“Davis Polk & Wardwell is changing to a more flexible compensation system, allowing it to pay more money to retain and attract rainmaking partners,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Daily News.

“Davis Polk has paid partners based on seniority under a lockstep compensation model. The law firm is changing to a modified lockstep system.”

“Only a few elite New York firms retain a strict lockstep pay structure, according to Bloomberg Law. Other firms that have used a lockstep system include Cravath Swaine & Moore, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, and Debevoise & Plimpton. Those firms typically were most profitable, enabling high partner compensation.”

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“Baker McKenzie is laying off 6% of its workforce in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Those laid off include lawyers, other timekeepers and business professionals,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s News.

“Davis Wright is laying off 39 staff members who had been furloughed. The staff members were in office services, legal assistance and other administrative positions.”

“Venable is laying off some furloughed employees, as well as some other professional staff members. The firm did not disclose numbers.”

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“Attorney Geoffrey Fieger, one of Michigan’s most prominent lawyers, refused to let one of his employees work from home to care for her sick child during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new lawsuit,” reports Tresa Baldas in Detroit Free Press.

“The woman says human resources approved her request to work remotely for two days, and, that she offered to take unpaid leave if necessary because her son was ill.”

“But Fieger — who for years has worked from his luxury Caribbean hotel that he has long referred to as home — wouldn’t budge. He fired her instead, she says, so she sued the legal giant in federal court.”

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“As employees increasingly transition back into the physical workplace, employers have begun to grapple with whether and how to deploy COVID-19 diagnostic testing as a return-to-work solution. Many employers want to avoid extended employee quarantine or isolation requirements that prevent their employees from returning to the office for weeks and disrupt their operations. But is this potential solution legal? And is it effective?” ask Danielle M. Bereznay, Michael S. Arnold, Corbin Carter in Mintz’ Insights Center.

In this post they discuss practical considerations for employers to consider for a return to work COVID-19 testing strategy.

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“A lawsuit has accused Reed Smith of wrongly firing a lawyer after a ‘discriminatory chain of perceptions and events’ stemming from a concussion that the lawyer received while on vacation,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s News.

“The lawsuit by former of counsel Aaron Chase, filed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York, alleges unlawful retaliation and disability discrimination by Reed Smith.”

“Chase says he received the concussion when he hit his head hard on the frame of a vehicle that he was entering while on vacation in September 2019. He returned to work the same month and informed his direct supervisor, partner Jennifer Achilles, about the injury soon afterward.”

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“A trucking lawsuit against carrier New Prime that has lasted five years and prompted a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court could be nearing an end,” reports Mark Schremmer in Land Line.

“A $28 million settlement agreement in truck driver Dominic Oliveira’s class action lawsuit against New Prime was filed in Massachusetts federal court on Monday, July 20. The lawsuit alleged that the Springfield, Mo.-based trucking company violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. According to Oliveira, New Prime paid him less than minimum wage. After deductions for fuel and lease payments on the truck, Oliveira said he was occasionally left owing the company money at the end of the pay period.”

“If approved, funds will be distributed to the named plaintiffs, as well as about 40,000 potential class members who leased their trucks through New Prime at any time from Oct. 2, 2012, through May 8, 2020, or those who attended training in Missouri to become New Prime truck drivers at any time since March 4, 2010, through May 8, 2020.”

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“Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google LLC have hired a pair of public policy experts to expand their antitrust and energy capabilities,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Business and Practice.

“Sean Pugh and James ‘Jamey’ Goldin left Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, respectively, this month for in-house legal roles at the technology giants.”

“Pugh, a former Senate Judiciary Committee staffer who served as antitrust counsel to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), confirmed in an email that he joined Amazon’s public policy shop July 6.”

“Pugh joined Amazon after five months at Faegre Drinker, a law firm that hired him as counsel in March for its litigation group in Washington. Faegre Drinker advised Boulder, Colo.-based warehouse robotics startup Canvas Technology LLC on its $100 million sale to Amazon in 2019.”

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“Tens of thousands of former Werner student trucker drivers won’t see a dime of a six-figure verdict in a wage lawsuit after a federal court determined a report from a key witness for the plaintiffs is inadmissible,” reports Tyson Fisher in Land Line.

“On June 22, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska denied the Werner student drivers a new trial. The case was remanded to the district court after Werner received a favorable ruling from the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals. The appellate court ruled that a key expert witness cannot be used by the drivers since the plaintiffs missed the disclosure deadline. With that turn of events, the district court determined that the drivers have no case without that expert’s report.”

