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Labor and Employment

Overview

Meeting and rethinking the modern workplace

The world of work and the workplace are changing at lightning speed. Growing customer demands, new technologies and evolving employee expectations are having a tremendous impact on all organizations. Employees are demanding more flexibility, a reconfigured work-life balance and fair and transparent compensation and benefits.

A legal team built on collaboration

Crowell’s Labor and Employment team helps clients build and manage the workforce of the future. Leading global companies have turned to us to help them respond to the dynamic challenges of navigating employment laws throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Working with industry leaders in technology, aerospace, retail, and professional services, we advise on complex matters, including pay equity analyses and related reporting, recruiting practices involving artificial intelligence, and managing a remote workforce.

We conduct highly sensitive investigations and litigate complex class action matters. We also counsel several leading universities, helping to assess and resolve complex employment issues that arise in the higher-education setting. We also have deeply-rooted client relationships in the non-profit sector, working with organizations on the full range of employment law compliance matters as well as individual plaintiff and class action litigation.

Clients benefit from the collective experience of our 40 plus lawyer team, including prior service at key government agencies, proven complex litigation and investigation successes, our leading-edge pay equity practice, and collaboration with the firm’s wealth of highly-skilled legal professionals in related disciplines. As a result, clients get creative and effective business solutions that can help win the battle for talent, ensure compliance with applicable laws, support and navigate global expansion, and protect a company's brand.

Our services

We help clients with:

  • High-stakes employment discrimination claims
  • Wage-and-hour class and collective actions
  • Racial equity audits, civil rights audits and ESG issues
  • High stakes, sensitive personnel investigations and whistleblower retaliation matters
  • Responses to the radical changes in the workforce borne of the pandemic, including designing effective return to office and continuing remote work strategies on a global scale
  • Trade secret and non-compete litigation
  • Pay equity and OFCCP compliance
  • New union organizing in sectors not traditionally unionized and resultant workforce strategies
  • Fiduciary duty, benefit claims, and other ERISA litigation
  • Global employee mobility

Contacts

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Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.20.25

DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative Bolsters Threat of False Claims Act Enforcement Under “Anti-DEI” Executive Order

On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a Memorandum creating the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative that will “utilize the False Claims Act to investigate and . . . pursue claims against any recipient of federal funds that knowingly violates federal civil rights laws.” According to the Memorandum, though racial discrimination has “always been illegal,” the Administration posits that “many corporations and schools continue to adhere to racist policies and preferences—albeit camouflaged with cosmetic changes that disguise their discriminatory nature.” In an effort to prevent federal funds from being used in connection with or support of these purportedly racist policies and preferences, the Initiative will wield the power of the False Claims Act, the government’s most powerful tool to fight fraud, waste, and abuse....

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Representative Matters

  • Led an investigation of a whistleblower complaint against a national museum in which anonymous former employees alleged that the museum’s leadership improperly received and displayed art loans in violation of federal and state tax laws, museum policies, and national museum accreditation standards.
  • Investigated age and gender discrimination claims brought by Chief Legal Officer of global aerospace company/British multinational defense company Joint Venture in which he claimed that he was being forced to step down as a result of his poor performance in connection with advising the company on a critical multi-million-dollar defense deal.
  • Won reversal at trial court level of jury’s $1.5 million verdict in favor of plaintiff, who alleged that his employment was terminated in violation of retaliation provisions of the False Claims Act, Defense Contractor Whistleblower Protection Act, and California law.
  • Helped several leading technology, healthcare, and professional services companies design compensation and performance management policies, practices, and auditing programs to yield industry-leading pay equity programs.
  • Represented a leading health insurance company with a putative class action alleging pattern and practice discrimination against African-American employees brought by three current employees.
  • Represented a major university in a pay equity discrimination case brought by a current professor, alleging that she is compensated less than her similarly-situated male comparators.

Contacts

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Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.20.25

DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative Bolsters Threat of False Claims Act Enforcement Under “Anti-DEI” Executive Order

On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a Memorandum creating the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative that will “utilize the False Claims Act to investigate and . . . pursue claims against any recipient of federal funds that knowingly violates federal civil rights laws.” According to the Memorandum, though racial discrimination has “always been illegal,” the Administration posits that “many corporations and schools continue to adhere to racist policies and preferences—albeit camouflaged with cosmetic changes that disguise their discriminatory nature.” In an effort to prevent federal funds from being used in connection with or support of these purportedly racist policies and preferences, the Initiative will wield the power of the False Claims Act, the government’s most powerful tool to fight fraud, waste, and abuse....

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Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.20.25

DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative Bolsters Threat of False Claims Act Enforcement Under “Anti-DEI” Executive Order

Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.13.25

DOL Issues Revised Independent Contractor Misclassification Guidance

Client Alert | 2 min read | 04.29.25

President Trump Issues Executive Order Deprioritizing Disparate Impact Theory of Discrimination

Speaking Engagement | 04.25.25

"Navigating DEI Directives: Legal Obligations and Best Practices in a Changing Landscape," ACC NCR Sixth Annual Conference: Strategies for Meaningful Engagement and Impact in an Evolving Legal Environment

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Professionals

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Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.20.25

DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative Bolsters Threat of False Claims Act Enforcement Under “Anti-DEI” Executive Order

On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a Memorandum creating the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative that will “utilize the False Claims Act to investigate and . . . pursue claims against any recipient of federal funds that knowingly violates federal civil rights laws.” According to the Memorandum, though racial discrimination has “always been illegal,” the Administration posits that “many corporations and schools continue to adhere to racist policies and preferences—albeit camouflaged with cosmetic changes that disguise their discriminatory nature.” In an effort to prevent federal funds from being used in connection with or support of these purportedly racist policies and preferences, the Initiative will wield the power of the False Claims Act, the government’s most powerful tool to fight fraud, waste, and abuse....

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Practices

Contacts

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Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.20.25

DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative Bolsters Threat of False Claims Act Enforcement Under “Anti-DEI” Executive Order

On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a Memorandum creating the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative that will “utilize the False Claims Act to investigate and . . . pursue claims against any recipient of federal funds that knowingly violates federal civil rights laws.” According to the Memorandum, though racial discrimination has “always been illegal,” the Administration posits that “many corporations and schools continue to adhere to racist policies and preferences—albeit camouflaged with cosmetic changes that disguise their discriminatory nature.” In an effort to prevent federal funds from being used in connection with or support of these purportedly racist policies and preferences, the Initiative will wield the power of the False Claims Act, the government’s most powerful tool to fight fraud, waste, and abuse....

View All Insights