Practice Areas
Joel focuses exclusively on employment litigation defense, with a specialty in class litigation defense. He defends employers against an array of claims, including those under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, state discrimination laws and state tort law.
In recent years, Joel first-chaired two trials where the defense won both verdicts, and he was second chair in a collective action trial, where he helped secure a decertification of the class after one week. Joel also has secured more than 20 summary judgments on the executive exemption as applied to retail store managers in federal courts located in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 10th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals
He has a wealth of experience defending employment class actions and wage-and-hour collective actions. Over the last several years, teams led by Joel have been successful in denying over 10 certification requests under Rule 23 and the FLSA. The claims in these class and collective actions have included claims of misclassification of managers, meal and rest breaks, compensable time claims and final wage claims.
Joel also has experience in defending employers in connection with U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration complaints and investigations brought by the Chemical Safety Board.