Employment Counseling & Litigation
Practice Leadership
- David M. Wissert
- Partner
General Counsel
Chair, Employment Practice
Honors & Awards
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Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business: (2018): Ranked in Band 3 for Labor & Employment in New Jersey
Related Areas
Practice Leadership
- David M. Wissert
- Partner
General Counsel
Chair, Employment Practice
Honors & Awards
-
Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business: (2018): Ranked in Band 3 for Labor & Employment in New Jersey
Related Areas
Employment Counseling & Litigation
A company's reputation depends in large measure on the satisfaction and commitment of its employees. Our Employment Counseling & Litigation Practice Group helps businesses identify and manage their compliance and employment risks. We serve as legal partners and advisors to companies ranging from startups to global brands, including Fortune 500 companies, privately held corporations, life sciences and pharmaceutical companies, and private equity firms.
The group is known for our substantive knowledge and in-depth understanding of the business interests, market opportunities, and operational considerations that go into client employment decisions. By counseling on preventive strategies–such as reasonable accommodation, proper documentation, and progressive discipline–and providing training programs that reinforce company policies, we position our clients to avoid litigation. By helping our clients address their most sensitive employment challenges, we effectively enhance and maintain their hard-earned reputations and protect their brands.
When disputes are unavoidable, we aggressively defend clients against employee claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful discharge, and other workplace claims related to wage and hour, family and medical leave, and employee privacy violations, as well as employee benefits. We have an outstanding success record in representing clients against employees and competitors in matters involving restrictive covenant breaches, misuse of confidential information and trade secrets, employee dishonesty and disloyalty, and contract disputes.
Chambers USA has consistently recognized our "distinguished" employment practice and team of "solid, intelligent, and responsive" practitioners for successfully handling a "broad range of contentious matters including discrimination and wage and hour disputes, and employee discipline and termination matters."
EXPERIENCE
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Regularly counsel on and resolve difficult employment disputes for clients in matters alleging workplace harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination.
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Regularly counsels New York-based startups and other corporate clients on employment law compliance.
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Represented a pharmaceutical company in a major reorganization that involved two plant closures and nine reductions in force. Provided advice and prepared documentation relating to plant closures, federal and state WARN Act issues, reduction-in-force issues, severance payments, benefits continuation, releases of claims, and compliance with wage and hour laws in 50 states. Worked closely with the client's legal, human resources, and payroll departments and its outside insurance and outplacement service providers to ensure the orderly handling of more than 600 employee separations and/or relocations.
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Conducted a sensitive internal investigation of discrimination allegations made against a high-level human resources executive at a Fortune 200 company. Conducted the investigation at the request of the general counsel and reported findings directly to the client's chief executive officer.
- Performed multiple investigations for a municipality to determine whether employee complaints of unlawful discrimination and retaliation had merit, and drafted confidential investigation reports.
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Advised a leveraged buyout firm on the employment and employee benefits aspects of the $2.4 billion carve-out of the world's largest producer of hard capsules and an innovator in drug delivery systems. Provided legal counsel on employment law issues, negotiated employee contracts, advised on and drafted benefits programs, and assisted with setting up payroll in more than a dozen countries.
- Obtained and defended against multiple applications for injunctive relief on restrictive covenant agreements.
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Achieved summary judgment in favor of an internationally recognized cosmetics company in connection with a former employee's claims of disability discrimination.
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Obtained a directed verdict at the close of the plaintiff's evidence at a jury trial on behalf of a small pharmaceutical company involving allegations of reverse race discrimination and a hostile work environment.
- Represented a national insurance company in litigation challenging the prior settlement of hundreds of employment discrimination claims.
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Successfully defended a client and its portfolio company in an AAA arbitration against claims by the company's former CEO that the board of the portfolio company did not have "cause" to terminate his employment, as defined by his employment agreement, and that he was therefore entitled to certain compensation and benefits amounting to several million dollars upon termination.
