Employee Relations & Policy Specialist (Legal)

The Legal Department is seeking an experienced detail-oriented Employee Relations & Policy Specialist to manage workplace investigations oversee employment policy compliance and support internal employment legal matters. Sitting directly within the Legal team and reporting to the Employment Counsel this role acts as a critical bridge between Legal and Human Resources. The Specialist will lead objective workplace investigations maintain multi-jurisdictional employment policies and support pre-litigation risk mitigation across a distributed workforce.

What Youll Bring:

• Policy Governance & Drafting: Maintain update and draft employee handbooks multi-state employment policies and standard operating procedures to ensure compliance with federal state and local labor laws.
• Internal Workplace Investigations: Conduct fair objective internal investigations into policy violations and workplace concerns under the guidance of Employment Counsel. Draft comprehensive investigation summaries findings and remediation recommendations.
• Performance Management & Employee Guidance: Provide guidance on performance management corrective action coaching performance improvement plans (PIPs) accommodations and leave programs.
• Trend Analysis Documentation & Leader Capability: Analyze employee relations trends maintain compliant case documentation and support leader capability through training coaching and mentoring on employee relations best practices.
• Separation and Employment Agreements: Draft tailor and track standardized and custom employment agreements and severance and release agreements in compliance with applicable law (e.g. OWBPA state-specific rules).
• Legal Process & Dispute Support: Serve as the primary point of contact for agency inquiries employment record requests and subpoenas. Coordinate document collection litigation holds and evidence compilation for outside defense counsel.
• Independent Contractor Classification: Review engagements to assess proper worker classification (W-2 vs. 1099) under federal state and local legal tests; maintain classification documentation and records.
• Regulatory Research & Risk Mitigation: Monitor statutory changes state/local leave laws and workplace regulations to proactively identify required policy updates and support pre-litigation risk mitigation.

What Youll Bring:

• Bachelors degree in Human Resources Business or related field; or a Paralegal Certificate from an ABA-approved program.
• 2-3 years of progressive experience in Employee Relations Workplace Investigations or Employment Law (in-house legal/HR environment or employer-side law firm preferred).
• Strong working knowledge of federal state and local employment laws (FLSA FMLA Title VII ADA ADEA state wage-and-hour laws).
• Proven ability to conduct neutral sensitive workplace interviews and synthesize complex facts into concise written reports.
• Exceptional strategic judgment emotional intelligence discretion and the ability to influence outcomes across all levels of the organization.
• Demonstrated capability in advising on complex performance management leaves accommodations and employee relations issues.
• Exceptional legal/policy writing editing and organizational skills.
• Proficiency with legal research databases (Westlaw/LexisNexis) and document management systems.

Salary range: $68000 - $85000

Overtime eligible: Exempt

This position is classified as remote but is tied to our New York NY office located at 120 Broadway. Employment is subject to New York State tax withholding under applicable regulations.

Macmillan Publishers is the U.S. trade company that is part of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group a large family-owned group of media companies headquartered in Stuttgart Germany. Holtzbrinck Publishing Groups publishing companies include prominent imprints around the world that publish a broad range of award-winning books for children and adults in all categories and formats.

U.S. publishers include Celadon Books Farrar Straus and Giroux Flatiron Books Henry Holt & Company Macmillan Audio Macmillan Childrens Publishing Group The St. Martins Publishing Group and Tor Publishing the UK Australia India and South Africa companies in the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group publish under the Pan Macmillan name. The German publishing company Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage includes among its imprints S. Fischer Kiepenheuer & Witsch Rowohlt and Droemer Knaur.

Macmillan is proud to be an equal opportunity employer consistently striving to foster a culture where everyone belongs. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and identities. Qualified applicants are evaluated without regard to race color religion age ethnicity national origin sex sexual orientation gender identity or expression disability status physical ability neurodiversity genetic information protected veteran status family and economic status and background or any other characteristic protected by federal state or local law. We prohibit discrimination of any kind and will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law.

Required Experience:

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