and their in-house lawyers and human resources professionals throughout the life cycle of the employment relationship to develop strategic, business-centric solutions for the complex and often sensitive workplace issues they face.
As both in-house and outside counsel, Garrett advises clients across a variety of industries – most recently restaurants, retail businesses, airlines, financial services, and technology companies – to reduce risk and comply with state and federal laws. He advises and defends all sizes of businesses, from local to multinational companies, in all areas of employment law – from recruitment and onboarding through separation and post-employment issues. Garrett brings his considerable experience to bear as a member of the firm’s global Retail and Consumer Goods team, where he focuses primarily on restaurant and food service clients.
His areas of focus include prosecuting and defending trade secret and restrictive covenant matters, development and deployment of AI in the workplace, internal investigations, remote work issues (including ADA compliance), mileage reimbursement (e.g., delivery drivers), employee privacy, separation and severance agreements, whistleblower complaints, U.S. state and federal agency charges, single- and multi-plaintiff litigation, wage and hour cases, class and collective actions, and proceedings governed by the RLA and LMRA.
Before returning to Reed Smith, Garrett was senior counsel for employment with Flynn Restaurant Group, the largest restaurant franchisee operator in the United States. In this role, he provided full-service employment support to the C-suite and senior management for the company, which, at the time, comprised six brands in 44 states, and covered over 70,000 employees.
