Labor & Employment Law - U.S. Practice
Employment Discrimination Counseling & Litigation
Crowell & Moring represents employers in both individual and class action discrimination litigation in the federal trial and appellate courts, state courts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and related federal, state and local governmental agencies. These cases involve disparate treatment and impact claims and span the full range of protected categories, including race, sex, age, disability, veteran status, national origin, and religion. Our experience before the EEOC includes litigation of both "Commissioner" and individual discrimination charges as well as related investigations of employee claims, including claims of sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, retaliation and disability discrimination.
Our lawyers regularly advise clients — from Fortune 100 companies to start-ups — on how to minimize the risk of workplace discrimination claims through proactive planning. We perform "EEO Assessments," which include detailed compensation and data analyses to identify hidden statistical vulnerabilities, interviews of company personnel to gauge employee morale and satisfaction with diversity efforts, and concrete recommendations to address areas of vulnerability. We frequently team with leading statisticians to assess complex compensation and performance review systems and their results. This work includes the development and refinement of regression models, designed to indicate whether any employee groups are disadvantaged by the employer's systems.
We have special expertise in dealing with sexual harassment issues. We prepare sexual harassment policies tailored to the needs of specific clients. We conduct independent investigations of allegations of sexual harassment made against executives and managers, and provide guidance on responding to such complaints in an effective manner.
Our recent litigation experience involving discrimination claims includes:
- Successfully defending a global consulting company against claims of wrongful termination and retaliation based on alleged race discrimination. Our lawyers won summary judgment in federal court in Virginia on behalf of the client and then prevailed on appeal before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. James v. Booz-Allen & Hamilton, 386 F.3d 371 (4th Cir. 2004)
- Successfully defending a large automotive supplier against age and gender discrimination claims filed in federal court in New York, and achieving a settlement on extremely favorable terms.