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Defended a client against a putative wage and hour class action/collective action arising out of work supposedly performed by the named plaintiff and nearly 100 other putative class members at an annual weeklong rock and roll music festival.
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Represented a biotechnology company and four individual defendants in connection with claims of discrimination, harassment, failure to accommodate, and retaliation under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and the workers' compensation statute, as well as claims of intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
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Represented a biotechnology company and two individual defendants in defense of claims of a hostile work environment and discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, and skin color; quid pro quo sexual harassment; and retaliation.
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Represented a company that manufactures, sells, and rents equipment for construction projects against allegations by five current and former unionized employees that they are or were subjected to a hostile work environment and discrimination on the basis of their respective national origins.
- Represented an insurance management company in federal court in defense of claims that the plaintiff was demoted and ultimately terminated in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Family Medical Leave Act.
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Represent a private investment firm against claims of a hostile work environment and discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.
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Defended a private investment firm against claims of harassment and discrimination on the basis of race.
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Successfully defended ADP against claims of race and sex discrimination in Essex County, New Jersey, in which damages in excess of $10 million were sought in a three-week jury trial.
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Drafted position statements on behalf of a metropolitan New York technical college in cases before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and New York State Division of Human Rights alleging discrimination and retaliation under Title VII and the New York State Human Rights Law.
- Represented a regional bank in litigation brought against former officers and employees alleging misappropriation of confidential information and unfair competition against their former employer.
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Successfully defended a New York City sightseeing tour bus company against employee's claims of discrimination in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
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Obtained a defense jury verdict for a prominent real estate investment trust in a disability discrimination and retaliation trial.
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Represented the New Jersey Defense Association as amicus in the case of Maw v. Advanced Clinical, in which the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed that terminating an employee who refuses to sign a noncompete agreement does not constitute a violation of the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act, reversing the New Jersey Appellate Division's decision and creating new law in this area.
NEWS & INSIGHTS
PUBLICATIONS
- "Honor and Protect," The Financial Manager
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"New York State Sexual Harassment Training Deadline Extended," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"New York Employers: Don’t Miss the Oct. 9 and Jan. 1 Deadlines to Comply With New York State’s Sexual Harassment Prevention Law!," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"New Anti-Harassment Posting and Distribution Requirements for NYC Employers," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"Class Action Arbitration Waivers: U.S. Supreme Court Rules for the Employer," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"New Jersey Mandates Statewide Paid Sick Leave," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"New Jersey at the Forefront: The State Enacts Broad Pay Equity Law," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"New York Addresses Sexual Harassment in the Workplace," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"Have You Conducted Workplace Anti-Harassment Training Yet?," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
- "US Supreme Court to Determine Whether Workers Waive Class Action," Forbes Tech
- "Breaking News: Is California's Law on NonSolicits Changing After Rocine vs. Fidelity?," Forbes Tech
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"New York Finalizes Paid Family Leave," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"A Question of the Past: How Much Did You Make at Your Last Job?...," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"New California Law Restricts Choice of Law and Forum," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"New York Employers Beware: State and Local Salary Thresholds for Exempt Employees Exceed Federal Requirements," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"Big News on the Wage and Hour Front," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"Despite Opposition, Employers Should Plan for December 1 DOL Overtime Rule," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
Amy Komoroski Wiwi, and -
"It's Time to Examine Your Separation and Release Agreements (Again)," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
- "Protecting Your Trade Secrets in 2016," New Jersey State Bar Association, Business Law Section Newsletter
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"Big Changes in the Wage and Hour Landscape," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"Protecting Your Trade Secrets in 2016: What You Need to Do Now," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
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"Additional Obligations for New York Employers Coming Down the Pike: Paid Family Leave and Higher Minimum Wage," Employment Counseling & Litigation Client Alert
- "Cybersecurity Breach: The Threat From Within," New York Law Journal
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"SEC Restricts Ability of Companies to Silence Employees Interviewed in Internal Investigations," Corporate Investigations & Integrity Client Alert
- "Ban the Box Laws: Is Your Company Compliant?," SterlingBackcheck
- "Listening to Employees to Lessen Government Scrutiny," New York Law Journal
PRESS MENTIONS
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February 1, 2019
David M. Wissert and Amy Komoroski Wiwi‘s recent article in The Financial Manager, highlighting the steps employers can take to both prevent and address sexual harassment in the workplace as a result of the #MeToo Movement, was featured in TVNewsCheck. These steps include: examining the company culture, ensuring company policies are strong and widely communicated to all employees, providing training, conducting investigations when necessary, acting and communicating quickly, and considering an investment in employment practices liability (EPL) insurance policies to mitigate risk.
