Edward G. Phillips

Edward G. Phillips has a wealth of knowledge and trial experience in his practice areas of Litigation and Employment and Labor and heads the Employment and Labor group. Mr. Phillips has over 38 years of experience representing management in all areas of employment and labor law. He is a forceful, effective litigator. Mr. Phillips has been described by Chambers and Partners USA as, "one of the most talented lawyers in the state with a varied practice of litigation avoidance and successful litigation." Employment law is his passion, and he gives his clients prompt and lawful prospective advice (i.e., how to deal with problem employees and structure policies).

For his Employment and Labor law practice, the prestigious peer-review publication, Best Lawyers in America, selected Mr. Phillips for inclusion to its list each and every year since 1995, and also selected him as Lawyer of the YearLitigation - Labor and Employment, Knoxville for 2019. Mid-South Super Lawyers, another highly respected publication which uses a multi-phased selection process, including independent research and peer nominations and evaluations, selected him to its list for the years 2004-2019 for his Employment Litigation Defense.

Litigation avoidance/prospective adviceLitigation in all types of employment law cases in state and federal courtsRepresentation of local government and public utilities with unique constitutional issues and civil service rightsHe also represents his clients in administrative proceedings before the following:

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)United States Department of Labor (including the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs)National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)Tennessee Human Rights Commission (THRC)Tennessee Department of LaborMr. Phillips has also been instrumental in developing training programs in many areas of employment relations. He has presented the Knoxville Bar Association's Annual Employment Law Update for over two decades.

Mr. Phillips has recently obtained summary judgment in two lawsuits filed by a former student of a Knoxville-based college which were affirmed in the Sixth Circuit and Seventh Circuit. He also obtained summary judgment for a security contractor in a racial harassment case at a government-owned munitions facility that was affirmed by the Fourth Circuit.

In another instance, Mr. Phillips was also lead counsel in defense of a putative class action involving over 300 putative members alleging race discrimination in failure to hire. The motion to certify the class was denied. One named plaintiff was dismissed on summary judgment, and the second plaintiff's case was tried to a jury and resulted in a defense verdict.

Mr. Phillips has defended a number of FLSA collective actions involving pre-shift and post-shift activities, with the number of opt-in plaintiffs ranging from 50 to 350. He is currently defending six such lawsuits.

He has reported Sixth Circuit affirmations of summary judgment in age discrimination and race discrimination and retaliation, USERRA retaliation, racial harassment, and age, gender and race discrimination claims involving reductions in force.