Joyce E. Smithey - Annapolis, MD

Overview

Joyce Smithey leads Smithey Law Group LLC’s labor and employment practice. From 2011-2018, Ms. Smithey has been selected for inclusion as a Maryland Super Lawyer in the area of Employment and Labor Law. Ms. Smithey was named among Maryland’s Top 50 Women Attorneys, as published in Baltimore Magazine.

Ms. Smithey regularly advises employers and employees on all matters relating to Employment and Labor Law, including:

• Discrimination, including race, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, family responsibilities, and religion
• Sexual harassment
• Retaliation and reprisal
• Claims prevention, including drafting employee handbooks and providing on-site training sessions to managers and employees on Employment and Labor Law topics.
• The Equal Pay Act
• Representation of public sector employees
• Disability accommodation and discrimination
• Medical leave
• Wrongful discharge
• Workplace privacy
• Defamation
• Employment contracts and restrictive covenants
• ERISA discrimination
• Employee and applicant testing
• Wage and hour issues
• WARN

Ms. Smithey has represented clients in state and federal courts, arbitrations, and before the Department of Labor, state and county commissions on human relations, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She has handled numerous jury trials, appellate oral arguments before the First and Fourth Circuits, bench trials, motion hearings, equity petitions, and damages hearings. Ms. Smithey is also a trained mediator on workplace issues.

Ms. Smithey has taught seminars and law school courses on Employment and Labor Law topics. She has also published extensively on Employment and Labor Law and civil litigation. Ms. Smithey is also a contributing author to Maryland Rules Commentary and a regular contributor to the Metropolitan Washington Employment and Labor Lawyers Association's newsletter.

Ms. Smithey is a member of the Labor and Employment Law Sections of the Maryland State Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and she is a member of the Women's Bar Association of Maryland, the National Employment and Labor Lawyers Association, and the Maryland Employment and Labor Lawyers Association. Ms. Smithey also does extensive pro bono work in the area of Employment and Labor Law, including serving on the Employment and Labor Law Hotline for the Women's Law Center and teaching in the Workplace Street Law Program. She has also authored amicus briefs for the National Employment and Labor Lawyers Association.

Ms. Smithey received her Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law where she researched and authored "Housing Discrimination Against People with Mental Disabilities: How does the Fair Housing Amendment Act of 1988 Help Implement the Goals of Deinstitutionalization?" Ms. Smithey received her Bachelor of Arts from Pepperdine University. She is admitted to practice in Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Hampshire, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to opening her own firm, Ms. Smithey was a partner at Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC in Annapolis, Maryland. Before that, she practiced in Baltimore, Maryland and in New Hampshire.