Corporate Counsel, Labor & Employment (Newport Beach)

McCarthy Holdings, Inc. seeks an experienced Corporate Counsel, Labor & Employment to join its expanding Legal team. This attorney will draw on their experience in law firm and/or in-house roles to deliver practical employment law guidance within a fast-moving organization shaping communities through large-scale commercial, healthcare, energy, and infrastructure projects. This role requires someone who is adaptable, innovative, and willing to take initiative in handling sophisticated and challenging legal issues.

This position is based in our Newport Beach, California office and reports to the Vice President, Associate General Counsel over labor and employment matters. The Corporate Counsel, Labor & Employment will be a strategic partner to the Human Resources, Operations, and internal business partners and will manage or support a broad range of employment counseling, investigations, compliance, and dispute-resolution matters. This is an on-site role.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Advice & Counsel:

• Provide day‑to‑day legal advice on employment issues including separations, disciplinary action, performance management, recruiting, hiring, workplace accommodations, leaves of absence, wage and hour, pay transparency, benefits, compensation, and immigration‑related matters.
• Advise HR and Operations leaders across multiple states with practical legal guidance aligned with McCarthy’s culture and business objectives.

Workplace Investigations:

• Independently conduct, direct, or support privileged internal investigations, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, ethics and compliance, code of conduct, and policy‑related issues.
• Prepare investigation plans, conduct interviews, review documents and data, assess legal risk, and develop clear, practical findings and recommendations.

Employment Claims and Litigation:

• Respond to and manage administrative charges and inquiries from federal, state, and local agencies (e.g., EEOC and analogous state agencies), including position statements, information responses, and mediations.
• Provide support on employment‑related disputes and litigation, including single‑plaintiff cases, arbitrations, and wage‑and‑hour matters, in coordination with supervising counsel and outside counsel.
• Support discovery strategy and compliance and assist with witness preparation, mediations, and settlement strategy.

Agreements:

• Draft, review, and negotiate employment‑related agreements, including offer letters, separation agreements, independent contractor arrangements, and other agreements with employment‑law implications.

Compliance, Policies, and Training:

• Monitor, interpret, and communicate developments in federal, state, and local employment and labor laws impacting McCarthy’s operations across multiple jurisdictions.
• Draft, review, and update employment‑related policies and procedures to ensure compliance and reflect best practices.
• Develop and deliver training to HR, Operations, and other departments on employment topics (e.g., anti‑harassment, investigations, wage and hour, accommodations, and supervisor best practices).

Labor Relations:

• Advise on labor relations issues in coordination with other Legal department team members and Operations, including interpretation and application of labor agreements, grievance handling, and labor matters.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Juris Doctor (J.D.) from an ABA‑accredited law school.
• Licensed to practice law in California with active membership in good standing.
• Minimum of 4 years’ of dedicated employment law experience at a leading law firm, in‑house legal department, or both (combination of law firm and in‑house experience preferred).
• Deep knowledge of key federal and state employment laws (e.g., Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, FLSA, NLRA, state and local wage‑and‑hour and leave laws) and demonstrated ability to apply them in a practical, business‑oriented way.
• Significant experience as trusted advisor on a wide range of issues, including investigations, discipline, terminations, accommodations, leaves, and compliance.
• Demonstrated experience handling or overseeing employment‑related disputes, agency charges, and/or litigation, including strategy, discovery, and resolution.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex legal concepts clearly to non‑lawyers and to influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Proven ability to manage multiple matters simultaneously, prioritize effectively, and exercise sound judgment in a fast‑paced, dynamic environment.
• High integrity, strong ownership mindset, and a highly collaborative, service‑oriented approach to partnering with Legal department team members and internal stakeholders.

Preferred

• Experience supporting employers in construction, engineering, industrial, energy, infrastructure, or related industries.
• Experience working with union‑represented workforces, collective bargaining agreements, and related labor‑relations issues.
• Experience with multi‑state operations and the complexities of differing state and local employment requirements.
• Prior in‑house experience supporting a large, geographically dispersed organization.

McCarthy is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, including disability and protected veteran status.

For California locations only, the salary range for this position is: $140,000 - $180,000. This does not include possible bonus and other benefits which can impact total compensation. Compensation offered may vary based on work location, experience, qualifications, specialty, training, and market and business considerations, among other factors.

NOTICE TO EXTERNAL SEARCH FIRMS: McCarthy’s Talent Acquisition Team is the only authorized representative permitted to engage with external search firms, staffing agencies, or other third‑party recruiting partners. McCarthy maintains an Approved Agency List for recruiting partners, which is reviewed and updated annually.

McCarthy will only consider submissions from agencies with a signed fee agreement in place for the current year. McCarthy does not accept unsolicited resumes, candidate submissions, or referrals from agencies that do not meet these requirements.

If a candidate is submitted without an active agreement, McCarthy will have no obligation to pay any fees and reserves the right to contact, engage, interview, or hire such candidate(s) without any financial or other responsibility to the submitting agency. Unsolicited resumes, including those sent directly to hiring managers or other employees, will be considered the property of McCarthy.