Hunton Andrews Kurth brings together multiple widely recognized industry-leading practices, including labor and employment, complex litigation, privacy and cybersecurity, intellectual property, environmental and P3, public finance and infrastructure. Created from a 2018 merger of the individually well-established Hunton & Williams and Andrews Kurth Kenyon, both legacy firms have long received recognition and accolades in the league tables and rankings outlets for their work in these, and other, practice areas.
Labor and Employment Overview:
Hunton Andrews Kurth’s employment practice is a “one-stop shop” that covers the entire spectrum of labor and employment matters. Our team has represented clients in virtually every type of employment case that companies face today. We have defended countless class and collective actions, pattern or practice actions, government enforcement actions, individual and multi-plaintiff claims, and state agency proceedings across the country. Our team includes numerous courtroom veterans who are among the few lawyers in the country who have tried class and collective actions to jury verdict using representative proof. Our team has handled a variety of sensitive whistleblower actions – defending litigation and guiding and conducting investigations – and our unfair competition and employee raiding practice provides sophisticated, rapidly deployable litigation counsel with extensive experience in trade secret, non-compete and non-solicitation matters. Our labor and employment team also has a dedicated technology and artificial intelligence practice to advise employers on the impact of new technologies on the workplace.
Hunton’s robust California team has defended companies in wage-and-hour class actions and PAGA actions based on a variety of claimed California Labor Code violations, including those alleging meal and rest break violations, reporting time pay violations, split shift violations, off-the-clock work (including donning and doffing, “bag check” and “shuttle time” claims), unpaid or underpaid minimum wage and overtime, failure to reimburse business expenses, improper use of debit cards to pay wages, failure to provide complete personnel files, and inaccurate wage statements. We have defeated class certification and PAGA actions based on manageability and ascertainability arguments and have successfully opposed discovery motions for burdensome class and PAGA-related discovery. Our California lawyers also have implemented successful settlement strategies to resolve wage-and-hour and PAGA claims against our clients for reasonable amounts, then used res judicata arguments to dismiss similar claims brought in follow-on actions by other plaintiffs’ counsel.
HuntonAK also has an OSHA team with over 30 years of experience addressing the life cycle of OSHA issues. We focus first on OSHA compliance. We partner with our clients in the shared goal of a safe and healthful workplace. If injuries or illnesses do arise, we conduct thorough investigations, with an eye toward OSHA and tort defense; and, we represent the employer throughout the state plan or federal OSHA investigation. We then provide comprehensive citation defense from the informal conference through litigation if the citations cannot be resolved. We participate in rulemaking and legal challenges to OSHA rules, conduct OSHA-related training, and create and oversee OSHA audit programs, including PSM/RMP. We also have vast experience regarding infectious disease matters. Our infectious disease and pest experience includes matters including but not limited to MRSA, TB, HIV, HBV, HCV, Scabies, Lice, HINI, SARS, HIN5, Ebola, and over 100 discrete COVID-19 compliance and OSHA defense matters.
We have maintained a premier traditional labor practice for more than six decades. Our practice includes developing and executing strategies for managing all aspects of complex labor-management relations challenges, including strategic workforce and business planning involving a unionized workforce, collective bargaining, handling grievance and arbitration proceedings, advising clients in union organizing and NLRB election matters, strike contingency planning and execution, and responding to and terminating nontraditional union organizing strategies such as corporate campaigns.
Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Labor and Employment Team has developed a niche litigation and counseling practice around the Fair Credit Reporting Act and conducting criminal background checks. Our 10+-year submersion into the background check community makes us familiar with all relevant vendors, best practices and the emerging legal theories of which employers should be aware. We have successfully litigated Disclosure and Adverse Action claims in FCRA cases against prominent national plaintiff class action firms and defended clients in EEOC systemic investigations of criminal background check policies under Title VII.
The labor and employment team also has a robust counseling practice that regularly advises multi-state employers on a variety of employment issues that impact their business, including wage-hour issues, implementation of arbitration agreements, sick pay and leave laws, drug-testing compliance (including the evolving cannabis laws), restrictive covenant agreements, accommodations processes, reductions in force, and ESG matters, among others. Our teams actively monitor and keep up with these developments and proactively keep our clients apprised. We help our clients stay on top of the evolving laws and we work with them to develop policies and practices that meet their business objectives within the legal landscape.
Updated Sep 2023
