Corporate Counsel II - Labor & Employment at ALDI USA in Aurora, IL

ALDI is one of the fastest-growing retailers in the nation, and we are charting an aggressive growth course with plans to add 800 new stores by 2028, increasing to nearly 3,200 locations nationwide. You can play a vital part by joining our Legal team. Our Legal team is key to our strategic direction and the management of a wide range of legal matters impacting the business. As a member of this team, you'll support ALDI in achieving our company initiatives and upholding our core values.

The objective of the role is to research, analyze, and provide the business with accurate and timely legal advice and counseling on labor and employment matters, particularly as they relate to employment compliance, OSHA and workplace safety requirements, regulatory developments, litigation risk, and operational risk mitigation. The role may also support other legal matters as appropriate. Contributes to Legal projects and drives related tasks.

In fulfilling their duties, the job holder must follow the principles of the ALDI Management System CAMS). The job holder works according to the rules of conduct as outlined in the ALDI Management System CAMS), the Code of Conduct (CoC), the Employee Handbook, the guidelines for responsible corporate management (Sustainability Principles) and all ALDI policies.

Position Type: Full-Time Starting Salary: $155,250 Salary Increases: Year 2 - $165,500 | Year 3 - $176,000 Work Location: Aurora, IL This role is eligible to participate in ALDI’s Legal Hybrid Work Program, which requires work in-office at least 2 times per month.

Duties and Responsibilities: Must be able to perform duties with or without reasonable accommodation.

• Communicates effectively and informs direct leader of issues, status, and results of assigned tasks. • Identifies legal issues and recommends responsive action, with an emphasis on risk mitigation. • Advises business partners on employment law, labor law, OSHA and workplace safety requirements, and related risk mitigation. • Engages with leadership, various business units, and external parties involved in the legal process. • Partners and liaises with outside counsel on legal matters and manages relevant external consultants. • Evaluates and analyzes legal issues in multiple jurisdictions and nationwide and reports findings, as well as recommendations, to direct leader. • Recommends process improvements for area of responsibility. • Provides strategic counsel to assigned business units on a wide range of legal issues. • Provides strategic counsel to assigned business units on employment law matters, including workplace policies, employee relations, investigations, accommodations, discipline, separations, wage and hour matters, and workplace safety compliance. • Works strategically to provide expert legal advice to key business functions in multiple jurisdictions to drive strategy and operational goals. • Researches, monitors, and assesses emergent legal trends, new legal issues and laws, legislation, regulations, and court decisions; identifies and communicates impactful updates to relevant business units. • Monitors OSHA, federal, state, and local workplace safety developments and communicates impactful updates to relevant business units. • Identifies and analyzes unique legal issues impacting the organization by identifying applicable statutes, judicial decisions and codes. • Drafts legal memorandums, case assessments, attorney correspondence, reports, and other work product to identify exposures and risks then reports findings to direct leader. • Partners with relevant internal stakeholders to create and implement workforce policies and strategies. • Partners with Human Resources, Employee Relations, Safety, Operations, and other business stakeholders on OSHA compliance, workplace safety incidents, government investigations, inspections, citations, corrective actions, and related employment law matters. • Serves as a liaison for various areas of the business, including creating and reviewing related agreements. • Performs pre-litigation work to minimize risks and potential legal liability, including employment-related claims, administrative charges, OSHA-related matters, and workplace safety-related disputes. • Partners with and manages outside counsel with respect to complex legal matters. • Identifies proactive, cost-effective solutions that will eliminate and/or mitigate legal and business risks. • Ensures effective implementation and communication of Legal programs, providing visibility of key milestones and progress. • Assists in developing, implementing and driving process improvements and infrastructure solutions to enhance the department’s ability to assist the Company and function efficiently. • Ensures compliance with legal documentation and Company policies. • Prepares and analyzes data to identify exposures and risks. • Provides proactive analysis of current projects and analytical review of reported results. • Performs special projects as requested. • Drafts, reviews, and negotiates agreements. • Collaborates with team members and communicates relevant information to leadership. • Complies with ALDI privacy and security requirements and policies if job responsibilities include possible access to confidential and/or sensitive information. • Other duties as assigned.

Job-specific Competencies: Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

• Consistently demonstrates the Mindsets, ALDI Acts Competencies and Professional Skills (M.A.P.) as outlined for the role. • Gives attention to detail and follows instruction. • Excellent verbal and written communication and customer service skills, including the ability to communicate with a wide variety of individuals and respond to inquiries in a timely, professional manner. • Effective time management; maximizes productivity. • Prepares written materials to meet purpose and audience. • Develops and maintains positive relationships with internal and external parties. • Demonstrated skills in the areas of time management, interpersonal skills, relationship building, collaboration, presentation, and problem solving. • Ability to work in a collaborative team environment. • Knowledge of relevant United States employment law, labor law, OSHA and state health and safety laws and workplace safety compliance requirements, and ability to assist in defending the company against various types of litigation, administrative charges, agency investigations, and regulatory matters. • Knowledge of how legal issues affect organizations and the ability to develop strategies to coordinate legal considerations to business objectives. • Strong interpersonal skills, including creativity and ability to communicate information accurately and proficiently to non-lawyers. • Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite. • Ability to analyze and present complex data. • Ability to anticipate legal risks as well as utilize excellent judgment and analytical skills. • Ability to identify and assess employment law and OSHA and safety-related compliance risks and provide practical guidance to support business objectives. • Ability to interpret and apply company policies and procedures. • Ability to stay organized, multi-task, and prioritize in a professional and efficient manner while working under strict deadlines. • Knowledge of retail industry standards and practices. • Negotiation skills. • Ability to plan and organize workflow and embrace new challenges. • Ability to apply creative solutions. • Leverages legal expertise and business acumen to support the company in achieving its objectives.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree required. • A minimum of 5 years of progressive experience in a legal environment required, preferably in a combination of law firm and corporate or in-house experience.
• J.D. from an ABA accredited law school required. • Licensed to practice in Illinois (or immediate ability to become licensed) required. • Or, a combination of education and experience providing equivalent knowledge. • Experience in employment law, labor law, OSHA and workplace safety compliance, regulatory law, litigation, contract law, commercial transactions, and/or data privacy required.

Physical Requirements:

• Work may be performed in an office, remote office or a combination of both where a computer and office equipment may be used as needed to perform duties. • Regularly required to sit, reach, grasp, stand and move from one area to another. • Constantly and repeatedly use keyboard/mouse. • Occasionally required to push, pull, bend, lift and move up to 25 lbs.

Travel:

• Domestic travel required. • Up to 10%.