Jaclyn L. Kugell

Jaclyn Kugell is an established employment lawyer who counsels business owners and management through virtually every scenario surrounding the employer-employee relationship. As Chair of Morgan, Brown & Joy’s Management Committee, Jackie brings strong leadership skills to clients, helping them to make important business decisions and manage their operations efficiently while minimizing risks. Her practice encompasses daily employment counseling, training, employment litigation, collective bargaining, and labor arbitration.

In her daily work with employers, Jackie is a trusted resource for mission-critical labor and employment law matters. Clients appreciate her ability to be practical, focusing on achieving the best possible solutions for employment compliance and corporate well-being. Jackie proactively works with clients to avoid allegations of wrongdoing, carefully advising on ways to run operations that meet business objectives and achieve compliance.

Jackie is perhaps best known for her intricate knowledge of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the full range of leave laws affecting employers. From the inception of the FMLA in 1993, Jackie has immersed herself in all aspects of this burgeoning area of leave laws and absence management. She is retained by large, well-known employers to review, analyze and improve leave and absence management policies and practices. She is frequently called upon to speak on the topic and has served as a subject matter expert for companies that build and administer absent management programs.

An important part of Jackie’s practice includes crafting and delivering customized employment training programs so that her clients are fully conversant in proper business behaviors and procedures. A front-runner in developing the firm’s training practice, Jackie’s strength stems in part from her successful participation in the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination’s (“MCAD”) certified train-the-trainer courses. She is a regular faculty member for MCAD courses and has been the faculty co-chair of the MCAD’s certified Harassment and Discrimination Prevention Train-the-Trainer program since 2001 and the certified Accommodations Course since 2009. She regularly conducts seminars and training programs on the most critical topics facing today’s employers such as unlawful harassment, preventing discrimination and fostering diversity, effectuating reasonable accommodations, effective and defensible disciplinary tools, supervisory skills, progressive discipline, lawful hiring practices, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the interrelationship of the FMLA, disability discrimination laws, other leave laws, and workers’ compensation statutes, and integrated leave and attendance programs.

Jackie is also sought for her distinct ability to represent employers in some of the most challenging employment disputes. An experienced litigator, Jackie represents employers in state and federal courts and before agencies including among others, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (“MCAD”), the New Hampshire Human Rights Commission, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, the Connecticut Human Rights Organization, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission. She also represents employers at arbitration hearings and negotiates collective bargaining agreements.

With such a well-rounded practice helping companies of all sizes across all industries, Jackie is often invited as a featured speaker for, among other organizations, the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (“MCLE”), including serving as Co-Chair for the MCLE Employment Law Conference since 2007, and the Disability Management Employer Coalition.