Workforce Bulletin

Recently, in Lewis v. Crochet et al., the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected an attempt by a plaintiff to use the crime-fraud exception to the attorney-client privilege to compel two lawyers’ production of attorney-client privileged documents and information, which they obtained during the course of an investigation they conducted for Louisiana State University in 2013.

Lewis arose out of a lawsuit filed by the plaintiff, an African American woman formerly employed as an assistant athletic director for LSU, claiming that LSU and individual LSU board members discriminated and retaliated against her after she experienced and witnessed numerous instances of racist and sexist misconduct from LSU’s then-head football coach. The privilege dispute came to a head when plaintiff sought to compel LSU’s production of information from the 2013 Title IX investigation into sexual harassment allegations by LSU students against the then-head coach. Those documents remained in the possession of the law firm that conducted the investigation. Attempting to overcome LSU’s assertion of the attorney-client privilege, plaintiff invoked the crime-fraud exception arguing that LSU sought to use its lawyers to fraudulently conceal the documents in violation of Louisiana law prohibiting, among other things, the concealment of public records. The trial court agreed and ordered disclosure, but on an appeal filed by the two lawyers that conducted the 2013 investigation, the Fifth Circuit reversed.

In the financial services industry, investigations by the government or self-regulatory organizations are commonplace, and because they inevitably involve employee conduct (or misconduct), there is frequently an internal employment-related investigatory component. With potential financial liability and reputational harm ever-present, the strength of a company’s investigatory process is critical.

In a recent video webinar, John F. Fullerton III, co-leader of Epstein Becker & Green’s Financial Industry Service Team, spoke about when materials related to an ...

A recent blog post by Susan Fowler, a former software engineer at Uber, and the author of two books regarding software engineering, has once again drawn national attention to the issue of the underrepresentation of women in the technology industry. Her story has received extensive media coverage, and Uber has retained former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate Ms. Fowler’s allegations. Further, the allegations appear to have reinvigorated the #DeleteUber social media campaign.

Ms. Fowler’s account describes a plethora of employment law issues, in particular ...

Epstein Becker Green is pleased to announce the availability of a Wage and Hour Division Investigation Checklist, which provides hospitality employers with valuable information about wage and hour investigations and audits conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Like EBG’s first-of-its kind Wage and Hour App, which provides detailed information about federal and state laws, the Checklist is a free resource offered by EBG.

The Checklist provides step-by-step guidance on the following issues: preparation before a Wage and Hour Division investigation of the DOL; ...

Epstein Becker Green is pleased to announce the availability of a Wage and Hour Division Investigation Checklist, which provides retail employers with valuable information about wage and hour investigations and audits conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Like EBG’s first-of-its kind Wage and Hour App, which provides detailed information about federal and state laws, the Checklist is a free resource offered by EBG.

The Checklist provides step-by-step guidance on the following issues: preparation before a Wage and Hour Division investigation of the DOL; ...

Guest Post By: H. David Kotz

H. David Kotz is a Managing Director at Gryphon Strategies, a full-service investigation firm, which he joined in January 2012 after serving for over four years as the Inspector General for the SEC.  He was a guest speaker at Epstein Becker & Green’s March 7, 2012 breakfast briefing, “2012’s Key Issues for Financial Services Employers.”

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Whistleblower program reported on March 14, 2012 that the SEC Whistleblower program has been receiving a continuous volume of complaints since the ...

By Forrest G. Read, IV and Eric J. Conn

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) announced earlier this month a new policy disguised as a nod to enhancing employee participation in CSB investigations, but which may actually represent a dramatic limitation in the investigation rights of both employees and employers.  The new policy expands the role of non-management employees in the CSB’s investigations into the causes of chemical accidents that occur at industrial facilities, but does so at the expense of employers’ involvement and employees’ rights.

By ...