Rica López de Alós

Biography

Ms. López de Alós counsels a broad spectrum of clients in all areas of employment law. She routinely advises employers on employment policies, mandatory insurances, regulatory issues and employment law audits, including wage and hour compliance, to ensure compliance with local and federal statutory requirements. She also represents clients before federal and local courts as well as agencies such as E.E.O.C., PR Department of Labor, PR Department of Labor Antidiscrimination Unit, PR Wage and Hour Bureau, and PR Industrial Commission and has successfully litigated numerous disputes on behalf of employers involving a wide variety of employment law issues. Her defense work for clients includes discrimination, sexual harassment, termination of employment, constructive discharge, retaliation and covenants not to compete, among others. She also has wide experience in civil and commercial litigation, having been an associate of the Firm’s Litigation Practice Group for almost four years.

With over two decades of experience, she focuses on client service in a collaborative culture, with an emphasis on preventive counseling and compliance, and a practical approach aimed at prompt resolution to the satisfaction of all parties involved. She is committed to excellence and clients consistently recognize Ms. López de Alós responsiveness and success in providing strategic and practical advice.

As Team Leader of the Firm’s Labor and Employment Mergers & Acquisition Practice Team since 2003, Ms. López de Alós is an accomplished M&A attorney who has represented both buyers and sellers in complex transactions for multinational companies and domestic industry leaders with significant employment related issues, including transfers of ongoing concerns and successor employer issues. She is also experienced in drafting and negotiating employment related provisions tailored to Puerto Rico’s legal framework, transfer of employees’ requirements and successful transition processes. She has extensive experience in providing effective legal counsel to clients during reorganizations, acquisitions, sales and mergers of businesses, which includes working extensively with U.S. and international law firms as local employment counsel in complex transactions.

Ms. López de Alós frequently assists clients with startups’ regulatory requirements filings as well as regular course of business mandatory filings and closing of operations. She also assists clients with the preparation of employment contracts, employee handbooks and personnel policies. She provides trainings to employees tailored to the particular needs of the employers’ industry as well as organizes and participates in seminars to employers to keep them updated on the latest developments of the applicable employee rights.

Through the Firm’s Pro Bono Program, Ms. López de Alós also provides legal advice to, among others, the San Jorge Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit charitable institution that provides services and medical treatment to children and youngsters 0-21 years old and the PR Museum of Contemporary Art. She also collaborates with the Corporation for the Conservation of the San Juan Bay Estuary, a nonprofit organization that designs, implements and provides restorative maintenance to improve water quality and ecosystems within the San Juan Bay Estuary and its eight municipalities. Children welfare, culture and the environment are all clauses she is passionate about.

In addition to her pro bono legal work, for over a decade, Ms. López de Alós has been teaching the Rules of Professional Conduct review course for the Federal Bar Exam and regularly lectures on other subjects related to professional ethics.

Before she became a lawyer, she enjoyed a distinguished career as a journalist, focused on medical research, culture and art. From 2001 to 2009, Ms. López de Alós was the Editor In-Chief of Labor Perspectives, the Firm’s Labor and Employment Law quarterly newsletter that provided general information related to labor and employment law matters for clients.

Representative Cases

Some of her representative cases include:

• José A. Reyes Rivera v. PPG Industries, Inc., LEXTA 2015 50331-048 (March 31, 2015) KLCE 2015 00103 (dismissal, on summary judgment, of unjust termination claim under PR Act No. 80)
• Osvaldo Nieves Martínez et als. v. General Instruments, Inc. y/o Next Level, Corp., 2010 PR App. LEXIS 1646 KLAN20100000276 (April 30, 2010) (affirming partial dismissal of claims in wage and hour case involving 124 plaintiffs)
• Montalvo-León v. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Co., WL 2905350, (D. Puerto Rico, September 24, 2007) (dismissal, on summary judgment, of age discrimination in employment action) (magistrate’s favorable report and recommendation)
• Marrero v. Schindler Elevator Corp., 494 F.Supp.2d (D. Puerto Rico, June 11, 2007) (dismissal, on summary judgment, of age discrimination in employment action)

Ms. López de Alós has participated in the legal team handling of the following key transactions:

• Employment counsel for leading advertising and marketing services global network in the reorganization of local advertising agency.
• Employment counsel for partial acquisition of local telecommunications business.
• Employment counsel for international corporation in partial acquisition of local IT solutions business.  
• Employment counsel for global corporation acquisition of manufacturing, distribution and sales of paint products corporation.

Practices

News & Publications