Welcome to Labor of Law, and we hope you, family, friends and colleagues are safe in the virus era. On tap this week: How firms are responding to the coronavirus outbreak. Virginia embraces sweeping new LGBT workplace protections. EEOC picks new legal counsel. Plus: Covid-19 headlines, and more. Scroll down for headlines and Who Got the Work, including Mike Bloomberg's legal team in an overtime compensation dispute.

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

COVID-19′s Impact on Law Firms

Major law firms are adopting drastic measures to shore up their finances and mitigate the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. ALM will continue to keep a running list as the crisis continues.

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart has canceled its summer associate program amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. "The current environment, including remote working models, makes it very challenging to offer a high-quality and immersive learning experience for summer associates," a firm spokesperson said Monday. "As such, we have made the difficult decision to forego our summer associate program."

Fisher & Phillips said it has "proactively" cut pay, and equity partners are bearing the brunt. Fisher & Phillips has temporarily cut pay for all lawyers and staff, while furloughing some employees who can't work remotely, said the firm's chairman, Roger Quillen. He said the Atlanta-headquartered firm had a very busy first quarter, but the firm proactively wants "to ensure solid financial footing for the firm throughout the COVID-19 crisis and the related economic fallout."

Virginia Adopts Sweeping New LGBT Protections

Virginia's getting substantial attention for new state protections for LGBT employees, protection workers from sexual orientation discrimination. Virginia became the first Southern state to ban LGBT workplace discrimination.

"Equally significant to employers, but perhaps escaping the spotlight due to the attention being paid to the LGBT protections in the new statute, it will soon be easier for plaintiffs to sue employers under claims of discrimination in Virginia state court," David Klass, of counsel at Fisher & Phillips, said in a blog post.

Klass wrote: "Plaintiffs alleging any form of employment discrimination in state court claims will be able to seek compensatory and punitive damages, as well as increased attorneys' fees, ushering in a new era for employers. If you have operations in Virginia, you should begin to take immediate steps to ensure you are prepared for these impending changes."

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said the legislation "sends a strong, clear message—Virginia is a place where all people are welcome to live, work, visit, and raise a family. No longer will LGBTQ Virginians have to fear being fired, evicted, or denied service in public places because of who they are."

Meanwhile, we're awaiting the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the scope of federal LGBT protections under Title VII. The court's announcing opinions electronically—not from the bench—on certain days. And of course we learned this week the justices will hear their first-ever phone arguments next month.

EEOC Names New Legal Counsel

The naming of Andrew Maunz as legal counsel for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this week appears to give chair Janet Dhillon (above) a new brick to solidify her control over the agency's legal actions, my colleague Sue Reisinger reports at Law.com. Maunz had been serving as adviser and special assistant to Dhillon.

It is yet another change under Dhillon that is likely to be applauded by the corporate community she worked in for many years. Dhillon served as the general counsel of three major companies: Burlington Stores Inc., JC Penney Co. Inc. and US Airways Group Inc.

"From everything I have seen, there is a close working relationship between Andrew and Janet," Gerald Maatman Jr., veteran labor and employment partner at Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago, told Corporate Counsel on Wednesday. "More likely than not his job is to effectuate her policymaking decisions."

Maunz succeeds Ketan Bhirud, who is becoming deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security. Bhirud served at the commission for about six months. Read the EEOC's announcement here.

Who Got the Work

>> The law firm Venable LLP is representing former Democratic presidential contender Mike Bloomberg in litigation in New York filed by former campaign field organizers. Venable partner Nicholas Reiter in New York filed a notice of appearance Wednesday. Reiter was named in January co-chair of the firm's national labor and employment practice, serving in that leadership role with Michael Volpe. Venable had been one of the leading firms working with the Bloomberg campaign, Law.com reported in February. The complaint seeking overtime compensation against Bloomberg was filed by the firms Shavitz Law Group P.A. and Outten & Golden LLP in March.

>> A Morrison & Foerster team, including James Siegel and Jamie Levitt, filed an amicus brief on behalf of labor groups and bar associations supporting a challenge to a Trump administration rule that would limit contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The brief was filed for groups including the American Federation of Teachers; the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; and the Women's Bar Association of the State of New York. "Uninterrupted, cost-sharing-free coverage of reliable contraception allows women to strive for professional and educational equality. Facilitating women's educations and careers, in turn, allows women to better care for themselves and their families," Siegel, counsel of record, argued.

>> Morgan, Lewis & Bockius client Berkadia Commercial Mortgage prevailed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit this week in a retaliation claim. The panel upheld summary judgment in favor of the commercial real estate lender. Morgan Lewis partner Michael Banks in Philadelphia argued for Berkadia. Michael Gross of Saint Louis, Missouri, argued for the appellant.

