Joe Austin

William Joseph Austin, Jr. (Joe) has over 40 years of experience helping people with complicated labor and employment cases. From the Capital to the Coast since 1978, Joe's clients have appreciated his sympathetic support and analytic counsel in the full array of employment law issues, including wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. Joe specializes in Labor and Employment Law, Workers’ Compensation, and Education Law. Joe has represented individuals, institutions, and businesses in state and federal courts and before all major administrative agencies that regulate employment. Joe gained exceptional knowledge in the field of disability law over the course of more than four decades experience in workers' compensation, enhanced by conscientious attention to developments in the ADA, FMLA, and REDA. In 2017 he was recognized as Best Lawyers’ Lawyer of the Year for Workers’ Compensation Law - Employers - in Raleigh. Joe’s practice has also included frontline involvement in the evolution of the law of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in the workplace. He was a panelist at the Duke Triangle Women’s Forum program on “#MeToo: One Year Later,” at Duke University on February 13, 2019. Joe has been a frequent speaker and planner of seminars, workshops, and in-service training. He was a co-planner for the NC Bar Association 2017 Education Law Section Annual Meeting on April 21, 2017. On May 3, 2017, he gave the keynote address, "Academic Freedom: Past and Prologue," for the UNC Charlotte College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Team Retreat. Joe's article, "Academic Freedom in Interesting Times," a synopsis of the address at UNC-Charlotte, was published in the May 2017 issue of North Carolina Lawyer. Joe was co-planner for the NC Bar Association Education Law Section Meeting on April 13, 2018, where he also presented a paper, “Perilous Intersection: FMLA, ADA, and REDA.” For over seven years (2015 - 2022) Joe hosted the public service radio program “Legal Matters," broadcast by North Carolina Reading Service. He recently turned the reins over to the good people at Disability Rights NC in whose able hands “Legal Matters” will continue to address legal issues which confront disabled individuals in the workplace, schools, and public accommodations. Joe is a Board Certified Specialist in Employment Law and an enthusiastic student of Latin maxims. After 48 years at the bar, he bears witness to Virgil’s warning, hoc opus, hic labor est.