Sobel Law Solutions represents employees throughout Cleveland and Northeast Ohio in discrimination, harassment, retaliation, FMLA, severance, and non-compete matters. Office in the Warehouse District. Free initial consultation.
Sobel Law Solutions, LLC is a Cleveland-based employment law firm led by attorney Sean H. Sobel, named to Super Lawyers and Rising Stars for 14 consecutive years. The firm represents employees who have been discriminated against, harassed, retaliated against, denied FMLA leave, terminated unlawfully, or asked to sign agreements that affect their rights.
Cases are handled in state and federal courts in Northeast Ohio, including the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, the Eighth District Court of Appeals, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The firm also handles administrative proceedings before the EEOC's Cleveland field office and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.
People searching for a labor attorney in Cleveland and people searching for an employment lawyer are usually looking for the same help, but the two terms mean different things to practitioners, and the distinction occasionally matters.
Labor law in the technical sense governs the relationship between employers and unions. It covers collective bargaining, grievances and arbitration under a union contract, unfair labor practice charges before the National Labor Relations Board, and for Ohio public employees, proceedings before the State Employment Relations Board.
Employment law governs the relationship between an employer and an individual employee, whether or not a union is involved. Discrimination, harassment, retaliation, FMLA, wage claims, wrongful termination, severance, and non-competes all sit here.
Sobel Law Solutions practices employment law on the employee side. If you are a union member, that does not disqualify you. A great many union employees have individual statutory claims that live entirely outside the grievance process, and the two tracks can run at the same time. What is worth knowing is that a contractual grievance deadline can be measured in days while a discrimination charge deadline is measured in months, so if you are in a bargaining unit, do not let one clock run out while you attend to the other.
Most Cleveland discrimination cases begin with a choice between two agencies and two sets of deadlines. A charge with the EEOC's Cleveland field office covers federal claims under Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA. A charge with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission covers R.C. Chapter 4112. The two agencies work-share, so a charge filed with one is generally deemed filed with the other, but the deadlines are not identical and the strategic consequences differ.
Ohio's 2021 amendments under H.B. 352 changed the landscape considerably. The filing window for an OCRC charge is now two years, exhaustion with the commission is required before most R.C. 4112 lawsuits, and individual supervisor liability was largely eliminated going forward. Cases that would have been filed one way in 2020 are handled differently now.
Two features of that framework are favorable and routinely misunderstood. The two-year charge window and the two-year civil limitations period are separate clocks, and R.C. 4112.052 tolls the civil period while a charge is pending. If you filed a charge at month 22, your lawsuit is not lost. And exhaustion is not universal: it is not required where you seek only injunctive relief, or where the charge was dual-filed with the EEOC and the EEOC has issued a right to sue notice.
Cases proceed in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, the Eighth District Court of Appeals, or the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, depending on the claims. The choice of forum is a real decision with real consequences, not a formality.
The firm represents employees in Cleveland and the surrounding Northeast Ohio region. Statewide representation is available for employment matters where geography is not the limiting factor.
The firm's office is located at 1468 West 9th Street, Suite 100, in the Warehouse District of downtown Cleveland. The office is convenient to the Cuyahoga County courthouses, the federal courthouse, and the EEOC's Cleveland field office. Free parking is available nearby and the location is accessible by RTA. Consultations can be scheduled in person, by phone, or by video conference.
The firm is rated 5.0 on Google across 27 five-star reviews, holds an Avvo 10.0 “Superb” rating, and has been named to Super Lawyers and Rising Stars for 14 consecutive years.
The firm was founded to provide the kind of individualized representation larger firms rarely deliver. Every client works directly with attorney Sean H. Sobel, not a paralegal or junior associate. Cases are handled with the same rigor and care regardless of size. Fee arrangements are transparent at the outset, and clients are kept informed and in control throughout the matter.
1468 West 9th Street, Suite 100, Cleveland, Ohio 44113, in the Warehouse District of downtown Cleveland. The firm represents employees throughout Cuyahoga County and Northeast Ohio.
State and federal courts throughout Northeast Ohio, including the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, the Eighth District Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Yes. The employment practice serves clients throughout Ohio. The Title IX practice extends to colleges and universities nationwide.
If your issue arises from a union contract, such as a grievance, arbitration, or an unfair labor practice charge, that is labor law. If your issue is discrimination, harassment, retaliation, FMLA, unpaid wages, wrongful termination, severance, or a non-compete, that is employment law, and it applies whether or not you are in a union. Sobel Law Solutions handles the employment side, for employees. Union members frequently have individual statutory claims that run alongside the grievance process.
For federal claims through the EEOC's Cleveland field office, generally 300 days from the discriminatory act. For Ohio claims under R.C. Chapter 4112, the 2021 H.B. 352 amendments set a two-year window to file an OCRC charge and a separate two-year civil limitations period, with exhaustion required before most lawsuits. Importantly, R.C. 4112.052 tolls the civil period while your charge is pending, so filing a charge late in the window does not forfeit the lawsuit. Exhaustion is not required where you seek only injunctive relief or where the EEOC has issued a right to sue notice on a dual-filed charge. Other claims carry their own and sometimes much shorter deadlines.
Yes. Initial consultations for employment and Title IX matters are free with no obligation. Most employment cases are handled on contingency, with no upfront cost to the client and the attorney paid only out of any recovery.
Discuss your situation with attorney Sean H. Sobel. No obligation, no cost to talk.
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