>> The law firms Werman Salas and Altshuler Berzon are suing McDonald's for alleged workplace discrimination, Reuters reports. Read the complaint here in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. "The plaintiffs' allegations of harassment and retaliation were investigated as soon as they were brought to our attention, and we will likewise investigate the new allegations that they have raised in their complaint," McDonald's said. Proskauer Rose was identified as counsel to McDonald's in a related claim at the EEOC.

>> Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith represented two Washington state resorts that have agreed to settle EEOC sexual harassment claims for $570,000. Roberta Steele, regional EEOC attorney in Seattle, signed the consent decree for the agency. The resorts did not admit liability as part of the settlement.

>> The New Jersey firm Malamut & Associates is suing the Hair Cuttery chain of salons over claims it withheld pay from employees when it suspended operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the complaint here. My colleague Charles Toutant in New Jersey has more here.

Around the Water Cooler…

Covid-19

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia Faces Blowback As He Curtails Scope of Worker Relief in Unemployment Crisis. "The Labor Department is facing growing criticism over its response to the coronavirus pandemic as the agency plays a central role in ensuring that the tens of millions of workers affected by the crisis get assistance. The criticism ranges from direct actions that the agency has taken to limit the scope of worker assistance programs to concerns that it has not been aggressive enough about protecting workers from health risks or supporting states scrambling to deliver billions in new aid." [The Washington Post]

Amazon Fires Two Tech Workers Who Criticized the Company's Warehouse Workplace Conditions. "Amazon has fired two employees who were outspoken critics of its climate policies and who had publicly denounced the conditions at its warehouses as unsafe during the coronavirus pandemic." [The Washington Post] More at The Wall Street Journal here: Fired Amazon Warehouse Workers Accuse Company of Retaliation, Which It Denies

Gig Workers Struggle to Claim Unemployment Relief. "The $2 trillion rescue package was supposed to help out Uber drivers, freelance workers and other independent contractors who usually aren't eligible for unemployment benefits. But so far, this 23 million-strong group of working Americans is running into dead ends, delays and bureaucracy trying to collect an unemployment check." [Politico]

How Companies Are Confronting the Unparalleled Uncertainty of the Coronavirus Crisis. "In virtual boardrooms across America, managers are confronting unprecedented uncertainty as they try to communicate—with their investors, their employees and their customers—amid the all-consuming scope and scale of the pandemic. Finely tuned scenario plans are being upended, project timelines are getting cast aside and conventional playbooks are proving insufficient as managers face a health and economic crisis with no modern parallel." [The Washington Post]

Legal Risks From Virus in Reopenings Worry U.S. Business Group. "Businesses across the U.S. face the possibility of being sued by customers or employees who may be exposed in the establishments to the Covid-19 virus once the economy starts to reopen, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told hundreds of thousands of members on Monday. Policymakers should consider giving protection to businesses that follow federal, state or local health guidelines as long as their actions 'do not amount to gross negligence, recklessness, or willful misconduct,' the conservative-leaning lobbying group said in a letter posted online." [Bloomberg]

The Overworked, Underpaid Workers Fighting the Pandemic. "Nursing-home employees, nurses, and home health-care workers—the majority of whom are women—are at the forefront of the coronavirus crisis, and they have long been underpaid, overworked, and under-resourced." [The Atlantic]

Workplace policies

NFL Bows to Marijuana's New Status. "The 10-year labor agreement between the N.F.L. and players union that was ratified on March 15 is filled with dozens of incremental changes, most notably the one-percentage-point increase in the share of league revenue that the players will receive. One of the biggest overhauls in the agreement, though, was a change the league had long resisted: loosening the rules governing players' use of marijuana." [NYT]

The Office Dress Code Should Never Come Back. "As the oldest members of that group, people in their late 30s, accrue power in their organizations, they've started to reshape the meaning of "work clothes" in their image—upending the very idea of a dress code as a single standard to which all should aspire. When they're done, work clothes might be dead for good." [The Atlantic]

Courts and cases

Former Professor's Claims of Gender-Based Discrimination, Wrongful Termination Dismissed in Federal Court. "In late March, the University won a discrimination lawsuit filed by former electrical engineering professor Sergio Verdú, after a federal judge ruled that he had failed to demonstrate evidence of gender bias in his 2018 firing. Verdú's legal counsel has since filed an appeal. The March 30 decision in Verdú v. The Trustees of Princeton University, et al., followed an almost year-long legal battle over Verdú's claim that the University had violated Title IX and the 1964 Civil Rights Act in dismissing him." [The Daily Princetonian]