“The nearly 10-year-old class action lawsuit is based on Werner’s eight-week training program. Former student drivers accuse the company of violating federal and state wage laws. The complaint alleges that Werner failed to compensate trainees for short-term breaks or for time spent resting in the sleeper.”

“The original complaint was filed in September 2011. Although a jury trial was initially scheduled for October 2014, litigation kicked the can down the road for several years. A trial and verdict was finally reached in May 2017. A jury found that Werner owed drivers for breaks of 20 minutes or less. However, the jury also relieved Werner of wages owed for sleeper berth time.”

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“Law grads have had employment offers rescinded at 49% of the law schools surveyed by the National Association for Law Placement,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Latest News.

“Hardest hit were graduates of schools in the Southeast region, where 57.5% of the schools reported rescinded offers; and schools with more than 750 students, where 61% reported rescinded offers. ”

“Rescinded offers were most common in private practice. Among schools that reported rescinded offers, 85% said private sector employers had done so.”

Read the article for more findings.

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“New York Attorney General Letitia James announced … that a group of female construction workers who experienced years of sexual harassment at a Long Island contracting firm will receive a $1.5 million settlement, after James’ office discovered not only harassment but retaliation for reporting it,” reports Rebecca Baird-Remba in Commercial Observer.

“James’ office found that the 18 women, the majority of whom are Black, endured a hostile and discriminatory work environment while working as general laborers for TradeOff, a Lynbrook, Long Island-based firm which provides nonunion labor for major construction sites across the city, including Hudson Yards.”

“Union representatives from Local 79 referred to TradeOff as a ‘body shop’ because it recruits most of its workers through prison reentry programs and pays them a fraction of what union laborers earn.”

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“Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner co-chairs Steve Baumer and Lisa Mayhew sent a firmwide email letting everyone know that it will be laying off attorneys and staff as a result of the coronavirus crisis. On top of that, the firm will be shuttering its Beijing office,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“BCLP will offer severance to the affected lawyers and staff based on the higher salaries they received prior to the cuts that the firm instituted in April and reimburse the 15 percent salary cuts to those who are laid off before they leave the firm. The firm will also offer outplacement coaching and counseling to those who are let go.”

“Sources have already told us that associates in the firm’s Phoenix and Dallas offices have been affected by the layoffs. Let us know if your office has been impacted.”

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“Many attorneys doing public defender work do so under contract with counties – meaning they get paid a flat amount, regardless of the number of hours they work. And that’s the primary method of public defense in about a third of Indiana,” reports Brandon Smith in Indiana Public Media.

“Many lawyers in Indiana doing public defender work earn less than minimum wage, after accounting for overhead costs.”

“Those attorneys have significant overhead costs that public defenders who are employees of the counties don’t have, staffing and office space the most significant.”

“And when taking into account those overhead costs, the Public Defender Commission’s survey says contract attorneys earn less than $6 per hour.”

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“A federal judge has denied a request by American women’s soccer players to allow an immediate appeal of his decision to throw out their claim of unequal pay against the U.S. Soccer Federation,” reports Ronald Blum in StarTribune’s Loons.

“Lawyers for the women had asked him to enter a final judgment on his decision to dismiss the pay claim, which would have allowed them to take the case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.”

“Klauser ruled May 1 the women could not prove discrimination over pay and granted in part the USSF’s motion for a partial summary judgment. He said the union for the women’s national team rejected an offer to be paid under the same pay-to-play structure as the men’s national team’s collective bargaining agreement and the women accepted guaranteed salaries and greater benefits along with a different bonus structure.”

“He also refused to let go to trial allegations the women were discriminated against because they played more games on artificial turf.”

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“Two more law firms announced pay cuts in the past week, marking a third slow week of bad news,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s News.

“If larger law firms lose the same percentage of lawyers as in 2008 to 2010 during the financial downturn, there will be 20,000 jobs lost, Simons wrote. Most of the departures—17,000 of them—would be in the nation’s top 100 grossing law firms, he said. The other 3,000 departures would be in second hundred firms.”

“The entire legal services sector has already surpassed that number in job losses. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the sector lost 64,000 jobs in April.”

“The two firms that announced cuts in the past week are Reed Smith and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan.”

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“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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“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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“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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