Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP is pleased to announce the addition of Christopher M. Pardo and Anna L. Rothschild to its national labor and employment practice. Both are based in the firm’s Boston office.

Our California labor and employment team has been nominated by Benchmark Litigation as a California – Labor & Employment Litigation Firm of the Year, and Partner Roland Juarez  has been nominated as a California – Labor & Employment Litigation Attorney of the Year.

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP is pleased to announce that Los Angeles partner Julia Trankiem has been named one of Los Angeles Business Journal’s Most Influential Minority Attorneys.

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP is pleased to announce the addition of Natalie Tynan to its national labor and employment practice. Tynan joins the firm’s immigration group as a senior attorney in Washington.

Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP is pleased to announce Ondray T. Harris, former director of the US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, has joined the firm’s national labor and employment practice as special counsel in Washington.

At the OFCCP, Harris led the agency responsible for ensuring that federal government contractors and subcontractors achieve and maintain compliance with non-discrimination requirements. Previously, he led the Department of Labor’s initiative to assist private industries and states with creating apprenticeship programs and directed the operations of its Employment and Training Administration.

Criminal Background Inquiries in the Hiring Process:  Class Action Litigation and “Ban the Box” Trends in 2018

Wednesday, August 8, 2018 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET

Speakers

Robert T. Quackenboss Partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP Washington, DC

Susan Joo Associate, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP San Francisco, CA

We are excited to announce the expansion of our national labor and employment practice with the addition of partners Michele J. Beilke and Julia Y. Trankiem and two associates in Los Angeles.  

Date: Thursday, November 16, 2017
Time: 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM PST

Please join Hunton & Williams LLP for a complimentary webinar that will address current concerns faced by employers in California. This program, co-sponsored by Welch Consulting, will examine the following issues:

• Fair Pay issues
• Recent PAGA concerns
• “Ban the Box” and background checks
• Sick leave
• Changing local and regional ordinances
• Sexual harassment

We will also discuss ways to address potential risks proactively, including the use of statistical analyses to avoid future litigation.

We hope you can join us for ...

Recently, we discussed a decision from the U.S. District Court for the District Columbia that considered whether a former employee’s failure to initially list an employment discrimination claim on her bankruptcy schedules barred her from pursuing the claim against her former employer under the doctrine of judicial estoppel.

In an April 24, 2017 decision, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied a motion to dismiss filed by Bravo! Facility Services, Inc. (“Bravo!”) against a former employee who brought claims under the ADA, District of Columbia Human Rights Act, and the FMLA.  Bravo! asserted that the plaintiff should be barred under the doctrine of judicial estoppel from asserting her claims because she initially failed to disclose her employment discrimination claims in her chapter 7 bankruptcy case filed after her employment terminated.  The plaintiff had moved to reopen her bankruptcy case and amended her asset schedules to disclose the claims before filing suit against Bravo!  In denying Bravo!’s motion, the court distinguished these facts from other situations where a plaintiff fails to disclose a claim prior to filing suit or only after challenged by an adversary.

Join us for a complimentary webinar on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EDT.

While proactive retail employers are responding to, and preparing for, union organizing efforts at their retail stores, many supply chain workforces remain vulnerable to targeted union campaigns. We will address the special circumstances and vulnerabilities of workforces at warehouses, distribution centers, transport and other supply chain operations. We will review some of the new dynamics in supply chain operations that attract union interest, and offer suggestions to reduce the risk ...

On February 14th 2017, Hunton labor partner Kurt Larkin will present testimony at the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions hearing on "Restoring Balance and Fairness to the National Labor Relations Board."  Kurt will discuss a variety of NLRB issues, including joint employer standards, ambush elections and micro unions.  The hearing will take place at 10:00am EST and can be viewed live here.

