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Carla N. Murphy

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Carla N. Murphy focuses her practice on employment law and litigation.

Professional Biography


Carla provides advice to employers in various industries, including health care, maritime, financial services, and real estate and development, on matters concerning hiring, wage-and-hour issues, disciplinary action, due diligence reviews, family and medical leave laws, disability accommodation laws, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, termination, competition, privacy, and other business-related torts.

She has successfully defended numerous clients in business and employment-related suits before state and federal courts, as well as administrative agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Maryland Commission on Civil Rights.

Carla provides management training and offers litigation avoidance advice to employers, encouraging the development of employment policies and agreements, which includes employee handbooks, arbitration agreements, non-competition and trade secret agreements, employment contracts, and separation and severance agreements.

Carla also applies her experience from presiding over disciplinary and post-termination cases in her role as a former part-time hearing officer for the Baltimore City Civil Service Commission to effectively represent her clients in alternative dispute resolution and litigation matters.

In addition to assisting her clients with employment advice and litigation, Carla quite literally wrote the book on Maryland employment law in the Maryland Employment Law Forms and Practice Manual, which offers a practical focus on the wide range of day-to-day legal issues relating to the employee/employer relationship.

Carla also serves as a trusted advisor to her clients by frequently speaking and writing about current employment law and litigation trends.

  • Employment

  • Obtained dismissal of claims against a hospital in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland for sex discrimination, harassment, tortious interference, breach of contract, defamation, and civil conspiracy.

  • Defended a large health care provider in an FMLA interference and retaliation lawsuit filed by a former employee in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and obtained voluntary dismissal.

  • Defended a national health care services company against Section 1981 racial discrimination claims, violations of the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act, breach of contract, and promissory estoppel and secured dismissal on all claims.

  • Represented a large fuel supplier facing retaliation claims in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and obtained summary dismissal of the case.

  • Represented a national adult day care center that was sued for pregnancy discrimination and harassment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and obtained a settlement favorable to the client.

  • Handled mediation and settlement that a health care client found favorable concerning unfair business competition and tortious interference claims.

  • Defeated a request for a temporary restraining order to enforce a non-solicitation agreement in the Baltimore City Circuit Court against a national staffing company.

  • Served as counsel to a national publishing company concerning wage-and-hour issues and reclassification strategies.

  • Provided advice and counsel to clients in the financial services, health care, maritime, not-for-profit, and publishing industries regarding disability accommodation, medical leave laws, internal investigations, and reductions in force.

  • Represented numerous employers and executives in the negotiation and drafting of employment, non-competition and confidentiality, and severance agreements.

  • Conducted in-house training for management on harassment, discrimination, hiring, firing, and wage-and-hour issues.

  • Maritime/Transportation

  • Represented an international ship-owner and management company in a limitation action arising out of a seaman's fatal injuries; obtained summary judgment on claims under the Jones Act and general maritime law.

  • Represented various international defendants against claims of unseaworthiness, maintenance and cure, breach of contract, violation of Seaman's Wage Act, and negligence under the general maritime law and the Jones Act; successfully compelled arbitration of claims in the Philippines.

  • Defended a Turkish ship-owner that had its vessel impounded. The vessel was released and the arresting party issued a letter of apology to the owner.

  • Assisted in significant personal injury maritime litigation to recover damages as a result of a passenger death; obtained a settlement favorable to the client early on in the proceedings.

  • Represented a maritime business involved with offshore wind farms, offshore construction, and water transportation between U.S. points as to wage-and-hour compliance issues.

  • Member – Downtown Partnership Board of Directors (2017 – 2022)
  • Member – Federal Bar Association
    • Maryland Chapter
  • Member – Maryland State Bar Association
    • Section on Labor & Employment
  • Women's Bar Association
  • Maryland Defense Counsel
  • Listed in The Best Lawyers in America® for Litigation - Labor and Employment (2021 – 2025) and Employment Law - Management (2024 – 2025)
  • Listed in Maryland Super Lawyers for Employment & Labor Law (2015  – 2019)
  • Named to Baltimore Business Journal's 2023 Enterprising Women of Excellence list
  • Named to The Daily Record's Employment Law Power List (2023, 2024)
  • Named "Maryland's 50 2015 Leading Women" by The Daily Record
  • Recipient – MACS Volunteer Award, Maryland Association of Community Services (2015)
  • Recipient – Volunteer Service Award, The Arc Baltimore (2015)
  • Named Very Important Professional (VIP) Under 40 by The Daily Record (2014)
  • Recipient – United Way Stellar Growth Award (2010)
  • AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
  • The Arc Baltimore (2008 – present)
    • Past President, Past Vice President, Past Secretary, Emeritus Member of the Board of Directors
  • Volunteer – Maryland New Directions
  • Author – "Maryland Employment Law Forms and Practice Manual," Data Trace Publishing Company (2006 – Present)
  • Co-presenter – "Employee Handbooks: A Deeper Dive Pt II," CLE Presentation (April 2022)
  • Co-presenter – "Employee Handbooks: A Deeper Dive Pt I," CLE Presentation (April 2022)
  • Presenter – "Workplace Diversity & Employee Retention: How to Recruit and Retain Your Talent," CLE Webinar (February 2022)
  • Presenter – "Employee Handbooks – A Deep Dive," CLE Webinar (March 2021)
  • Presenter – "State Law Updates, Including COVID-19 Workplace Laws and Regulations," The New Reality of Workplace Law and Practice in the COVID-19 Era, CLE Webinar (November 2020)
  • Presenter – "Impact of COVID-19 on HR Policies and Practices," CLE Webinar (August 2020)
  • Presenter – "Preparing for the Inevitable: Strategies for Handling EEOC Claims," CLE Presentation, Philadelphia (October 2019)
  • Presenter – "Workplace Violence and Substance Abuse," CLE Presentation (November 2018)
  • Presenter – "Professionalism in a Diverse Workforce: Anti-Harassment & Discrimination Prevention Training," Legislative Assistant Training (December 2017)
  • Presenter – "Analyzing the Current and Proposed Fair Labor Standards Act Regulations," Baltimore Chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors (October 2015)
  • Presenter – "Understanding Business Ethics and Directing the Organization on Times of Uncertainty," HR Certification Institute (2014)
  • Presenter – "Selling HR to the Organization Through Human Capital Measurements," HR Certification Institute (2014)
  • Presenter – "Social Media and Community Banking," Advisory Board Meeting (2014)
  • Presenter – "Legal and Contractual Aspects of Practice," Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Home Care Physicians (2011)

Education

  • University of Maryland School of Law, J.D., 2000
    • Associate Editor, Journal of Health Care Law & Policy
  • Lafayette College, B.A., 1997, summa cum laude

Admissions

  • Maryland
  • Court of Appeals of Maryland
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • Supreme Court of the United States

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