Wage & Hour Matters

Mark McInerney and Ellen Hoeppner recently obtained dismissal of a contentious lawsuit filed against Clark Hill’s client United States Steel. In October 2014, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit against U. S. Steel, alleging disability discrimination, interference under the Family and Medical Leave Act, and workers’ compensation retaliation. The plaintiff’s claims all stemmed from a workplace injury plaintiff suffered in July 2013, in which the tip of his finger was caught in a machine and nearly severed. Over the next two days, the plaintiff twice failed to appear at U. S. Steel Plant Medical for evaluation as directed, and misrepresented his medical condition by telling Plant Medical personnel that his finger had to be surgically “cut off” due to infection. When the true facts came to light, U. S. Steel determined the plaintiff’s misconduct warranted termination.  

These relatively straightforward facts, however, were made very complicated by a zealous plaintiff’s attorney, who propounded a theory of wide-spread discrimination against disabled employees because such employees posed a liability risk to the company for the purposes of workers compensation and OSHA reporting. Mark and Ellen filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, carefully separating the unsupported theories from the undisputed facts. The Court dispensed with oral argument, and on the strength of the briefs, United States District Judge Linda Parker recognized the theory for what it was, and dismissed the plaintiff’s case. 

Defended hospital before West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals on issues of first impression related to both federal and state discrimination claims.

Litigated issues of first impression for national franchisor on aiding/abetting and agency theories in sexual harassment case

Member of team assisting with employment litigation for significant public university

Sought injunctive relief for international manufacturing company to abate union strike activity

Represented major hotel before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on issues relating to wrongful discharge and federal labor relations

Litigated multi-million dollar discrimination lawsuits involving known government contractor

Paul Coughenour, Brian Shekell, Jeff Bell, Steve Holmes, and Pamela Bright recently obtained an ex parte temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction prohibiting two former employees of Clark Hill’s client from violating the restrictive covenants contained in their employment agreements and utilizing our client’s confidential information. To obtain the seldom granted ex parte temporary restraining order, Paul and Brian obtained affidavits from several of our client’s employees stating that the former employees had boasted about stealing our client’s customer lists, leads, and employees to use in a competing insurance agency they were forming. During the hearing on Plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, Paul and Brian established that before and after the former employees resigned, they accessed our client’s computer database and stole confidential information that was being used to compete against our client. After hearing testimony from eight witnesses, the judge granted all of the relief requested in Clark Hill’s motion for a preliminary injunction, stating that this was a “clear case” of the defendants breaching the terms of the restrictive covenants contained in their employment agreements. 

Represented a former corporate executive sued by the company’s bankruptcy trustees and lenders, as well as a parallel criminal investigation into allegations of bank fraud.

Represented a national security staffing company against claims of discrimination and retaliation.

Represented a regional telecommunications company against allegations of misappropriating trade secrets.

Represented a law enforcement agency against claims of retaliation by a former high-ranking officer.

Represented a national healthcare company against a class action claim under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Represented a corporate officer of a leading pharmaceutical company specializing in the development and manufacturing of pharmaceutical products in an employment contract dispute.

Represented a state-wide agency against claims that it took adverse employment actions against current and former employees because of their political affiliation.

Represented a multiple high-level executives in the negotiation of severance packages.

Represented a regional transportation authority against discrimination claims by current and former employees based on race and gender.

Represented a state-wide agency and several executives accused of violating Pennsylvania's whistleblower statute by terminating an employee for reporting alleged wrongdoing and waste related to the awarding of lucrative contracts.

Represented an engineering firm accused of recruiting employees away from a competitor.

Represented a former COO against claims that he violated the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and breached his fiduciary duties to his former company by personally enriching himself with corporate funds.

Represented a national hospital emergency department staffing company accused of violating federal fraud statutes.

Represented a corporate officer of a developmental stage bio-pharmaceutical company in a contract dispute.

Represented a mortgage broker against allegations of misappropriating trade secrets, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of a restrictive covenant regarding confidential information.

Paul Coughenour, Ellen Hoeppner, Jeff Bell and Steven Holmes persuaded the Michigan Court of Appeals to reverse a trial court’s denial of their summary disposition motion on a retaliation claim under the Michigan Civil Rights Act.  Clark Hill obtained summary disposition of the plaintiff’s sexual harassment claim from the trial court, but was forced to file an application for leave to appeal to avoid an expensive and difficult trial on plaintiff’s claim that she was fired for reporting sexual harassment.  After leave to appeal was granted, with one dissenting vote, oral arguments were made last week to the Court of Appeals.   The Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that plaintiff had not opposed a violation of the Act by objecting to offensive comments by her coworkers, or by sending her supervisor an email complaining that there was “a lot of unacceptable/inappropriate behavior that goes on” at the workplace.  It ordered the case remanded for entry of judgment on plaintiff’s retaliation claim in favor of Clark Hill’s clients.

Defend employers against retaliation and discrimination claims by current and former employees based on race, gender, disability and religion.

Litigate various restrictive clauses in employment agreements, confidentiality agreements and claims based on misappropriation of trade secrets.

Draft and revise employee handbooks to comply with requirements of federal and state anti-discrimination laws.

Conduct investigations and make recommendations to clients related to claims of gender discrimination and sexual harassment.

