KGR is excited to have Joe Pettygrove join the firm

KGR is excited to have Joe Pettygrove join the firm as a partner where he will lead the firm’s Employment Law practice. Joe counsels on all phases of the employment relationship, from recruiting and hire all the way through termination and unemployment claims. He regularly trains clients’ HR and supervisory teams on compliance issues and assists in personnel policy/process development, reorganizations, and reductions in force. Joe also litigates the full spectrum of employment-law issues including claims involving the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), restrictive covenants in employment, wage/hour claims, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and wrongful discharge.

Joe learned both client service and “workplace psychology” from his grandfather, uncles, and parents at an early age, as he grew up amidst a Hoosier family grocery business with a workforce of several hundred.  That same experience gave Joe a special appreciation for the stress that employers and their managers confront when navigating the many different legal challenges posed by under performing, ill, sad, angry, or other “challenging” employees.  In his law practice, Joe has a particular passion for counseling employers through sensitive workplace investigations, employee medical issues, theft and embezzlement, workplace violence, and other employment challenges.  He works with family- and other privately-owned businesses, non-profits, municipalities, and education clients where he both develops policies and practices and is their employment law “problem solver” on delicate employee matters.

He has handled hundreds of cases before state and federal trial courts (both inside and outside Indiana), the EEOC, Indiana Civil Rights Commission, and other state, federal, and local agencies. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second, Third, and Seventh Circuits as well as the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana and all Indiana state courts.  He has been recognized as a Rising Star by Indiana Super Lawyers since 2013.

Joe grew up and lives with his family in Hamilton County.  He graduated from Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, Ball State University (summa cum laude), and Indiana University McKinney School of Law (magna cum laude).