Employment Litigation

While Latham places a priority on counseling clients to help them avoid costly employment disputes and litigation, our track record in complex and multi-plaintiff litigation is highly regarded.  In the United States, our experience includes:

• Defending against nationwide class-action employment discrimination suits involving challenges to hiring, promotion, compensation, and other issues

• Defending against nationwide “collective actions” under the Fair Labor Standards Act

• Defending against EEOC class enforcement actions involving allegations of discrimination, harassment, retaliation and other issues

• Defending against nationwide class actions in public accommodation civil rights suits

• Defending against “pattern and practice” employment discrimination claims brought by the United States Department of Justice against municipal law enforcement agencies

• Defending against statewide and multi-state class actions involving a variety of allegations under state wage and hour and other employment cases

• Defending against individual employment claims in state and federal court regarding discrimination, wrongful discharge, defamation, invasion of privacy and breach of contract

• Defending against qui tam lawsuits brought against employers and government contractors by “whistle blowers”

• Prosecuting and defending against trade secret and related intellectual property claims
  
  

In Europe, our experience in collective litigation includes mass actions, defense against Works Councils, including European Works Councils or Unions, on collective dismissal procedures and redundancy plans, electoral litigation and strikes. Our employment law litigators in Europe are experienced in the following areas of dispute:

• Defending against judicial characterizations of commercial contracts as employer-employee relationships

• Defending against alleged harassment and discrimination, in both the civil and criminal context

• Obtaining injunctions in summary proceedings against Works Councils and Unions during the course of implementing social plans and corporate restructuring

• Defending corporations against a variety of allegations and claims pertaining to collective benefits, such as pensions

• Defending corporations in wage and hour matters

• Defending corporations against employees' breach of confidentiality and non-compete agreements