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

• KPMG is settling a former managing director's whistleblower claims
• McDermott's building its international employment team
• Ex-DLA Piper ethics counsel weighs in
• Who got the work: Real estate giant faces age-bias claims

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

KPMG Settles Ex-Director's Retaliation Claims

KPMG LLC has reached a settlement with a former managing director who claimed he was fired last year in retaliation for raising concerns that the firm was understaffing audits of public companies, my colleague C. Ryan Barber reports at Law.com.

Gregory Andrew, who worked at KPMG for nearly two decades before his January 2018 firing, had argued in proceedings before the U.S. Labor Department that he was terminated in violation of a federal whistleblower protection law. He alleged that in the months leading up to his firing he'd complained about deficiencies in the number and qualifications of KPMG employees assigned to the firm's audit of Citibank.

New filings in the case, which is pending before a Labor Department administrative law judge, indicate KPMG's lawyers at Sidley Austin and attorneys for Andrew have reached a settlement. Andrew is represented by a team from Outten & Golden, the civil rights and employment law firm.

Neither side returned calls and emails seeking comment about the case, and a KPMG representative was not immediately reached for comment. The company has denied Andrew's retaliation claims. Andrew's lawyers had alleged KPMG's stated reasons for firing Andrew were pretextual.

>> KPMG recently settled an unrelated OFCCP case involving claims the accounting firm discriminated against 24 qualified Asian applicants who were not hired into associate advisory positions. The company, with no admission of wrongdoing, agreed to distribute $90,000 in back pay and interest.

McDermott Boosts Global Employment Team

McDermott Will & Emery is taking talent from a pair of global juggernauts to break further into international employment law, bringing on five lawyers from Dentons and one from Baker McKenzie to build up that practice group, according to a report from David Thomas at The American Lawyer.

The additions are Brian Cousin, Neil Capobianco, Lindsay Ditlow, Richard Scharlat and Mark Meredith from Dentons and Carole Spink from Baker McKenzie. Cousin led Dentons' global employment and labor practice.

They arrive more than a year after another key arrival: Michael Sheehan, the former co-chairman of DLA Piper's global employment practice and chairman of its U.S. employment practice. He joined McDermott in March 2018, launching the firm's employment practice group as a stand-alone group.

Sheehan, global head of McDermott's employment practice group, said the firm's new hires are a springboard into international employment law. "It's not enough to have a strong, first-in-class domestic employment practice," Sheehan said. "There are a handful of firms who actually have a truly global employment practice. We now have two of the experts from two of those firms."

Cousin will lead McDermott's international employment team from New York. He will also become a co-chairman of the firm's ERISA litigation group. Scharlat, Capobianco and Ditlow will be partners in McDermott's New York office, while Spink will be a partner in Chicago. Meredith is joining McDermott as a New York-based counsel.

In EEOC Filing, Ex-DLA Piper Ethics Counsel Says Firm Tolerated 'Abuse of Power'

The former DLA Piper ethics counsel who has already publicly criticized the firm's culture in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against former partner Louis Lehot is speaking out again, this time in a filing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, my colleague Dan Packel reports at Law.com.

"I am contacting you because I know no one will dare challenge Lehot," Leah Christensen wrote in a Oct. 23 letter to the agency.

Christensen, who spent five years as professional responsibility counsel in DLA Piper's San Diego office, said that her letter supporting the claim of Lehot's accuser, Vanina Guerrero, was prompted by Lehot's move to leak dozens of emails and photos showing friendly exchanges during the period of time in which Guerrero has alleged she was assaulted.

Lehot has denied ever assaulting Guerrero, painting her as a liar. "It's good to see the truth is beginning to come out. I did not assault or harass Vanina Guerrero and she knows it," Lehot said in a statement.

Who Got the Work

>> Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart is representing Jones Lang Lasalle Americas Inc. in an Age Discrimination in Employment suit in Washington's federal trial court. The Ogletree team includes shareholder Michael Murphy and associate Jaclyn Hamlin. The plaintiff, Timothy Hearn, who worked at JLL from 2016 to 2018 as the mid-Atlantic property manager lead, is represented by Andrew Levy and Kevin Docherty of Baltimore's Brown, Goldstein & Levy. Read the complaint here.

>>A team from Greenberg Traurig—including Troy Eid, Jennifer Little and John Vorhees—represented a legal secretary who lost her effort in the Tenth Circuit to overturn a criminal contempt order. The legal secretary was held in contempt based "on her signaling a witness not to answer questions during trial," the appeals court said. The panel said in its decision: "The district court's findings of fact establish that her conduct satisfied all the elements of criminal contempt." The signaling occurred in an employment-related case against SkyWest Airlines, represented by lawyers from Armstrong Teasdale.

