Welcome back new and returning readers of Labor of Law, our weekly look at news and trends affecting the L&E community. On the clock this week: Novo Nordisk loses TRO bid in noncompete fight • PwC's Gibson Dunn team presses arbitration claims • ALM's Legalweek: Keys to pay equity • Morgan Lewis snags Sidley L&E partner • Who Got the Work

Tips and feedback are welcome. I'm Mike Scarcella in Washington. You can reach me at [email protected] and on Twitter @MikeScarcella. Thanks for reading!

Novo Loses TRO Bid in Noncompete Dustup

A Boston federal trial judge on Wednesday refused to immediately stop a former Novo Nordisk Inc. employee from working at a rival company, a defeat for the pharmaceutical giant as it fights in courts across the country to enforce noncompete agreements amid a series of departures.

Novo Nordisk, represented by lawyers from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, is locked in a dispute with California-based rival BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. in courts in Massachusetts, Texas, New York and California. Last month, a Texas judge declined to issue a temporary restraining order against a former Novo Nordisk employee.

Morgan Lewis attorneys have accused BioMarin of leading a campaign to "systematically raid Novo Nordisk's hemophilia sales force to launch BioMarin's directly-competitive hemophilia therapies." Former Novo Nordisk employees in some cases are the plaintiffs, contesting the validity of workplace agreements that restrict jumping to competing companies.

A representative from Novo Nordisk was not immediately reached for comment. BioMarin is represented by Jones Day. The company said in a statement: "BioMarin is committed to competing fairly in the market, defending our employees, and working with them to deliver breakthrough therapies to the international Hemophilia community."

Read more here at Law.com.

PwC's Gibson Team Presses Arbitration Claims

Lawyers for PricewaterhouseCoopers are trying to convince the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to revive the accounting firm's effort to compel arbitration in a Title VII dispute. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Helgi Walker (above), co-chair of the firm's administrative law and regulatory practice group, made the case for PwC.

Walker faced off against John Ormond Jr. of the Columbia, South Carolina, firm Ormond Dunn. Listen to the argument here in front of Judges Paul Niemeyer, A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. and Allison Rushing. The dispute centers in part on whether and how the language of an employment agreement was ambiguous. Walker's opening brief is here, and Ormond's brief is here.

"The district court's decision violates black letter law under the Federal Arbitration Act as set forth in six decades of controlling Supreme Court and circuit precedent," Walker told the appeals panel at oral argument. "Under that precedent, it is crystal clear and I'm quoting from this court's decision in Washington Square, that any ambiguities as to the scope of the arbitration clause itself must be resolved in favor of arbitration."

She continued: "Surprisingly, the district court opinion did not even mention the FAA, even though we substantially briefed that issue below. Unfortunately, the district court opinion does everything it can to avoid compelling arbitration. That approach, respectfully, evinces the very sort of judicial hostility that the FAA was meant to countermand."

Ormond told the panel: "I understand arbitration may not be that you lose specific substantive rights, but waiving the right to a jury trial, which is a statutory right, is a significant thing to waive. You need to have a knowing and voluntary waiver of that. It can't be done—not with this language."

We'll keep an eye on the case. And happy to hear from you about any under-the-radar cases out there in state and federal courts.

Management Diversity, Transparency Are Keys to Pay Equity

The first thing employment litigator Jeanne Christensen does when considering whether to represent a potential client in a pay inequity lawsuit is look at photos of the company's management, my colleague Brenda Sapino Jeffreys reports at Law.com. Christensen said in many cases every member of management is a white male.

"It's shocking," the Wigdor partner said Tuesday during a panel discussion on gender and racial pay equity as part of ALM's Legalweek program. She said diversifying leadership is the most meaningful change a company can make toward eliminating gender and racial inequity. Lisa Helem, editor-in-chief of The National Law Journal, moderated the discussion.

Tracey Salmon-Smith, a partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath in New York, said she asks clients to conduct an equal-pay audit—which can be privileged if lawyers oversee the work—and to train employees to be wary of bias.

Salary reviews shouldn't be a "one and done" and should be looked at annually, said Jeanine Conley, a partner at Littler Mendelson in Greenville, South Carolina. Alexandra Harwin, a partner at Sanford Heisler Sharp in New York and co-chair of the firm's Title VII practice, said it's common for companies to make pay decisions privately, which can lead to inequality. Because of the secrecy, employees don't know they are being discriminated against.

