Practices

Labor and Employment

Why Cooley

Cooley advises clients in myriad industries on the full spectrum of employment counseling, agreements, litigation, investigations, strategies, infrastructure, problem-solving and dispute resolution issues. Our versatile global labor and employment team – with support from Cooley’s compensation and benefits group – manages matters for public and private companies, boards of directors, senior executives, investment funds, nonprofits, trade associations, and government contractors. We also have acted as strategic employment counsel for numerous national and international companies.

Cooley has a solid track record defending employers against individual employment claims, as well as employment-related class action claims – from the investigative phase to victories in appellate courts, as well as in arbitrations – in the US and internationally. We’ve handled cases involving claims alleging breach of contract, discrimination of all types, sexual and other harassment, whistleblowing, retaliation, wage and hour violations, trade secret theft, noncompetition agreements, employee raiding, stock and stock option disputes, and officer fiduciary duties. We’ve also successfully pursued trade secret misappropriation and related claims against former employees in criminal and civil arenas.

In the class action realm, our practitioners are experienced in class certification contests, negotiation and creative structuring of class action settlements and, when necessary, trial of class actions. In multidistrict class action litigation, we have successfully moved to transfer class actions from district courts around the US to a single district court for coordinated or consolidated proceedings, then served as lead counsel after transfer.

Strategic employment counseling

  • Undertaking comprehensive compensation and wage and hour audits of clients and global pay equity audits, and working with clients to implement modifications to their compensation and pay policies and practices
  • Creating and implementing intellectual property and trade secret audits, methods, and procedures to protect clients’ intangible assets
  • Guiding boards of directors and executive teams on significant executive misconduct investigations and remediation
  • Conducting internal investigations and navigating complex employment and technology problems for clients in response to misappropriation and whistleblower allegations
  • Counseling clients with respect to significant reductions in force and restructurings impacting multiple facilities, workforces, and international operations
  • Performing due diligence reviews for clients in connection with the acquisition of companies or expansion of operations on a global scale, including risk analysis diligence on deals where proprietary rights and trade secret claims are alleged or may exist
  • Designing ethics and compliance programs and hotlines, as well as providing training and advice on the implementation of such programs
  • Advising employers in the US on the complex issues raised by the overlay of federal and state paid and unpaid leave and disability laws

Employment litigation and alternative dispute resolution

  • Defending a top business software company against a former employee’s whistleblower retaliation claims where the jury returned a verdict in favor of the company, and that verdict was affirmed by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • Representing clients in arbitration hearings involving extensive and diverse claims ranging from gender discrimination to usurpation of corporate opportunities
  • Investigating and resolving gender and sexual orientation discrimination claims alleged by in-house counsel employed by a public company at the time
  • Defending our client in litigation involving retaliation claims allegedly arising from clinical safety data reporting
  • Defending a tech company in high-profile unfair labor practice trial and appeal before the National Labor Relations Board
  • Defending our client in a purported wage and hour class action case involving pay statement claims, donning and doffing claims, rest break claims, and individual discrimination claims
  • Securing a complete victory for our client in a confidential arbitration in a case alleging that our client failed to give a former employee proper notice of nonrenewal of his employment agreement
  • Defending our client in a suit brought against it by one of its previous executives, who alleged numerous claims arising out of the cancellation of her 10b5 trading plan in the company’s stock