“In a landmark acknowledgment of the toll that content moderation takes on its workforce, Facebook has agreed to pay $52 million to current and former moderators to compensate them for mental health issues developed on the job. In a preliminary settlement filed on Friday in San Mateo Superior Court, the social network agreed to pay damages to American moderators and provide more counseling to them while they work,” reported Casey Newton in The Verge’s Tech.

“Each moderator will receive a minimum of $1,000 and will be eligible for additional compensation if they are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or related conditions. The settlement covers 11,250 moderators, and lawyers in the case believe that as many as half of them may be eligible for extra pay related to mental health issues associated with their time working for Facebook, including depression and addiction.”

“In September 2018, former Facebook moderator Selena Scola sued Facebook, alleging that she developed PTSD after being placed in a role that required her to regularly view photos and images of rape, murder, and suicide. Scola developed symptoms of PTSD after nine months on the job. The complaint, which was ultimately joined by several other former Facebook moderators working in four states, alleged that Facebook had failed to provide them with a safe workspace.”

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“A Dallas law firm fired an employee after he wrote in a Facebook post that lambasted businesses that require customers to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic and made references to firearms and ammunition,” report Dana Branham in The Dallas Morning News’ Public Health.

“The law firm, Thompson & Knight, called the post ‘threatening and offensive’ in a statement.”

“The firm’s chief marketing officer, Kelby Luther, confirmed Monday that the terminated employee is Kevin Bain, who had worked as a document services manager based in Dallas.”

“Luther said the firm’s statement refers to a widely shared Facebook post in which Bain referred to the Whole Foods grocery store on Lomo Alto Drive in Highland Park, saying that any business that insists he wear a mask ‘will get told to kiss my Corona ass and will lose my business forever.'”

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“A California federal judge has denied preliminary approval of a $1.1 million settlement in a wage lawsuit against Western Express, sending the parties back to the drawing board,” reports Tyson Fisher in Land Line.

“On May 1, U.S. District Judge Jesus G. Bernal denied Marc Rivera’s preliminary settlement against Western Express worth more than $1 million. Both Rivera and Western Express were seeking certification of the settlement. The class action lawsuit accuses the company of underpaying California drivers by violating rest and meal break wage laws.”

“Explaining the decision, Bernal pointed to the ‘Release’ section of the settlement. Found in nearly all settlements, the release prevents plaintiffs from bringing a related claim against the defendant in the future. If the agreement were to release claims based on different facts, the court can deny the approval.”

“Calling the release ‘overbroad,’ Markson’s counsel filed the objection on behalf of absent class members in the Western Express lawsuit who are also members of the Markson case.”

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“Biglaw is an industry-specific nickname for high-revenue law firms with large headcounts. It can also refer to smaller firms that pay their lawyers a market rate salary, or even a medium-sized outfit with wide, international reach and notoriety,” writes Joshua Holt in Law Fuel’s blog.

“All of these types of firms are typically headquartered in major US cities, like Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, with multiple branches in smaller markets. And, most notably, lawyers who work in Biglaw can expect to be paid based on the Cravath scale.”

“The Cravath Scale, an offshoot of the Cravath system, is named after Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, the firm which is generally considered the authority on setting associate salaries. Its compensatory functions include factors like the number of years out of law school and particular law school classes, among others.”

“Lawyers on this pay scale not only earn the same salary but can also anticipate receiving the same annual market bonus. Based on the lockstep and closely monitored structure of the scale, if one firm offers an associate a higher salary, other firms tend to follow suit. But while this scale is based on a platform of consistency, changes have been experienced throughout the years.”

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“Baker Donelson is imposing temporary pay cuts, reducing partner draws, and furloughing some employees because of the financial impact of the COVID-19 epidemic,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Latest News.

“Baker Donelson confirmed the measures in this statement provided to the ABA Journal: ‘We have undertaken a number of measures to ensure the financial stability of the firm moving forward, which includes shareholder reduction in draws and salary that have already been implemented,’ the statement said. ‘This will be followed over the next few weeks by temporary salary reductions across the firm and with a furloughing of some employees. … Our hope is that, once this crisis subsides, we will eventually be able to bring the furloughed team members back to Baker Donelson. Until then, we are providing them with support to help minimize the impact of what we know is an extremely trying situation, particularly in these highly uncertain times.'”

