Welcome to Labor of Law. #MeToo put enormous new pressure on companies to open up about once-internal processes, and that's meant tough decisions about when—and how much—to share with the public. CBS has a bunch of questions about leaks from the Les Moonves investigation. Plus: K&L Gates faces scrutiny about alleged sexual harassment among the partner ranks, and a Tesla whistleblower is forced to arbitrate claims. Scroll down for our roundup of recent court action in L&E cases, and for the latest moves and firm announcements.

CBS Board Raises Questions About Leaks from Moonves Investigation

The #MeToo movement confronted the power dynamics between men and women in the workplace—all the while airing the dirty laundry of companies. Sexual harassment processes that were once internal now face the glare of a national spotlight. How much should a company and lawyers do to keep a lid on allegations themselves and how they are resolved? It's a tough question, and there's no single path companies take.

Enter the CBS drama unfolding now—and leaks from the investigation of alleged sexual misconduct against former chief executive Leslie Moonves. The board has a lot of questions for the two firms that were hired to conduct the investigation: Covington & Burling and Debevoise & Plimpton.

>> What's new: The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the CBS board “aired frustrations that details of the investigation have spilled into public view through articles in The New York Times, and they stepped up pressure on the law firms handling it, Covington & Burling LLP and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.” The company said in September it planned “to preserve the confidentiality of all written and oral reports by the investigators” and “not to make public such Investigator Information to the maximum extent possible consistent with fiduciary duties of directors and all applicable laws.”

>> How we got here: Moonves resigned in September amid claims he sexually harassed women during his lengthy tenure at CBS. The board hired Debevoise & Plimpton's Mary Jo White and Covington & Burling's Nancy Kestenbaum to investigate. Kestenbaum is co-chair of the firm's white-collar defense and investigations team, and White formerly served as a US attorney and SEC chairwoman. Leaks from the investigation suggested Moonves misled investigators. The board reportedly wants a “forensic investigation of the leaks.”

>> What's at stake: The board said it fears legal exposure for the company if the leaks continue, in part because confidentiality was promised to those who participated in the investigation, the Journal reported this week. White reportedly apologized to the board over the leaks.

>> The context: CBS is far from alone in facing these issues. The #MeToo movement put pressure on companies to increase transparency and not bury issues—yet companies must balance how much, if anything, to release to the public. Many companies turned to outside firms to help dig into harassment claims—and in some instances, reports were made public, while in others they were not. Uber Technologies and NPR publicly released the results of their workplace investigations.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which has handled high-profile investigations, conducted an analysis of how companies have decided whether to released the results of their investigations. Gibson Dunn partner Jason Schwartz told me recently that although there's an instinct to keep an investigation's findings internal, there can be compelling reasons to release information.

“If you had asked any management side employment lawyer five years ago what to do, the textbook answer is if somebody asks you (about an incident) the HR person is supposed to say, 'That is a personnel matter and we don't comment on that,'” Schwartz said. “Now, I think there is a huge shift in thinking about that, largely driven by employee expectations for transparency.”

I'm Erin Mulvaney in Washington, covering labor and employment from the Swamp to Silicon Valley. Follow this weekly newsletter for the latest analysis and happenings. If you have a story idea, feedback or just want to say hi, I'm at [email protected] and on Twitter @erinmulvaney.

Who Got the Work

>> Jones Day ”has in recent years become a go-to for media executives facing union drives,” according to a report at Columbia Journalism Review. The report looks at the firm's management-side advising of media clients “at a time when uncertain market forces have driven more and more newsrooms to organize.”

>> Morgan, Lewis & Bockius represented Amazon in a California federal court case where the company defeated a proposed class of former employees who claimed their staffing company was a joint employer with the retail giant. Substantive allegations remain on the table and the judge left open the possibility that Amazon is indeed a joint employer and on the hook for wage claims from the staffing company workers. Cohelan Khoury & Singer and Law Offices of Ronald A. Marron APLC represented the plaintiff. Read the ruling here.

>> Tesla Inc., represented by Littler Mendelson, defeated a purported whistleblower's claims in New Jersey federal district court. “This court finds the parties entered into an enforceable agreement to arbitrate the instant dispute,” U.S. District Judge Joseph Rodriguez wrote on Dec. 11. Read the ruling. Toni Telles represented the former Tesla employee.

>> Sanford Heisler Sharp in the Eastern District of Tennessee federal court represents a group of Volkswagen workers who are seeking a preliminary injunction to block the company from “further implementation of a company-wide policy” that it alleges is discriminatory against older employees. Volkswagen is represented by Miller & Martin.

Notable Moves, New Hires & Announcements

>> Fred B. Jacob was named the new solicitor at the National Labor Relations Board. Jacob most recently was serving as solicitor of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The NLRB's solicitor “is the chief legal adviser and consultant to the entire Board on all questions of law regarding the Board's general operations and on major questions of law and policy concerning the adjudication of NLRB cases in the Courts of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.” Jacob succeeds William B. Cowen, who became an NLRB regional director in 2016.

>> Barnes & Thornburg has elected labor and employment partner John Koenig as the new managing partner of its Atlanta office. Koenig has been with Barnes & Thornburg for 16 years.

>> Littler Mendelson opened an office in Madison, Wisconsin, with the addition of special counsel Michael Gotzler. Jonathan Levine, managing shareholder of Littler's Milwaukee office, will also lead the Madison office. Gotzler was previously a founding partner of employment boutique Clark & Gotzler. Read the firm's announcement here.

>> Jackson Lewis has hired Andrea Oxman has joined the firm's Los Angeles office as principal. Oxman joins the firm from Klinedinst PC, where she focused on employment litigation and class actions.

>> White and Williams LLP beefed up its presence in the New York metropolitan area, bringing on a group of labor and employment lawyers from LeClairRyan. The group, based in Newark, is led by partner James Anelli, who was a co-leader of LeClairRyan's labor and employment group, and partner Joseph Paranac. They are joined by Laura Corvo and Robert Pettigrew.

>> O'Melveny & Myers announced nine new partners to the 2019 class, including Susannah Howard in San Francisco, who represents employers in matters including discrimination, harassment and pay equity. Howard joined the firm in 2012.

Around the Water Cooler

>> “Several former K&L Gates lawyers, all women, have alleged they suffered sexual harassment or gender discrimination by certain male partners in Pittsburgh who were perceived to be protected from the fallout of those claims,” according to a report from my colleague Lizzy McLellan. K&L Gates declined to comment on specific personnel issues. The firm said it prohibits all forms of harassment and discrimination and reviews its policies continuously. [Law.com]

>> “A House committee postponed a hearing planned for Wednesday on the minimum wage after anti-gay and anti-feminist blog posts surfaced written by a witness selected by the GOP majority.” [Politico]

>> “Jessica Denson, a former staffer for President Donald Trump's campaign, is fighting an order to pay nearly $25,000 for violating a nondisclosure agreement, according to court papers.” [BuzzFeed News]

>> 'Uber Technologies Inc. could face unintended consequences of successfully keeping a class action out of court: 12,500 individual cases in arbitration that could put the company on the hook for nearly $19 million in fees. [Law.com]

>> “The National Labor Relations Board's alleged failure to disclose communications it had with business groups about changing its legal standard for joint liability under federal labor law could bolster legal challenges to an eventual final rule, according to administrative law scholars.” [Bloomberg Law]

>> Google's so-called “shadow workforce” of contract workers demands better compensation and better benefits, representing the latest stand by employees of the tech giant. [CNBC]

>> How would a $15-hour job guarantee affect the economy? A new report says the unemployment rate would decrease but uncertainty would remain. [City Lab]