>> Dinsmore & Shohl partner Michael Glassman was counsel to respondent Armstrong Cable Services at the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Administrative law judge John Gatto upheld a serious violation citation and civil penalty of $11,407. The worker sustained severe electrical shocks and burns while installing fiber optic cables, Gatto recounted. Adam Lubow of the Labor Department's office of the solicitor advocated for the government.

>> Leila Narvid, managing partner of the San Francisco office of Payne & Fears, was counsel to respondent Truecar Inc. in a whistleblower case at the U.S. Labor Department. The case was resolved by confidential settlement, according to a recent notice. Attorney Mark Sullivan represented the complainant.

>> William Fanciullo of the New York firm Fanciullo Law Firm advocated for Countryside Tree in an OSHA dispute over the death of a worker on his first day on the job. An administrative law judge with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission upheld the Labor Department's willful and serious citation. The decision orders the employer to pay $66,986 in penalties. The DOL's Terrence Duncan represented the government. Read the decision here.

Around the Water Cooler

What's Worked—and What's Next—as Morgan Lewis' McKeon Starts Second Term. "All those firms that eliminated labor and employment because they thought it was unprofitable? Well, it's not unprofitable at our firm. It's a star practice at our firm, and it helps us build relationships, which then expand to others. That's true for every one of our practices. We are going to have—nine times out of 10—what you need, where you need it, in an environment where everybody's incentivized to drop everything and help you. You can't just do that if you're operating from New York, you have to be in the major centers where your clients are," Jami McKeon (above) says. [Law.com]

Disney Tries to Stop Female Workers From Joining Together for Pay Bias Lawsuit. Paul Hastings partner Felicia Davis, a lawyer for Disney, said: "The parties do not need to litigate this case for three years to discover what is clear today—plaintiffs' claims are not appropriate for class or representative treatment." [Hollywood Reporter]

The Trump Administration Says It Has Violated Its Own Ethics Pledge. "While President Donald Trump's ethics pledge was weaker than previous rules, the government ethics office still found violations in 2018 at three federal agencies: the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior and the National Labor Relations Board." [ProPublica]

Clifford Chance Will Help Challenge Anti-LGBTQ Laws. "Clifford Chance is partnering with the nonprofit Human Rights Campaign in a pro-bono project focused on advocating for LGBTQ equality throughout the world. Firm attorneys will assist HRC lawyers in writing and analyzing legislation and regulations, directing and drafting amicus briefs and advising legislators on legal issues related to LGBTQ equality. The project is spearheaded in part by Tiernan Brady (at left), whom Clifford Chance brought on earlier this year to lead the firm's global inclusion efforts. Brady, a prolific campaigner and activist who helped bring marriage equality to Ireland and Australia, says he hopes the collaboration will be a long-term endeavor." [Law.com]

Founders Brewing Manager Claims He Didn't Know Black Employee Is Black. "The suit is moving through the trial process and is in in depositions. That's where Founders revealed a startling and arguably ludicrous defense: The manager who fired [Tracy] Evans is claiming he didn't know that Evans is black." [Detroit Metro Times] The Washington Post has more here.

JPMorgan Wants to Hire People With Criminal Backgrounds. "When someone cannot get their foot in the door to compete for a job, it is bad for business and bad for communities that need access to economic opportunity," said JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement. [CNN]

Ex-Wynn Resorts Worker Alleges Casino Giant Spied on Him. "Jorgen Nielsen, who worked as artistic director for the Wynn Las Vegas salon, named several current and former Wynn executives as defendants in his lawsuit, filed in Nevada state court. They include Chief Executive Officer Matt Maddox, former General Counsel Kimmarie Sinatra and a former executive vice president in charge of corporate security, James Stern." Wynn Resorts said in a statement: "The company didn't authorize any inappropriate surveillance activity." [WSJ] Law.com has more here.

Notable Moves

Paul Hastings said it has hired Sara Kalis as of counsel in New York. Kallis arrives from Littler Mendelson. "While employment litigation will continue, we are investing in our traditional labor practice to meet our clients' anticipated needs, including a renewed interest in collective action, workplace regulation and efforts to organize the workforce—accelerated and impacted by technology," Elena Baca, global chair of the Paul Hastings employment law team, said in a statement.