Read the article to find what other law firms are following suit by taking temporary measures in response to work slowdowns.

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“Top in-house lawyers are getting their compensation cut along with other executive officers as the new coronavirus causes widespread economic distress,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Corporate Governance.

“Marriott International Inc., the Cheesecake Factory Inc., and other companies have announced plans to cut pay for top executives. Bloomberg Law recently reported that gaming company Accel Entertainment Inc.’s leadership is going even further, foregoing 100% of their pay until it hopes normal business operations resume next month.”

“Veta Richardson, president and CEO of the Association of Corporation Counsel, said that she can’t recall another time when executive pay cuts have become so extensive.”

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Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has released the results of its COVID-19 Flash Survey Report. The survey, completed by more than 900 employers based in North America and with operations around the world, gauged their key concerns and actions in response to the pandemic.

The results reveal employers navigating far-ranging and thorny issues – from dealing with operational considerations related to closures and staffing shortages to keeping employees safe and managing morale to making tough decisions related to compensation and providing leave to those unable to work.

“COVID-19 has created a host of challenges for employers while accelerating fundamental shifts already underway in the workplace,” said Alka Ramchandani-Raj, a leader of Littler’s COVID-19 Task Force. “As the pandemic’s many lasting implications only begin to emerge, it’s encouraging that employers are moving quickly to take a range of actions in response to this rapidly evolving situation.”

Leave and Sick Pay

Nearly nine out of 10 respondents (89 percent) are concerned about determining whether to pay employees during absences related to the coronavirus. Further, 85 percent reported adjusting their sick leave policies or providing additional paid time off, or were considering taking these actions. A common theme expressed by respondents related to how to handle employees who cannot perform their jobs remotely and those who must care for children out of school or others who are sick.

“Companies already facing a patchwork of employee leave laws must now also comply with requirements to provide additional paid leave from measures passed in response to the pandemic. And many companies are implementing new policies and benefits to support employees during this difficult time,” said Melissa Peters, a leader of Littler’s COVID-19 Task Force. “The current regulatory environment and the novel nature of this virus give rise to several complex and nuanced questions about how to manage leaves of absence entitlements triggered by COVID-19.”

Employee Safety and Morale

The majority of respondents (93 percent) are worried about ensuring that workplace conditions and policies comply with applicable safety and health regulations. The most common steps taken in response were communicating hygiene practices and prevention measures (98 percent), restricting travel (83 percent) and canceling meetings (78 percent). Several survey respondents also said they were grappling with how to address employee anxiety and how to find the right balance in responding appropriately without panicking employees.

“Even before officials were starting to recommend stricter social distancing measures and states were beginning to institute stay-at-home orders, our survey respondents were taking several steps to keep their employees safe,” said Brad Hammock, co-chair of Littler’s Workplace Safety & Health Practice Group and a leader of the firm’s COVID-19 Task Force. “At the same time, with the workplace a defining part of many individuals’ lives, managing employee morale and mental health, as well as providing resources and support to help them cope, is understandably top of mind with employers.”

Additional Concerns and Actions Taken

• The need to temporarily close offices, factories or stores if an employee or customer tests positive for the virus ranked as the top worry among respondents with 96 percent expressing concern.

• Only 5 percent reported that their companies had implemented furloughs or short-term layoffs and another 43 percent were considering it. However, many U.S.-based respondents took the survey in mid-March before record-high unemployment claims were reported by the U.S. Department of Labor.

• Most respondents (83 percent) noted concern about inadvertently discriminating against members of a protected class or giving rise to discrimination claims in their COVID-19 response. However, avoiding discrimination against employees ranked lowest among employers’ concerns, with 17 percent reporting not being concerned at all.

The Littler COVID-19 Flash Survey Report was completed by 912 respondents, mainly HR professionals (54 percent) and in-house counsel (38 percent), between March 12 and March 25. Companies represented were of a variety of sizes and nearly all (98 percent) operate in the U.S., with a fair portion also operating in Canada (26 percent), Europe (26 percent), Asia (20 percent) and Mexico (16 percent), among other regions.

