Director, Employee and Labor Relations

Essential Functions:

Employee Relations Leadership

• Build and enhance our employee relations center of excellence with best-in-class service level expectations through effective people, process, and tools. 
• Serve as the primary strategic advisor on complex employee relations matters, including performance management, investigations, misconduct, discrimination/harassment allegations, and ADA/LOA issues.
• Develop, implement, and continuously improve ER policies, processes, and guidelines that ensure consistency across all Learning Care locations.
• Lead high-risk or sensitive investigations; advise HRBPs, case specialists and field leaders on best practices.
• Analyze ER trends to identify risks, recommend policy changes, and drive proactive solutions that reduce claims and turnover.
• Evaluate tools, processes and SLAs for performance and case management quality, identifying opportunities for continuous improvement. 
• Partner with Operations leadership to strengthen manager capability in coaching, documentation, conflict management, and workplace conduct expectations.

Labor Relations Strategy & Administration

• Proactively build a labor relations strategy allowing the organization to be ready and nimble to execute if needed

• Partner with counsel and training teams to build training, positive employee culture practices and leadership education to be Stay ahead of industry trends and emerging technologies to continuously enhance labor and people strategies and practices. 

• conducted regularly.
• Build a heat-map through employee pulse surveys and case insights to constantly monitor and alert for medium to high-risk areas, ensuring business partners are leaning in with leaders to grow a positive culture. 

Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with all federal, state, and local employment laws (e.g., FLSA, FMLA, ADA, EEO, NLRA, OSHA, state wage & hour rules).
• Shape our policies, employee handbook, and employee-facing processes by analyzing employee cases, labor trends, talent metrics and labor heat-maps and leveraging industry best practices.  
• Partner closely with Legal on litigation, agency charges (EEOC, DOL, NLRB), and company responses.
• Maintain ER documentation standards and audit processes across all locations.
• Prepare reports, dashboards, and insights for senior leadership on ER and LR activity, risks, and trends.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead and develop a high-performing Employee Relations team through coaching, mentorship, and strategic guidance. 
• Build strong relationships with field leaders, HR partners, centers of excellence, internal and outside counsel, risk management, compliance teams, and corporate partners.
• Champion organizational change initiatives, with particular focus on the employee experience and current engagement gaps based on case trends, ensuring alignment with enterprise objectives with employee readiness. 
• Create and deliver training programs for managers related to ER/LR, policy interpretation, and legal compliance.

Job Qualifications:

• Knowledge
  • Bachelor’s degree in business, human resources, marketing, or related field
  • Master’s in talent-related or business area (Preferred)
  • Certification or degree in labor relations management (Preferred)
  • Deep knowledge of U.S. employment law and labor relations.
• Experience
  • 10+ years of progressive HR/Employee Relations experience, including 3–5 years in a leadership role.
  • 5+ years’ experience leading cross-functional teams
  • 5+ years’ experience in business partner-facing or strategic consulting-related field
  • Experience supporting large, multi‑unit retail, distribution, hospitality, or similar hourly‑workforce environments.
  • Direct labor relations and union negotiation experience strongly preferred.
• Ability:
  • Professional in human resources certification
  • Agile methodology (Preferred)
  • Strong investigation skills, including interviewing, documentation, and root‑cause analysis.
  • Exceptional judgment and ability to navigate gray areas with confidentiality and integrity.
  • Ability to influence and