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January 2-7, 2019
Lowenstein’s 2019 promotion of seven lawyers to partner and six to counsel (including three women in each category) is noted in Bloomberg Law – Big Law Business. These promotions are also highlighted in LawFuel, The Deal, and the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey’s (CIANJ) Business Beat newsletter, with Lesley P. Adamo, Dmitry Andreev, Marc S. Kurzweil, James B. O’Grady, Eileen Overbaugh, Peter Slocum, and Julie Levinson Werner highlighted as newly elected partners and Brandon Fierro, Joseph G. Jones, Robert Lynn, Brianne Perlman, Nedda N. Salehi, and Leah Satlin listed as promoted to counsel. Gary M. Wingens is quoted regarding the critical role these lawyers will play in the firm’s continued success. View Lowenstein’s news announcement about these promotions.
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September 7, 2018
TVNewsCheck notes David M. Wissert’s leading a panel discussion with Amy Komoroski Wiwi on the impact of the #MeToo movement and other employee law issues at MFM’s Media Outlook 2019. The panel will provide attendees with the information and tools needed to implement policies and training programs that can lead to a positive culture in which all employees can contribute and thrive. View Lowenstein’s posting about this event.
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August 21, 2018
The Media Financial Management Association’s (MFM) Multichannel News announces David M. Wissert’s leading a panel discussion with Amy Komoroski Wiwi on the impact of the #MeToo movement and other employee law issues at MFM’s Media Outlook 2019. The panel will provide attendees with the information and tools needed to implement policies and training programs that can lead to a positive culture in which all employees can contribute and thrive. View Lowenstein’s posting about this event.
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February 23, 2018
WSJ Pro Venture Capital quotes Julie Levinson Werner on how the National Venture Capital Association’s (NVCA) issuing revised model human resources policies to combat sexual harassment in the VC industry is part of a broader trend across sectors to address and prevent harassment. As a member of the NVCA HR Policy Subcommittee, Werner assisted in drafting and reviewing the model policies. (subscription required to access article)
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First Quarter 2016
In Enterprise Magazine, Julie Levinson Werner comments on the legal risks and benefits of employee work-life balance for employers.
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July 21, 2014
In Xconomy, Julie Levinson Werner comments that part of the culture of sexism and misogyny existing in the technology scene may be due to startups' natural growing pains.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
- Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey 9th Annual Corporate Counsel Conference, HBA-NJ, Newark, NJ, November 28, 2018
- Developing and Maintaining Talent in the Era of #MeToo, ACC New Jersey Chapter's 16th Annual All-Day CLE Conference , Whippany, NJ, September 21, 2018
- #MeToo and Other Employment Law Issues, Media Outlook 2019, New York, NY, September 12, 2018
- Sexual Harassment in the Workplace – What Can Your Company Do to Prevent It?, February 14, 2018 (New York Office) and February 15, 2018 (New Jersey Office)
- New York Employment Law Developments in 2017, New York Employment Law Developments in 2017 Seminar, New York, NY, May 9, 2017
- Wage and Hour Update, ACC-New Jersey and Lowenstein Sandler Breakfast Series, Roseland, NJ, January 20, 2016