View the full report here: https://www.littler.com/files/littler_covid-19_flash_survey_report.pdf

About Littler

With more than 1,500 labor and employment attorneys in offices around the world, Littler provides workplace solutions that are local, everywhere. Our diverse team and proprietary technology foster a culture that celebrates original thinking, delivering groundbreaking innovation that prepares employers for what’s happening today, and what’s likely to happen tomorrow. For more information, visit www.littler.com.

“Former Wells Fargo & Co. general counsel C. Allen Parker Jr. took home outsized pay of more than $9.6 million last year thanks to his elevation to interim CEO,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Banking Law News.

“Parker’s compensation is all the more notable since Wells Fargo’s top in-house lawyer has rarely, if ever, been one of the highest-paid executives at the company, according to three former lawyers for the bank.”

“The bulk of Parker’s pay—approximately $8.3 million, including a $2 million grant of restricted stock—came from his service last year as Wells Fargo’s interim CEO from March through October, according to a 2019 proxy statement filed by the company March 16.”

“The proxy, which also revealed that the bank clawed back a $15 million stock award to former CEO Timothy Sloan, came less than a week after its hire of a new general counsel in Ellen Patterson, the soon-to-be former in-house legal chief at Toronto-Dominion Bank.”

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“PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit alleging age discrimination in hiring by paying out $11.625 million, an amount that is not even a blip on the radar screen of a firm that reports annual revenues in excess of $41 billion,” reports Patricia Barnes in Forbes’ Leadership.

“Moreover, PwC seems somewhat tentative with respect to its commitment to change the hiring practices the plaintiffs have argued since 2016 were grossly discriminatory to older workers.”

“Both sides released a carefully worded press release earlier this month stating that PwC has agreed ‘to enhance certain of its recruiting procedures geared toward further attracting qualified older applicants for entry level jobs.’”

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“In an important lesson for both employers and employees a California superior court judge affirmed a $179 million arbitration award against a former Uber executive, Anthony Levandowski, for stealing Google’s trade secret information and soliciting its employees to benefit Uber. See Google LLC v. Levandowski et al., Case No. CPF-20-516982. Levandowski, who also faces criminal charges from the U.S. Attorney’s office for theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, filed for bankruptcy following the judge’s order,” reports Aaron Goldstein and Jasmine Hui in Dorsey’s Publications.

“The court’s ruling underscores the importance of well-crafted confidentiality, non-compete, and non-solicit agreements. Over the course of Levandowski’s employment with Google, he signed at least four separate agreements which included either non-compete, non-solicit, confidentiality, and nondisclosure provisions, or a combination thereof. The panel of arbitrators in the underlying case held, among other things, that Levandowski breached these employment contracts with Google by misusing Google’s confidential information and attempting to solicit Google employees.”

“Google hired Levandowski in 2007, where he co-founded the company’s autonomous vehicle project, which later became Waymo, LLC. In 2015, Levandowski left Google and formed a new self-driving company, Ottomotto, Inc. In 2016, Uber acquired Ottomotto, Inc. and hired Levandowski to head its autonomous vehicle department. Shortly thereafter, Google filed two arbitration demands against Levandowski and another former Google employee who moved to Uber.”

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“Cascade County has hired a private law firm to assist the Cascade County Attorney’s Office, which is experiencing a significant number of attorney vacancies with two major civil cases pending,” reports Kari Puckett in Great Falls Tribune.

“At a special meeting Friday, commissioners approved a legal service agreement with Ugrin, Alexander and Zadick in which attorneys for the firm will serve as independent contractors to provide legal representation to the county.”

“Costs for the initial six-month term is $7,500 a month for a total of $45,000.”

There are three vacancies in the office.

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“If you’re an Ohio in-house attorney and you value your freedom to make career moves, then you’re in luck. On Feb. 7, the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct issued an opinion letter stating that in-house counsel cannot be bound by non-compete agreements.” reports Douglas M. Oldham in The National Law Review.

“Ohio Rule of Professional Conduct 5.6(a) states that a lawyer may not participate in an “agreement that restricts the right of a lawyer to practice after termination of the relationship, except an agreement concerning benefits upon retirement.” There is a strong public policy allowing parties to be represented by the counsel of their choice, and any agreement that restricts an attorney’s ability to practice would undermine that public policy.”

