Jonathan D. Lotsoff

Jonathan also has prosecuted and defended against restrictive covenant and business tort claims, including for breach of noncompetition and customer/employee nonsolicitation covenants, trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, breach of fiduciary duty, and tortious interference.

Additionally, Jonathan litigates wrongful termination claims, executive compensation disputes, contract claims, and other employment-related claims. He handles cases in federal and state courts, before administrative agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the US Department of Labor, and in arbitrations. Jonathan also litigates union-management disputes, including labor arbitrations under collective-bargaining agreements, unfair labor practice charges under the National Labor Relations Act, and lawsuits involving challenges to arbitrability.

Jonathan advises professional services firms, manufacturers, technology companies, and other employers, large and small, on issues arising at all stages of the employment relationship, including employment and wage and hour class and collective action avoidance; the use of employee background checks and medical exams; hiring employees subject to restrictive covenants; social media and electronic communications policies; disciplinary matters; family and medical leaves; requests for reasonable accommodation of disabilities and religious practices; reductions in force; individual employment terminations; and post-employment contractual fiduciary and other obligations. He also drafts and counsels clients on employee handbooks and policies, mediation/arbitration agreements and programs, and employee training.

He is experienced in assisting clients in protecting their confidential business information and key business relationships using noncompetition covenants, customer/client nonsolicitation covenants, employee "anti-raiding" covenants, confidentiality agreements and other restrictive covenants. He also negotiates, drafts and counsels clients on a variety of employment-related agreements, including executive and other employment contracts, consulting agreements, employee leasing agreements, retention agreements, and severance and termination agreements.

Jonathan regularly handles and advises on employment and labor issues that arise in corporate acquisitions, divestitures and other transactions, including analysis of employment and labor-related legal risks; negotiation of representations, warranties, covenants and indemnities in transactional documents; preparation of employment and other agreements for key employees; and counseling with respect to downsizing and integration issues.

Jonathan is committed to giving back to the community. He has represented a wide range of civic, cultural, educational and other nonprofit organizations on a pro bono basis in a variety of employment matters. Examples include his longstanding representation of a Chicago museum and a Chicago-area charter school in various employment litigation and counseling matters.

Before joining Morgan Lewis, Jonathan was a partner at another global law firm for over 25 years.

Litigation

• Represented a top international accounting and consulting firm in a pending nationwide gender discrimination class and collective action under Title VII and the Equal Pay Act
• Represented a Fortune 50 company in a pending class/collective action involving call center employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state law seeking overtime pay for alleged "off-the-clock" work, including pre- and post-shift and meal break claims and allegations of liability based on electronic system time-stamp data
• Obtained summary judgment for a major professional services firm in an arbitration of an employment discrimination claim brought by a partner alleging employee status, and in a class/collective action challenging the exempt status of entry level professional employees
• Represented a major energy client in a "reverse" discrimination class action brought by male employees under Title VII, including successful settlement following denial of class certification
• Litigated, and successfully resolved following mediation, class/collective action claims against a Fortune 50 company under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state law seeking overtime pay for "donning and doffing" of protective gear allegedly required due to workplace chemical exposures, and claims against a Fortune 500 technology company alleging WARN Act violations and fraud
• Represented another Fortune 50 company in multi-plaintiff employment litigation involving a state right-of-conscience/religious freedom law as well as related litigation against a state agency over regulations alleged to require conduct in violation of that law, resulting in a favorable negotiated revised regulation favorable
• Obtained preliminary injunctions enforcing restrictive covenants against a former key wealth management professional of a national accounting and consulting firm, and against a former executive of a leading global insurance brokerage firm who started a competing firm
• Served as trial counsel for a Fortune 500 energy client in dozens of labor arbitrations, resulting in favorable awards in matters including significant company-wide layoffs and high-value subcontracting disputes, and obtaining summary judgment for this client in federal court on its claim that a union's grievances over a security guard's discharge from a nuclear plant due to trustworthiness concerns were not arbitrable under the collective bargaining agreement
• Represented a major national print and broadcast media company debtor in employment and executive compensation matters arising from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, including successfully serving as lead trial counsel in several contested evidentiary hearings before the Bankruptcy Court to approve executive compensation plans

Counseling

• Advised a national insurance company on a significant reduction in force arising from a major acquisition, including analysis of disparate impact issues and the preparation of WARN Act notices and Older Workers Benefit Protection Act "decisional unit" disclosures
• Assisted an industry-leading microelectronics manufacturer with the implementation of restrictive covenants and operational protocols to protect trade secrets and confidential information following its opening of a research and development facility in California
• Counseled a preeminent professional services firm on the implementation of employee arbitration agreements nationwide, including unique issues raised by the firm's federal contractor status
• Advised an international accounting and consulting firm on attorney-client privilege, privacy, and confidentiality issues arising from their internal investigation protocols

Transactional

• Represented a large insurer in negotiations, transactional agreement drafting, diligence. and other employment-related aspects of a $1.5 billion acquisition
• Handled employment-related negotiations, drafting, and diligence for a professional services firm's multi-state acquisitions, including advice with respect to restrictive covenant and litigation matters
• Advised foreign and domestic clients on labor union issues arising from asset acquisitions, including assumption of collective bargaining agreements, union recognition, labor agreement and effects bargaining issues, and labor disputes
• Advised private equity firms and hedge funds on employment and labor-related integration and divestiture issues