Overview:
Join an amazing team that is consistently recognized for our achievements and culture, including our most recent Forbes award of being one of America's Best Midsize Employers for 2026!
Position Summary:
We’re looking for an Employment Attorney, reporting to the General Counsel, to sit at the intersection of Legal, the HR/People Team, and the business. Someone who can combine deep employment law expertise with practical judgment, empathy, and a strong partnership mindset.
In this role, you will
- Be a trusted advisor to the Executive Leadership Team, HR/People Team, and business leads across the company on the people decisions that matter most.
- Lead a modern approach to employment risk management, investigations, and governance.
- Help design and scale policies, training, and tools that make it easier to do the right thing, the right way.
Responsibilities:
Essential Job Functions:
Be a strategic partner to People Team and business leaders
- Translate complex employment law concepts into clear, actionable guidance for HR/People leaders and managers across performance management, discipline, terminations, accommodations, leaves, wage and hour, remote work, and other employment issues.
- Act as a thought partner on program and policy design (e.g., performance, hiring, RIFs/restructuring), ensuring decisions are both compliant and aligned to business strategy and culture.
- Provide risk-calibrated options, clearly framing legal risk, business impact, and trade-offs instead of simple “yes/no” answers.
Lead employment risk, investigations, and dispute strategy
- Oversee or conduct internal workplace investigations (harassment, discrimination, retaliation, ethics, and other complex matters), ensuring thorough, timely, and balanced fact-finding with clear recommendations and documentation.
- Manage demand letters, and pre-litigation matters in partnership with external counsel, balancing legal strategy, business objectives, and employee experience.
- Develop and maintain frameworks, playbooks, and escalation paths that help HR/People and leaders proactively identify, assess, and manage employment risk.
Shape policy, governance, and employment decision-making
- Draft, review, and update employee handbooks, policies, and agreements (e.g., arbitration, severance, restrictive covenants) to align with evolving federal, state, and local requirements.
- Monitor legal and regulatory developments (e.g., pay transparency, leaves, wage and hour, AI in employment decisions, privacy) and translate them into practical changes to policies, processes, and tools.
- Help define a scalable, modern governance model that balances business needs, employee experience, and legal compliance with the right level of rigor, consistency, and documentation (but not unnecessary bureaucracy).
Train and enable leaders, HR/People, and teams overall
- Design and deliver training for HR/People, managers, and leaders on investigations, documentation, performance management, accommodations/leave, anti-harassment, and other employment topics.
- Build self-service tools and guidance (FAQs, playbooks, templates) so HR/People and business partners can handle routine issues confidently and escalate the right issues at the right time.
- Use case trends and insights from HRIS and case management systems to inform training, policy updates, and leadership behavior.
Work cross functionally to modernize how we work
- Partner closely with HR/People, Legal, Compliance, Internal Audit, IT, Security, and external counsel to ensure decisions are coordinated, informed, efficient, and business-aligned.
- Contribute to People and enterprise initiatives (e.g., AI in HR, modern work practices, remote/hybrid strategies) by advising on employment law, privacy, and ethical implications.
- Model a team-first, low-ego, high-judgment way of working that builds trust across functions.
What success looks like
- People leaders and managers see Employment Counsel as their first call for strategic, high-risk people decisions not just narrow compliance questions.
- Performance, investigations, terminations, and organizational decisions are faster, clearer, and better documented, with balanced, risk-aware outcomes.
- Team members experience fair, timely, and respectful handling of issues, leading to increased trust in HR/People, Legal, and leadership.
- Employment risks are anticipated and addressed proactively, rather than surfacing only when they become crises.
- Our policies, governance, and decision-making frameworks are modern, practical, and trusted, enabling leaders to act with confidence instead of slowing them down.
- The company has a clear view of employment risk and trends, and uses those insights to guide training, policy changes, and organizational interventions.
Qualifications:
Education:
- Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school.
- Active license in good standing with at least one U.S. state bar (California preferred or ability to register as in-house counsel, depending on jurisdiction).
Experience:
- 10+ years of employment law experience.
- Demonstrated experience counseling HR/People teams and business leaders in a corporate environment; insurance, financial services, or other highly regulated, multi-state environments is a plus.
Skills & Abilities:
Strategic and business minded
- Strong business acumen, with the ability to connect legal guidance to company performance, culture, and operational realities.
- Experience advising leaders on performance management, org changes, RIFs/restructuring, compensation processes, and other people decisions.
- Comfort operating in transforming or high-change environments, where perfect information is rare and timelines are tight.
Investigations and risk expert
- Deep experience with workplace investigations, including planning, interviewing, credibility assessment, findings, and remediation.
- Proven ability to manage demand letters, and pre-litigation matters as part of a broader business and people strategy.
- Strong grounding in federal and state employment laws, including Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, FLSA, NLRA, EEOC guidance, and key state laws (especially California wage and hour, Unruh Act, leaves, pay transparency, and PAGA where applicable).
Data informed and judgment strong
- Comfortable using HRIS, case data, and external benchmarks to spot trends, inform recommendations, and measure impact.
- Exceptional judgment and discretion, with a track record of navigating ambiguity and high-stakes situations.
- Able to clearly articulate risk levels and options, enabling leaders to make informed decisions, not just “allowed/not allowed” calls.
Values driven and trusted partner
- High integrity, with a strong sense of confidentiality and professional responsibility, especially around privileged communications and sensitive investigations.
- Deep commitment to fairness and employee experience, with awareness of bias, retaliation risk, and the lived impact of policies and practices.
- A collaborative, low-ego partner who can coach, challenge, and support leaders and HR/People peers in equal measure.
About the Company:
Why choose a career at Mercury?
At Mercury, we have been guided by our purpose to help people reduce risk and overcome unexpected events for more than 60 years. We are one team with a common goal to help others. Everyone needs insurance and we can’t imagine a world without it.
Our team will encourage you to grow, make time to have fun, and work together to make great things happen. We embrace the strengths and values of each team member. We believe in having diverse perspectives where everyone is included, to serve customers from all walks of life.
We care about our people, and we mean it. We reward our talented professionals with a competitive salary, bonus potential, and a variety of benefits to help our team members reach their health, retirement, and professional goals.
Learn more about us here: https://www.mercuryinsurance.com/about/careers
Perks and Benefits:
We offer many great benefits, including:
- Competitive compensation
- Flexibility to work from anywhere in the United States for most positions
- Paid time off (vacation time, sick time, 9 paid Company holidays, volunteer hours)
- Incentive bonus programs (potential for holiday bonus, referral bonus, and performance-based bonus)
- Medical, dental, vision, life, and pet insurance
- 401 (k) retirement savings plan with company match
- Engaging work environment
- Promotional opportunities
- Education assistance
- Professional and personal development opportunities
- Company recognition program
- Health and wellbeing resources, including free mental wellbeing therapy/coaching sessions, child and eldercare resources, and more
Mercury Insurance is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.
Pay Range:
USD $107,344.71 - USD $300,603.92 /Yr.