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“Have you ever considered the possibility that you might be the next person your contract attorney sues?” asks in Vinson & Elkins’ Insights.

“As frightening as that sounds, that’s exactly what happened in the bizarre dispute leading up to a recent Fifth Circuit  decision, Faludi v. U.S. Shale Solutions, L.L.C. There the plaintiff was an unlicensed attorney who contracted with the defendant to be a legal consultant. The defendant paid him on a day rate basis, required him to sign a non-compete, and treated him as an independent contractor. Once the plaintiff left the company, he immediately filed a Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) lawsuit where he claimed that he had actually been an employee who was misclassified as exempt and was entitled to unpaid overtime wages.”

“Fortunately for the defendant, the Fifth Circuit concluded that the plaintiff had been properly classified as an independent contractor. Fortunately for us, the case demonstrates several lessons about certain business practices and FLSA compliance.”

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“Stephanie Apostolou has been elected general counsel and secretary of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Koppers and Koppers Holdings, effective March 1,” report Ben Maiden in Corporate Secretary’s Appointments.

“Apostolou is at present deputy general counsel and assistant secretary with the NYSE-listed company, which is a global provider of treated wood products, wood treatment chemicals and carbon compounds.”

“Her promotion follows the announcement that Steven Lacy, chief administrative officer, general counsel and secretary of Koppers will retire at the end of this year after a 20-year career with the company. In the period between March 1 and December 31, Lacy will hold a new position as assistant to the president of Koppers.”

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“Jones Day has hired five Supreme Court clerks from the October 2018 term, continuing its recent tradition of recruiting top talent from the nation’s highest court,” reports Roy Strom in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“For nearly a decade, the Cleveland-founded firm has been a leader in the prestigious competition to land young lawyers with a Supreme Court pedigree. Last year, Jones Day hired nearly a third of all the clerks, 11, from the 2018 term. Jones Day has now hired 55 Supreme Court clerks since the 2011 October term. It’s 2019 class includes clerks for Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

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“It was major legal industry news last April when international business and legal services powerhouse EY entered into an agreement with Thomson Reuters to acquire Pangea3, the legal managed services business.” reports Robert J. Ambrogi in LawSite’s blog.

“Now, 10 months later, EY has laid off at least some of the U.S.-based lawyers who came with the deal.”

“While precise details remain uncertain, reports indicate that EY has let go some 20-30 lawyers who work for it in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota and the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas.”

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“Coinbase Inc., a San Francisco-based digital currency exchange specializing in bitcoin transactions, has gone on an in-house hiring spree a little more than a year after recruiting former Fannie Mae general counsel Brian Brooks to serve as its chief legal officer.” reports Brian Baxter on Bloomberg Law’s Corporate Law News.

“Within the last three months Coinbase has brought on three more top in-house lawyers. One of those additions, former JPMorgan Chase & Co. assistant general counsel Rachel Nelson, was named in January to co-chair a new market integrity working group for the Blockchain Association, a trade association for the U.S. blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.”

“The additions by Coinbase come at the same time as a series of departures from Circle Internet Financial Ltd., a Boston-based blockchain payments company backed by The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Several in-house lawyers have left Circle since last summer amid a series of layoffs and divestitures by the company as it reshapes its business around stablecoins.”

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Irell & Manella “announced to all attorneys that the firm was pursuing an ‘alternative business model.’ According to the email sent by partner Jonathan Kagan, they are ‘focus[ing] on areas where we have a clearly demonstrated record of success and excellence when compared to other firms.’” reports Kathryn Runbino in Above the Law’s BigLaw.

An email was sent to explain what this means. “We therefore plan to focus our future growth and investments in our litigation practice areas, particularly IP and complex business litigation. Although we will continue to have lawyers in other practice areas at the Firm (particularly in certain transactional areas), we do not anticipate making significant investments in non-core practice areas in the near future.”

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Read the ABA Journal’s article.

“Latham & Watkins is a January bonus player who understands the pain of waiting while your peers at other firms celebrate holiday bonuses. So again this year, Latham is offering a sliding scale of bonuses that top the market base for most associates.” reports Joe Patrice in the Above The Law Biglaw.

According to a Latham memo providing the median and top bonuses by class year there was a bump for the big revenue firm. Bonus payments kicked in at a 1900-hour minimum.

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