Employee Relations Manager

Night Shift

Primary Purpose

Mountaire Farms is seeking an experienced Employee Relations Manager to support our night-shift operations in Lumber Bridge, North Carolina. This is a full-time, on-site leadership position in a fast-paced poultry manufacturing environment.

This is not a traditional office-based HR role. The Employee Relations Manager will be a visible HR partner on the production floor, working closely with Operations leaders, supervisors, employees, Medical/Benefits, and the broader HR team. The successful candidate must be comfortable making sound decisions independently during night-shift operations while knowing when an issue requires immediate escalation.

The primary focus of this position is employee relations, workplace investigations, compliance, risk mitigation, and people leadership. The manager will help ensure employee concerns are addressed promptly, consistently, fairly, and in accordance with company policy and applicable employment laws.

Major Duties & Responsibilities

• Lead and conduct sensitive and complex employee-relations investigations, including harassment, discrimination, retaliation, workplace conduct, policy violations, leadership concerns, and other employee complaints.

• Interview employees and witnesses, review evidence, document findings, assess credibility, and provide fact-based recommendations.

• Coach and advise Operations leaders on employee relations, corrective action, performance management, attendance, workplace conduct, and consistent application of company policies.

• Recognize potential employment-law and business risks, take appropriate steps to mitigate risk, and escalate significant concerns when necessary.

• Maintain working knowledge of FMLA, ADA and the interactive process, and partner with the appropriate HR/Benefits resources on leave and accommodation matters.

• Understand Form I-9 and employment eligibility verification requirements and support compliant employment practices.

• Provide hands-on HR support to a large, diverse and multicultural hourly workforce in a production environment.

• Build strong working relationships with employees and leaders by maintaining a regular presence on the production floor.

• Manage, coach, and develop members of the Employee Relations/HR team.

• Maintain accurate, objective, and confidential investigation and employee-relations documentation.

• Identify employee-relations trends and partner with leadership on proactive solutions to improve engagement, retention, accountability, and workplace culture.

• Work independently on night shift and exercise sound judgment when senior HR leadership may not be physically present.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant HR experience may be considered based on company requirements.

• 3 - 5 years Human Resources Generalist experience.

• Demonstrated employee relations experience, including independently conducting sensitive workplace investigations.

• Practical knowledge of employment laws and HR compliance, particularly FMLA and ADA.

• Working knowledge of Form I-9 compliance and employment eligibility processes.

• Experience coaching leaders and providing recommendations involving corrective action, performance, policy, and employee-relations matters.

• Previous experience leading or managing employees.

• Strong judgment with the ability to recognize, assess, mitigate, and appropriately escalate organizational and employment-related risk.

• Excellent communication, conflict-resolution, interviewing, documentation, and interpersonal skills.

• Ability to work independently and make timely decisions in a high-volume, fast-paced production environment.

• Ability to effectively work with employees and leaders from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

• Manufacturing, poultry, food production, or similar high-volume industrial experience strongly preferred.

• PHR/SPHR or SHRM-CP/SHRM-SCP certification preferred, but not required.

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