Bolek Besser Glesius LLC

Employee-side employment focus

Workplace discrimination, sexual harassment, whistleblower retaliation, overtime pay, and wrongful termination are central parts of Bolek Besser Glesius LLC's work. The firm represents employees in these matters. Its website places employment law at the center of the firm's stated services.

Employment disputes often begin with a close review of workplace records. Emails, performance reviews, personnel policies, pay records, and internal complaints can help establish what occurred. The order of events may be especially relevant when an employee alleges retaliation or wrongful termination.

Discrimination and protected activity

The firm's discrimination work includes claims involving age, disability, pregnancy, and race. Each type of claim has its own legal elements and deadlines. A claim may involve an administrative agency, a court, or both, depending on the law and facts involved.

Sexual harassment claims can require an examination of workplace conduct, reports to management, employer policies, and the response to a complaint. Retaliation matters often focus on whether an employee engaged in protected activity and what happened afterward. A clear timeline can help counsel assess the relationship between a complaint and a later employment decision.

Whistleblower cases can raise a different set of questions. The governing law may depend on what the employee reported, who received the report, and what action followed. The firm's express inclusion of whistleblower retaliation gives prospective clients a concrete description of this part of its employment practice.

Pay, leave, and workplace agreements

The website lists wage and hour disputes, overtime pay, and Equal Pay Act matters. These cases commonly require pay statements, time records, job descriptions, and information about the employee's actual duties. Classification and compensation practices may also affect the legal analysis.

Family and Medical Leave Act matters form another part of the stated practice. These disputes may concern eligibility, notice, medical certification, leave requests, reinstatement, or action taken after leave. Dates and written communications often carry substantial weight.

The firm also handles employment contracts, severance packages, non-compete agreements, restrictive covenants, and executive compensation. Contract work calls for careful attention to defined terms, payment duties, release language, restrictions, and dispute provisions. In my opinion, this range gives the employment practice a useful balance between workplace claims and agreement-based matters.

Civil rights and constitutional claims

The firm's civil rights work includes First Amendment free speech and religious freedom cases. Constitutional claims often turn on the identity of the decision-maker and the source of the challenged action. The legal framework can differ when a government body, public employer, or public official is involved.

Free speech cases may require courts to examine the speaker, the setting, the content of the speech, and the government's stated reason for acting. Public employment can add questions about job duties and workplace interests. Records such as policies, meeting materials, correspondence, and disciplinary documents may help define the dispute.

Religious freedom matters can involve constitutional protections, statutes, or both. Courts may examine the government action, the burden placed on religious exercise, and the legal test that applies. The firm's website identifies religious freedom as a distinct part of its civil rights work.

Police misconduct and excessive force

Bolek Besser Glesius represents clients in police misconduct and excessive force matters. These cases may depend on video, photographs, medical records, witness accounts, dispatch records, and official reports. The timing and source of each record can affect how counsel reconstructs an encounter.

Excessive force analysis focuses on the circumstances that officers faced at the time. Courts may consider the seriousness of the suspected conduct, immediate safety concerns, and resistance or flight. Police misconduct claims can also raise questions about individual conduct, government responsibility, available remedies, and procedural deadlines.

The firm's site uses both "Police Misconduct" and "Ohio Excessive Force Lawyer" when describing this work. Those labels identify representation tied to law enforcement conduct. They also place this work within the firm's broader civil rights practice.

Appeals and small business disputes

Appellate practice and small business litigation appear among the firm's other listed services. An appeal centers on the existing court record, preserved legal issues, written briefs, and the governing standard of review. Appellate courts generally review claimed legal error and do not conduct a new trial.

Effective appellate work requires counsel to identify which issues remain available for review. Filing deadlines and court rules shape the process. Written argument usually carries much of the case, while some appeals also include oral argument.

Small business litigation can involve contracts and other commercial disputes, though the firm's supplied pages give no narrower list of business case types. The website still identifies this as a separate practice area. That fact broadens the stated work beyond claims brought by employees and individuals in civil rights matters.

How the team is built

The site names four attorneys: Cathleen M. Bolek, Matthew D. Besser, Amy S. Glesius, and Kelly A. Rochotte. It identifies Bolek, Besser, and Glesius as the firm's three partners. The published pages describe Rochotte as an attorney without assigning another title.

The firm states that its attorneys have more than 80 years of combined experience. That figure concerns the team as a whole. The supplied material does not divide the total among individual lawyers, so the combined figure is the supported measure.

A four-attorney roster gives visitors named lawyers to associate with the firm's stated work. The partnership structure is also clear on the site. Prospective clients can see which lawyers hold partner roles and which attorney completes the listed team.

Ohio reach and client access

The firm is based in Cleveland and says it represents individuals in the city and throughout Ohio. It is licensed to practice law in Ohio. This stated reach matches the employment, civil rights, police misconduct, and appellate matters described on its pages.

People considering these claims may need to act within deadlines set by statutes, agency rules, contracts, or court procedures. The correct forum depends on the claim and the parties involved. Early document collection can preserve correspondence, pay records, policies, video, and other material relevant to counsel's review.

The website offers phone and video consultations. Those options provide ways to speak with the firm without relying on a single meeting format. Its published practice list includes employment law, civil rights, police misconduct, appellate practice, and small business litigation.