Sam Morgan focuses his practice on employment rights and business disputes. As a trial lawyer, most of his cases are in litigation or have the potential to go to litigation. After starting his career on the defense/management-side, Mr. Morgan switched firms in the early 1990's so that he could handle cases for individual employees. He is one of the few employment litigators in Michigan that litigates cases on both sides of the employee/management fence. That background is extremely valuable when it comes to evaluating and developing litigation strategies for employee-side clients, because Mr. Morgan knows how their claims will be defended, and he knows the factors that drive decisions on the defense side - especially those that lead to a fair and expeditious settlement.
Mr. Morgan handles employment-related matters in the private and public sectors, including breach of employment contract and wrongful discharge claims involving age discrimination, sex discrimintion, race discrimination, disabliity discrimination, illegal retaliation against Whistleblowers, employees who report sexual harassment and racial harassment, employees that request and use leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act, employees who suffer workers compensation injuries, and for public employees under the U.S. Constitution (denial of due process and retaliation for speech and associations) and civil service statutes, non-payment of wages, sales commissions and overtime pay, the enforcement of restrictive covenants such as non-competition agreements, confidentiality agreements, and disputes over the misappropriation, use and/or disclosure of proprietary information and/or trade secrets. The business disputes and lawsuits include minority owner oppression claims, breach of commercial contracts, and a variety of business torts. These cases are litigated in state and federal courts, or in the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, before state and local civil service commissions, or in private arbitration.
On the advice and counsel side, Mr. Morgan counsels and advises business owners and human resource on workforce management issues, the development of personnel policies and procedures, discipline and termination decisions, and investigations of sexual harassment complaints and employee misconduct. He also assists both employee and employer clients with employment contracts, executive compensation agreements, and the negotiation of severance pay and separation agreements.
Mr. Morgan is AV-rated ("Preeminent") by Martindale-Hubbell, and is a Fellow of the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers. He has also been listed in Best Lawyers in America 2006 through 2020, for Labor and Employment Law, including a "Lawyer of the Year" listing in 2016, and he has been listed in SuperLawyers 2006 through 2020, for his work in representing Plaintiffs in Employment Litigation, including a listing as one of the Top 100 Michigan Superlawyers in 2010-2014. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, B.A., 1981, and Michigan State University College of Law, J.D., 1984.
A member of the State Bar of Michigan since 1984, Mr. Morgan is also admitted in the US District Court, E.Dist. Michigan, the US District Court, W. Dist. Michigan, and the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. He served on the Michigan State Bar's Labor and Employment Section Council from 2013-2017, is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), American Bar Association, Labor & Employment Section, Detroit Bar Association, Macomb County Bar Association and the Novi Chamber of Commerce (Chairman of Board of Directors, 2015 and 2016).
You can contact Sam Morgan at He does not respond to inquiries sent using the Avvo "contact me" button, because that tool is often abused by spammers.