In Illinois state court litigation, obtained the dismissal of shareholder derivative claims as well as claims seeking declaratory judgment for breach of employment agreements and improper termination of the company president of a large retail telephone distributor.

In a wage and hour class and collective action filed against a Chicagoland restaurant chain, a federal district court granted a motion to dismiss and dismissed claims for failure to pay tipped employees proper overtime and violations of the Illinois Wage Payment and Collections Act.

Counseled large and mid-sized corporations and negotiated the departures of top-level corporate executives.

Drafted and negotiated numerous employment agreements and executive compensation plans for incoming and current CEOs and C-Suite executives of mid- and large-sized private and public companies and non­-profit organizations.

Prevailed on behalf of a national retailer in complex trial court and appellate litigation involving employment tort claims arising from an employee's computer fraud.

In an unfair labor practice action brought by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against a locomotive manufacturer, persuaded a federal district court in Iowa to deny the NLRB’s petition for interim reinstatement and injunctive relief.

Obtained summary judgment that was affirmed by the Seventh Circuit in favor of a large telecommunications company client, in a case involving federal and state law claims of disability discrimination, failure to accommodate, and retaliatory discharge.

In federal litigation involving a Chicago-area bank, the court granted motion to dismiss a defamation claim based on a final written warning and an alleged wrongful termination involving a bank executive.

In a commercial defamation action against a recycling certification organization, prevailed in federal district court and in the Seventh Circuit on attempts to defeat the action based on state anti-SLAPP statutes and Constitutional grounds.

In other federal court employment litigation,the Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of a national retailer in a case involving malicious prosecution and false arrest claims brought by a former data analyst who, immediately prior to his resignation, deleted a large number of computer files from the company’s computer systems.

Nicole Paterson was successful in winning a grievance arbitration brought by the SEIU Healthcare Michigan against our client, a County Medical Care Facility. 

With assistance from  Kristi Gauthier,  Ed Hammond, Peter Domas and Bishop Bartoni, Kevin Hendrick and Nicole Tersigni successfully defended an insurance priority dispute, resulting in an extremely favorable judgment for firm client, United States Steel Corporation’s ERISA-governed Retiree Benefits Plan.  U. S. Steel Retirement Plan was joined as a third-party defendant in a pending dispute by a No-Fault Automobile Insurance carrier,  which had been sued by a healthcare service provider for unpaid patient attendant care fees.  The No-Fault Carrier claimed that the obligation to pay for these services under Michigan No-Fault law  fell to U. S. Steel Retirement Plan, which covered the patient (who was a former U. S. Steel employee).  Ed, Bishop, Kristi and Peter lent their expertise to Kevin and Nicole in interpreting alleged conflicting insurance priority provisions and explanations of benefits.  Kevin and Nicole crafted a legal argument that ultimately led to summary disposition in favor of U.S. Steel Plan, and against the No-Fault carrier, saving U.S. Steel Plan from payment of the healthcare fees, and also reimbursing U.S. Steel Plan for benefits it had earlier paid by mistake, out of priority.  As the No-Fault carrier had rejected the Case Evaluation award prior to the filing of cross motions for summary disposition, it also appears that attorney  fees are recoverable for our client.  Kristi and Ed on Employee Benefit law, Bishop on Michigan No-Fault law, and Pete on Health Care issues, proved to be unbeatable resources.

Successfully represented various employers against discrimination, retaliation, and harassment lawsuits.

Provides ongoing employment counseling to variety of clients, including a national staffing company, on issues such as the WARN Act, state and federal regulatory compliance, and employee policies and procedures.

Representation of numerous employers as an advocate in over 200 negotiations since 1967 relating to contract negotiations of labor agreements

Provided advice and guidance to numerous employers, nationwide, regarding all aspects of workplace harassment and wrongful termination

Representation of numerous employers in employment related litigation in state and federal courts, including successfully arguing the case of Foster v. Dravo before the Supreme Court of the United States

Employment Litigation - Successfully defended sexual harassment and wrongful discharge claims against corporate employers.

Represented numerous senior executives with respect to the negotiation of employment agreements, executive compensation agreements and severance arrangements.

Representation of numerous employers relating to the negotiation of employment contracts and agreements, including employment agreements, non-compete/non-solicitation agreements, last chance agreements, consulting agreements, separation agreements, retirement agreements, construction agreements, and releases

Representation of health care institutions, public employers, colleges and universities related to employment matters and advice

Represented numerous employers before the Office of Employment Security and the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review

Representation of numerous employers before the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission

Nationwide representation of major manufacturers and constructions companies, including a nationally known food processor, major aluminum corporations, a waste disposal company, a soft drink manufacturer, a nationally known symphony orchestra, and the largest power and light company in Western Pennsylvania in connection with employment-related matters

Representation of numerous employers regarding negotiation of employee benefits for union and non-union facilities

Employment Litigation - Represented clients before federal EEOC and Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.

Representation of numerous employers in over 400 arbitration cases since 1967 (American Arbitration Association, and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service)

ERISA Litigation - Represented a national health plan administrator against ERISA claims for breach of fiduciary duty in the administration of a major airline’s national employees’ self-insured health care plans. After extensive pretrial discovery and motions practice, participated in a one day minitrial before a federal judge and senior executives of client health plan administrator and airline which led to reasonable compromise settlement.

Representation of employees and terminated executives regarding claims under severance and employment agreements