Garrett partners with clients’ in-house lawyers and human resources professionals throughout the life cycle of the employment relationship (from recruitment and onboarding through post-employment disputes) to develop strategic, business-centric solutions for the complex workplace issues they face.
Garrett advises diverse clients across a variety of industries to reduce risk and comply with state and federal laws. He brings his experience as in-house counsel at the world’s largest restaurant franchisee to bear as a member of the firm’s global Retail and Consumer Goods team, where he focuses primarily on quick service and fast casual restaurants.
His areas of focus include prosecuting and defending trade secret and restrictive covenant matters, development and deployment of AI in the workplace, internal investigations, wage and hour audits and compliance, mileage reimbursement (e.g., delivery drivers), employee privacy, separation and severance agreements, whistleblower complaints, RLA matters (for airlines), agency charges, and individual and class/collective employment litigation.
Before returning to Reed Smith, Garrett was senior counsel for employment with The Flynn 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.