On January 31, 2017, President Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to fill the nearly year-long vacancy on the Supreme Court left by Justice Scalia.  Judge Gorsuch, currently on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeal, is likely a welcome choice for employers.  His employment decisions generally—though not always—have favorable outcomes for employers.  However, he does not appear to be a trailblazer on employment issues, but rather applies established precedent that generally favors employers.  His employment decisions do not tend to draw dissent, bolstering the view that his opinions are not significant departures from Tenth Circuit and Supreme Court precedent.  (Of course, not all agree.  Senator Elizabeth Warren describes him as having “twisted himself into a pretzel to make sure the rules favor giant companies over workers and individual Americans.  He has sided with employers who deny wages, improperly fire workers, or retaliate against whistleblowers for misconduct.  He has ruled against workers in all manner of discrimination cases.”)

Originally Published in Commercial Observer

It’s been a little over a year since the Real Estate Board of New York filed its opposition in New York’s Supreme Court to the City of New York’s Local Law 50, which prohibits owners of large Manhattan hotels from converting rooms to residential condominium units. Despite REBNY’s complaint being dismissed due to lack of standing to sue, the industry group isn’t backing down and filed a notice of appeal on Sept. 26.   The moratorium is set to expire in eight months, but there is a strong suspicion that it will be extended.

Continue ...

The newly-enacted Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) represents a significant new weapon for companies to prosecute trade secret violations. Among other features, the DTSA creates a federal cause of action for theft of trade secrets and a provision for judicial ex parte seizure of stolen property, double damages, and attorneys’ fees. Please join Hunton & Williams LLP for a complimentary webinar on August 3, 2016, 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (EDT) that will cover the important aspects of the law, including the language that needs to be inserted into employment and ...

We have written on several occasions in this space about the NLRB’s controversial new joint employer standard and the damaging impact it may have on business-to-business relationships in the United States.  This morning, Labor & Employment partner Kurt Larkin testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations in a hearing on the negative effects the new standard may have on small business.  The House is currently considering an amendment to the National Labor Relations Act that would return the joint ...

This webinar will discuss President Obama’s Executive Order on federal contractor blacklisting and its potential impact on government contractors. A final regulation is on the horizon, and this program will tell you what you need to know NOW to be prepared.

Thursday, February 18, 2016
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET

Register Here

On January 20, 2016, the administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), David Weil, issued an “Administrator’s Interpretation” (AI) regarding the agency’s interpretation of joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). The new AI purports to clarify the WHD’s position that joint employment under these statutes “should be defined expansively.” When considered alongside the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB or the Board) controversial ...

On January 20, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, affirming the Ninth Circuit’s decision that a defendant cannot moot a putative class action by offering full relief to the individual plaintiff.

Please join us via webinar for a dynamic roundtable discussion with our distinguished panel of experts who will share their thoughts on changes in the law, what steps a company should take to comply with the new law and issues employers should consider as they evaluate their employee compensation.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PT
(2:00 p.m. ET – 3:00 p.m. ET)

Please join us via webinar for a dynamic roundtable discussion with our distinguished panel of experts who will share their thoughts on changes in the law, what steps a company should take to comply with the new law and issues employers should consider as they evaluate their employee compensation.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. PT
(2:00 p.m. ET – 3:00 p.m. ET)

The Department of Labor is increasingly focused on identifying and pursuing claims of systemic discrimination, both in EEOC charge investigations and OFCCP audits. In this type of claim, the government challenges a policy or practice that (allegedly) disadvantages an entire group of protected employees. These claims are dangerous for employers because they can cover hundreds of work locations and thousands of employees. Employers often unwittingly set themselves up for these claims, by failing to recognize the implications of a seemingly routine information request.

This ...

Hunton & Williams is pleased to bring together industry experts in technology and procurement to host our next IT/Procurement Leadership Forum in Richmond. Join us as we discuss some of the most pressing legal and business issues facing customers in the technology and procurement space.

This forum will provide guidance on a number of key topics, including autonomics and robotic process automation, the legal implications of the National Labor Relations Board’s new joint employer decision, and software audits and IT contracting best practices. These forums are designed to ...

Roland Juarez will present a webinar on “Defending California Wage and Hour Litigation Amid New Legislation and Court Decisions” on Wednesday, October 28, 2015.

Details and Registration

Robert Flowers and Alan Marcuis will present a webinar on “Compensation & Contracts” to the Independent Community Bankers of America on Wednesday, October 14, 2015.