Who Got the Work

>> A team from Mayer Brown, including L&E partner John Zaimes in Los Angeles, is representing SK Hynix in a whistleblower case at the U.S. Labor Department. The Administrative Review Board recently ruled against the company's petition for interlocutory appeal. "SK Hynix has demonstrated no basis for departing from the board's general practice of refusing to accept interlocutory appeals," the panel said. Read the underlying administrative law judge's ruling denying the company's motion to dismiss. The Mayer Brown team also included Justin Ilhwan Park, who last week moved to DLA Piper as a patent litigation partner in Washington.

>> Lawyers from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, including Denise Mingrone (at left) and Robert Loeb, represent software company Synopsys in a "reverse FOIA" in the Northern District of California. "Synopsys keeps the EEO-1 Report data highly confidential. It does not disclose the EEO-1 Reports externally except as required by law, and the EEO-1 Reports are only made available internally on a limited and need-to-know basis," Mingrone said in the company's complaint. The Center for Investigative Reporting is suing the U.S. Labor Department to acquire records.

>> Fisher Phillips is representing Fox Rothschild in a case brought by a former paralegal who accused a New Jersey Fox Rothschild lawyer of sexual harassment and attempted rape. Kathleen McLeod Caminiti entered her appearance this week on behalf of the Philadelphia-based Am Law 100 firm. Caminiti is a partner in the New Jersey and New York offices of Fisher Phillips and co-chair of the firm's wage-and-hour and pay equity practice groups. The accused former Fox Rothschild lawyer has turned to a small litigation firm based in New York, Paduano & Weintraub, for his defense.

>> Lawyers at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher for Uber and Postmates are due in court on Friday to ask a federal judge to halt enforcement of a California employment law, my colleague Amanda Bronstad reports. Bruce Sarchet, a Sacramento-based shareholder at Littler Mendelson, this week filed a proposed amicus brief on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business advocates backing the plaintiffs.

>> Lawyers from Foley Hoag—including Martin Murphy, Michael Boudett and Samuel Bauer—represented Harvard University in sex discrimination and retaliation dispute in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. The appeals court upheld a ruling against Kimberly Theidon, a professor of international humanitarian studies at the Fletcher School of International Affairs at Tufts University. Lauren Khouri and Linda Correia of Correia & Puth represented Theidon. The Harvard Crimson has more here on the ruling.

>> A Baker & Hostetler team, including Andrew Grossman, is advocating for the petitioner, a public university professor in Maine, in a new First Amendment challenge to unions at the U.S. Supreme Court. The question posed to the justices: "Whether it violates the First Amendment to designate a labor union to represent and speak for public sector employees who object to its advocacy on their behalf."

>> Littler Mendelson represents Wells Fargo Bank in a new whistleblower action in the Northern District of Texas. Jane Legler of the Dallas firm Neill Legler Cole represents plaintiff Michael Sessa, a former "relationship manager" at Wells Fargo. Read the complaint.

Notable Moves & More

>> Morgan, Lewis & Bockius has hired Ami Wynne (at left) from Sidley Austin, where she had led the global labor and employment practice. Morgan Lewis said it also brought on former Sidley labor and employment partner Jonathan Lotsoff. Wynne and Lotsoff join Morgan Lewis as partners in Chicago. "Comprehensive and business-oriented labor and employment law advice is critical to our global and US corporate clients, each of whom deals with talent challenges. We are excited to welcome such world-class lawyers to help our clients navigate these issues and best serve their business goals," Jami McKeon, chairwoman of Morgan Lewis, said in a statement. "Just as important, Ami and Jonathan have shown a commitment to creating safe, respectful, and inclusive workplaces, both for our clients and within our firm."

>> Venable has named New York partner Nicholas Reiter as co-chairman of the national labor and employment practice serving with Michael Volpe. "There has been no shortage of legal developments for employers lately, and we expect that trend will continue as federal, state, and local legislatures create new rules for the American workplace," Reiter said.

>> Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton said Brendan Dolan and Lucky Meinz have joined the San Francisco office as labor and employment partners. Dolan and Meinz previously were shareholders at Vedder Price, where Dolan led the West Coast labor and employment team.

>> Littler Mendelson said it added Lawrence Levien as a shareholder in Washington. Levien joins from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where he was a labor and employment partner.

>> Thompson Coburn said labor and employment attorney David Deterding has joined the firm's St. Louis office as a partner. He was previously a partner at HeplerBroom LLC.

>> Frost Brown Todd said it had hired labor and employment attorney Fred Gaona as a member in the firm's Dallas office. Gaona earlier was a director and senior attorney for American Airlines and most recently served as litigation counsel at Gray Reed.

>> The White House said Craig Leen, director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the Labor Department, is the nominee for inspector general of the Office of Personnel Management.