- Location
- Illinois, United States of America · Kentucky · Kansas · Idaho · Delaware · Colorado · Nevada · Nebraska · Montana · Michigan · Maryland · Maine · Iowa · Florida · California · Utah · Ohio · New Jersey · Minnesota · Massachusetts · Indiana · Georgia · Arizona · Alabama · Wisconsin · Washington · Virginia · West Virginia · Oklahoma · Texas · Tennessee · Pennsylvania · North Carolina · New Mexico · New York · Missouri · Louisiana · Connecticut · Washington, D.C. · South Carolina · Oregon · New Hampshire
- Workplace
- Remote, Hybrid
- Type
- Full-time
- Seniority
- Senior
- Experience
- 3+ years
- Source
- Workday
Description
Posting Type
Remote/Hybrid
Job Overview
The Employee Relations Specialist serves as a trusted advisor and practitioner responsible for navigating complex workplace matters with sound judgment, legal fluency, and a commitment to both people and organizational health. The Senior Employee Relations Specialist (Level 6) is a senior IC expert responsible for leading complex employee relations and performance management cases end-to-end, ensuring consistent, defensible, and equitable outcomes across the organization.This role operates as a strategic partner to Sr. HRBPs, absorbing high-risk and high-complexity ER work while enabling HRBPs to focus on business strategy, talent decisions, and organizational effectiveness.
This role partners closely with HRBPs, Legal, and senior leadership to resolve issues swiftly and fairly while strengthening the company's culture as we scale.
Job Description and Requirements
Employee Relations & Investigations
- Lead end-to-end investigations into complex employee relations matters (e.g., misconduct, discrimination, retaliation, policy violations)
- Conduct structured interviews, assess credibility, synthesize evidence, and produce clear, legally defensible findings and recommendations
- Partner closely with Legal to manage risk, escalation thresholds, and compliance requirements
- Ensure consistent application of policies globally, accounting for regional legal and cultural differences
Performance & Disciplinary Processes
- Advise on high-risk performance cases, including PIPs, coaching plans, and involuntary separations
- Ensure performance processes follow structured, documented frameworks with clear expectations, timelines, and success metrics
- Support differentiation between performance vs. capability vs. organizational/system issues in partnership with HRBPs
- Drive consistency in disciplinary actions and ensure fairness across managers and teams
Risk Mitigation, Compliance & Governance
- Act as a subject matter expert in employment law (multi-state and global) and internal policy frameworks
- Ensure rigorous documentation standards and audit readiness across all ER and performance cases
- Identify and mitigate legal, reputational, and employee experience risks before escalation
- Own ER case governance, including escalation pathways and decision frameworks
Manager & HRBP Advisory
- Coach managers on:
- Feedback delivery and documentation
- Navigating difficult conversations
- When and how to escalate ER matters
- Partner with Sr. HRBPs to align ER decisions with broader talent, calibration, and organizational outcomes
- Provide real-time case consultation for ambiguous or sensitive situations
Insights, Trends & Systemic Improvement
- Analyze ER case data to identify patterns by manager, function, or region
- Repeat manager risk patterns
- Policy gaps
- Organizational friction points
- Drive improvements to ER playbooks, templates, and workflows
Capability Building & Enablement
- Design and deliver manager education on:
- Performance management rigor
- Documentation standards
- Bias mitigation and fair process
- Build scalable tools (templates, guides, intake frameworks) that improve quality and consistency of ER handling
- Partner with HRBPs to elevate overall organizational capability in managing performance and ER proactively
Decision Rights
- Recommends outcomes, risk mitigation strategies, and disciplinary actions
- Owns ER process integrity, case quality, and documentation standards
- Escalates high-risk decisions to HRBPs, Legal, or leadership as appropriate
Qualifications
Required
5+ years of progressive HR experience with at least 3 years in a dedicated Employee Relations or HR compliance role
Demonstrated experience leading workplace investigations independently from intake through resolution
Working knowledge of multi-state employment law and regulatory compliance requirements
Proven ability to manage sensitive, high-risk cases with discretion and sound judgment
Strong written communication skills — able to produce clear, legally-defensible documentation
Preferred
Experience in a global SaaS/technology, or pre-IPO company environment
Experience partnering with HRBPs in a global, matrixed org
PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, or SHRM-SCP certification
Experience using HRIS platforms (Workday, Rippling, or similar) and case management tools
Relativity is committed to competitive, fair, and equitable compensation practices.
This position is eligible for total compensation which includes a competitive base salary, an annual performance bonus, and long-term incentives.
The expected salary range for this role is between following values:
$112,000 and $168,000The final offered salary will be based on several factors, including but not limited to the candidate's depth of experience, skill set, qualifications, and internal pay equity. Hiring at the top end of the range would not be typical, to allow for future meaningful salary growth in this position.
Required Skills:
Employee Relations, HR Business, HR Strategy, Human Resources Consulting, Leadership Training and Development, Organizational Development (OD), Recruiting, Succession Planning, Talent Management, Workforce Planning