Robert Flowers and Alan Marcuis will present a webinar on “Compensation & Contracts” to the Independent Community Bankers of America on Wednesday, October 14, 2015.

Emily Burkhardt Vicente will present “Litigating Private Attorney General Act Claims in the Aftermath of Supreme Court Decisions” at the California State Bar’s Annual Meeting on Sunday, October 11, 2015.

Link to Sunday’s schedule here.

In Mark v. Gawker Media LLC (“Gawker”), S.D.N.Y. Case No. 13-cv-4347, the Court permitted Plaintiff’s counsel to submit a plan to distribute class notice through social media.  Plaintiff put forward a plan to use five websites to not only distribute notice, but also to potentially locate additional collective action members.  The Southern District of New York rejected this proposal, even after the parties had agreed to certain aspects of it, finding “[t]he proposals [were] substantially overbroad for the purposes of providing notice to potential opt-in Plaintiffs, and [that] much of Plaintiff’s plan appear[ed] calculated to punish Defendants rather than provide notice of opt-in rights.”

On May 29, 2014, the California Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Duran v. U.S. Bank National Association, remanding the case to the trial court due to the trial court’s flawed trial methodology.

As 2013 winds to a close, we take this opportunity to alert you to two significant cases from earlier this year pertaining to the spoliation of social media evidence.  In both of these cases, the plaintiffs – either intentionally or accidentally – destroyed evidence on their social media sites resulting in severe sanctions.  The central takeaway from these cases is that social media evidence – from a preservation standpoint – is identical to physical evidence and, thus, should not be altered, modified, or deleted during the pendency of litigation.

In a recent Tenth Circuit case, Queen v. TA Operating, LLC, the Court held that judicial estoppel barred the lawsuit of debtors who sought to recover damages that exceeded the amount disclosed in bankruptcy proceedings.  This decision would likely apply to employment litigation as well.  In light of the Court’s holding, defendants who are sued by plaintiffs who have filed for bankruptcy should determine whether the plaintiff failed to disclose the existence of the lawsuit or represented in bankruptcy proceedings that the lawsuit’s value was lower than that claimed in the ...

On March 27, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court held that evidence of class-wide injury must survive a “rigorous analysis” before a putative class can be certified.  Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, No. 11–864, 2013 WL 1222646, at *5 (U.S. March 27, 2013). While the Comcast case involved subscribers to Comcast’s cable television service who filed a class action lawsuit alleging anti-trust violations and monopolization, the decision is significant for employers facing class actions.

On March 19, in The Standard Fire Insurance Company v. Knowles, No. 11-1450, the United States Supreme Court ruled that stipulations by a named plaintiff on behalf of a proposed class prior to certification cannot serve as the basis for avoiding federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (“CAFA”).

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania held recently that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s “pattern and practice” disability discrimination claims are subject to a 300-day limitations period, furthering a pronounced split among federal district courts on the issue.  In the case, the EEOC took the position that its pattern or practice claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act were not subject to the limitations period, or, in the alternative, that the employer’s violations constituted a “continuous violation” and the EEOC’s claims were, thus, exempt from the 300-day limitations period.  The court, however, agreed with the employer’s position that the EEOC’s claims were subject to the limitations period based upon the plain language of the statute.  The decision holds the EEOC subject to the same limitations period applicable to individual claimants in any Title VII context.

It is commonplace in employment litigation to learn that a charge by a single employee of a discrete violation of law has become the basis for broad and far reaching requests for information and documents or that the EEOC has filed a complaint for hundreds of employees it has not even considered in its investigation or in its attempts at statutory conciliation.

