Welcome to Labor of Law, our weekly summary of news and trends affecting the L&E community. On the clock:

• Quinn Emanuel courts Me Too victims with new practice group
• Eugene Scalia is confirmed
• EEOC finds discriminatory job ads on Facebook
• New Perkins Coie hire in S.F.

I'm Mike Scarcella in Washington, and you can reach me at [email protected] and on Twitter @MikeScarcella. Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

Quinn Emanuel Courts #MeToo Victims, Shareholders With New Practice Group

The 830-lawyer litigation firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan this week announced the formation of its sexual harassment and employment discrimination practice group, to be co-chaired by New York-based ex- prosecutor Manisha Sheth and longtime Los Angeles commercial litigation partner Diane Cafferata, my colleague Patrick Smith reports at Law.com.

A few highlights:

>> "Quinn Emanuel's entry into this practice area is a watershed event," Quinn Emanuel founder and managing partner John Quinn said in a statement. "We are the only major Am Law 100 firm that is actively promoting these plaintiff-side representations."

>> Sheth said discussions about launching the group began in earnest in August, and after "homework was done" the firm made the move to actively promote the practice. "What we bring is the credible trial threat and brand recognition," Sheth said. "This will allow for the plaintiff to get a settlement more quickly and get not just compensation relief, but also relief in the form of changes to policies and procedures."

>> Quinn Emanuel's past experience defending clients against sexual misconduct claims would not cause any conflicts, Sheth said, but rather serve as as asset to plaintiffs. "There are no positional conflicts that I can see," Sheth said regarding others in the firm representing accused harassers. "I truly believe that if we can convey that this is an advantage we can be better advocates for the client."

 

 

Who Got the Work

>> A Manhattan federal judge has ordered The New York Times Co. to turn over emails with its outside counsel Proskauer Rose regarding the media company's decision to terminate a "full-time freelancer" who worked with the paper as a photographer for 10 years. U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe of the Southern District of New York ruled that the Times could not withhold two emails it exchanged with its attorneys from Proskauer Rose because the paper's defense in the misclassification, discrimination and retaliation suit centered on advice it had received from counsel.

>> Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber is planning to file a disability discrimination petition in the U.S. Supreme Court against the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Mark Stancil is counsel of record for the challenger.

>> Teams of lawyers from the firms Davis Wright Tremaine and Warner Norcross + Judd represented Charter Communications Inc. in a labor appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. A panel this week ruled in favor of the National Labor Relations Board in a dispute over the company's punishment of workers involved in pro-union activities. The ruling includes extended analysis of lawful observation and unlawful surveillance of union activity. The NLRB team included Linda Dreeben, Kira Dellinger Vol and Eric Weitz.

 

 

Around the Water Cooler

Trump administration

Employers Used Facebook to Keep Women and Older Workers from Seeing Job Ads. The Federal Government Thinks That's Illegal. "A group of recent rulings by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found "reasonable cause" to conclude that seven employers violated civil rights protections by excluding women or older workers or both from seeing job ads they posted on Facebook. The agency's rulings appear to be the first time it has taken on targeted advertising, the core of Facebook's business." [ProPublica] More here at Vox.

Senate Confirms Eugene Scalia as Labor Secretary. "The Senate on Thursday confirmed Eugene Scalia to succeed Alex Acosta, the labor secretary who resigned in July amid an outcry over his role in a plea deal for the multimillionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Scalia is a partner at the Washington law firm Gibson Dunn, where he has represented companies such as Walmart, Ford and UPS in workers rights claims. He is also the son of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia." [The Washington Post]

SCOTUS Told That Age Bias Protections Are Broader for Federal Workers. "In-house lawyers for the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) and AARP in separate amicus briefs said the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) imposes a lower burden on government workers alleging age bias than on private-sector employees, and a ruling otherwise would allow discrimination by federal agencies to go unchecked." [Reuters] Read the union's brief here, and the AARP brief here.

1.3 Million More Workers Eligible for Overtime Pay, But Some Say Rules Fall Short. "The Obama administration sought to expand the number of workers eligible for overtime pay by raising the salary threshold. It proposed more than doubling it to about $47,000. A Texas judge struck that down. Instead, the Trump administration issued its own rule, setting the threshold to a lower level."[NPR] The New York Times has more here.

Graduate Students, After Gains in Union Efforts, Face a Federal Setback. The National Labor Relations Board has "proposed a new regulation that would effectively reverse the board's previous decision, stripping unionization rights from teaching and research assistants at private universities." [NYT]

Cannabis

Federal Overtime Law Covers Marijuana Industry Workers: US Appeals Court. Employers in the state-licensed cannabis industry must still pay their workers overtime in compliance with federal labor laws even though marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, the U.S. Circuit Court for the Tenth District said. A unanimous three-judge panel affirmed a Colorado federal district court ruling allowing the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims of marijuana security worker Robert Kenney to proceed against his former employer, Helix TCS Inc. [NLJ]

Worker classification

House Democrats to Renew Push for Worker Misclassification Bill. "House Democrats later this year will re-introduce a bill that would penalize companies that wrongly classify their workers as independent contractors rather than employees." [Bloomberg Law]

9th Circuit Asks Calif. Supreme Court to Decide If Dynamex Ruling Is Retroactive. "A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday asked the California Supreme Court to decide whether its 2018 ruling that made it easier for workers to prove they were misclassified as independent contractors applies retroactively." [Reuters]

 

 

Notable Moves & More

>> Perkins Coie has hired Heather Sager, a former chair of Vedder Price's employment class action group. Sager joined Perkins Coie's San Francisco office Monday,

>> Fisher & Phillips added David Crockett Jr. as an associate in Irvine, California. Prior to the move, he worked at Jones Day.

>> Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer; Dechert; Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner; Katten Muchin Rosenman and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman were the only five law firms to make the Top 100 Companies as ranked by Working Mother for 2019.