In what was a welcome decision for employers recently targeted by EEOC administrative subpoenas, on February 27, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld a district court’s refusal to enforce what it deemed to be an “incredibly broad” administrative subpoena from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  The decision — EEOC v. Burlington N. Santa Fe Ry. Co., No. 11-1121 — resolved Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co.’s two-year battle with the agency over an administrative subpoena seeking nationwide recordkeeping data.  The EEOC’s administrative enforcement powers stem directly from the agency’s broad legislative mandate to investigate systemic discrimination, the frequency of which has increased in recent years.  But, the Tenth Circuit’s decision is good news for many employers.  Not only does its decision confirm that the EEOC’s subpoena and discovery authority is, in fact, limited, but it also prohibits the agency from initiating “pattern or practice” discovery that is irrelevant to its current charges.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, there has been a significant amount of educated speculation about the effect of that decision on class action litigation in general and more particularly on class actions involving claims of employment discrimination.  Dukes is seen as creating an impassable barrier for class actions claiming discrimination in multiple locations based on excess subjectivity arising from decentralized decision-making.  Dukes instead focuses the inquiry on the existence and discriminatory effect of enterprise-wide policies such as an employment test or standardized performance criterion.  The question remains: what constitutes an enterprise-wide policy or practice?  This is a question that has challenged practitioners since General Tel. Co. of the Southwest v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 159 n. 15 (1982), and before.

When an employer faces litigation following an unfavorable cause determination by the EEOC, it may seek to depose the EEOC investigator who made the finding. However, the scope of discovery obtainable from the EEOC is somewhat different from that available from a non-governmental third party. The EEOC may seek to quash a subpoena by asserting that the information sought is protected by the deliberative process privilege, which is available to the agency in addition to the more common protections of attorney-client privilege and work product protection.

It is not uncommon in discrimination and harassment suits for employers to battle against the admission of so called “me too” evidence.  Plaintiffs often employ the tactic of parading up other employees who claim they were discriminated against and/or harassed in the same manner as the plaintiff.  The results vary based on jurisdiction and fact pattern, and the standards can differ by jurisdiction and court.  The United States Supreme Court may soon add some clarity to this area.  The Court is considering whether to review a case involving the appeal of Billy Ray Tratree, an African-American employee who was discharged three months before he turned age 50 and was to become eligible for retirement benefits.  Tratree alleges that his employer discharged him on the basis of his race and age.  The Supreme Court soon will decide whether to review the Fifth Circuit’s opinion upholding the district court’s decision to exclude some of Tratree’s “me too” evidence.

On October 15, 2010, the Eleventh Circuit reversed course on a controversial decision interpreting the jurisdictional requirements of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (“CAFA”).  Vacating its earlier decision that was at odds with every other circuit to consider the issue, the Court held that CAFA plaintiffs are not required to allege that at least one of the plaintiffs suffered damages in excess of $75,000.  In line with traditional CAFA interpretation, the Court held that plaintiffs need only satisfy the aggregate $5,000,000 amount in controversy requirement.

A recent New York state trial court decision, Romano v. Steelcase Inc., et al., is representative of a recent trend of parties seeking, and courts permitting, discovery of information on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.  Rejecting the plaintiff’s privacy concerns, the Romano court held that such information is discoverable because the plaintiff’s damages are at issue.  The court ordered the release of the plaintiff’s postings, pictures, and other information on the social networking sites.

Hunton & Williams partner Terence Connor was ranked among the 100 Most Powerful Employment Attorneys for 2010 by Human Resources Executive magazine in its June 2010 edition. The ranking was selected on the basis of submissions by firms, evaluations by clients and peers, and research by Lawdragon, a media company offering legal news, online lawyer profiles, and rankings.

A recent decision out of the Pennsylvania courts is a caution to employers who are required to produce employee personnel information in responding to court or agency proceedings.  Jane Doe v. Wyoming Valley Health Care System, Inc., (PA Super., December 18, 2009) raised the issue of how much privacy employees can expect in the information provided to their employers and kept in their company personnel files.

In Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Carpenter, the Supreme Court resolved a circuit split and held that an order requiring the disclosure of documents arguably protected by the attorney-client privilege does not qualify for immediate appeal under the “collateral order doctrine.”  The collateral order doctrine allows litigants to appeal a small class of orders that (1) conclusively determine a disputed question; (2) resolve an important issue completely separate from the merits of the action; and (3) are effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment.  Orders that do not fit within these parameters can be challenged only after a final judgment is rendered in the case or by other procedural means.