Retail

Ogletree Deakins is a retail industry leader with clients ranging from brick-and-mortar retailers to online merchants, and small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations. We represent companies in a range of retail sectors, including but not limited to:

discount stores
department stores
luxury retailers
home goods and specialty stores
home improvement centers
grocers
pharmacies
online retailers
car dealerships
pet supply stores
bookstores
electronics stores

We have unparalleled depth, experience, and resources to help retailers solve and address the problems and challenges that retailers encounter. From the sales floor to the distribution center, and from disability access requirements to wage and hour compliance, our Retail Industry Group is experienced with all facets of the retail industry and the legal issues it faces.

The Retail Industry Group is comprised of a diverse group of attorneys who are experienced in advising and representing retailers in a wide range of labor and employment matters. Our team of attorneys is spread across the country, and around the world. Our attorneys include many nationally recognized legal experts, as well as former officials of federal and state labor agencies, such as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. The Retail Industry Group also includes the executive director of the First Tuesday Group, an informal organization of trade associations which meets regularly in Washington, D.C. to discuss workplace issues impacting employers and counts many of the major trade associations serving the retail industry as its members.

Through the Retail Industry Group, Ogletree Deakins leverages its extensive industry and legal experience to recognize current problems impacting retailers and formulate best practices and solutions for trends and emerging issues in the retail industry. We also provide our retail clients with cutting-edge legal advice and strategic guidance combined with cost-effective compliance and training tools specifically designed with retailers in mind. From single-store operations to global retailers, the Retail Industry Group offers superior knowledge and value for our retail clients.

Affirmative Action and OFCCP Compliance

Ogletree Deakins understands that many retailers are government contractors and are subject to numerous rules and regulations enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and various state agencies. Members of the firm’s Affirmative Action and OFCCP Compliance Practice Group work with retailers on affirmative action programs, reporting requirements, data management, and compliance with the OFCCP’s often-changing requirements.

Benefits

Ogletree Deakins has one of the largest teams of employee benefits and executive compensation lawyers in the United States. Our highly-trained Employee Benefits practitioners advise retail clients on benefits issues, including the full array of retirement plans and welfare plans sponsored by employers in all sectors, as well as the Affordable Care Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), incentive and other bonus arrangements, and other federal statutes.

Class and Collective Actions

Ogletree Deakins has a wealth of experience defending class and collective actions brought against retailers in federal and state courts across the country, as well as with enforcement actions brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of a class of employees. This experience extends to claims arising under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), ERISA, the Equal Pay Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and a variety of other federal and state laws. Our Class Action attorneys have successfully defended claims brought against retailers involving allegations of discrimination, harassment, misclassification of retail managers, unlawful deductions from earnings, meal and rest period violations, and violations of other federal and state wage and hour laws. Our California Class Action Group also has particularized experience defending class and collective actions under California’s unique laws.

Data Privacy

Our Data Privacy attorneys advise retail clients on prevention of and response to data breaches, best practices regarding data storage, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance, benefits-related privacy matters (other than those involving HIPAA), data privacy requirements during cross-border mergers, and drafting or revising policies to comply with multi-jurisdictional data privacy requirements.

Disability Access

Our Disability Access lawyers have extensive experience helping retailers face the multiple challenges presented by Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other disability access laws. From defending class actions, to ensuring compliance with federal and state building standards and the laws governing website accessibility, to navigating complicated regulations such as those covering service animals and Segways, our disability access work is comprehensive.

Employment Law Counseling, Compliance, and Training

Our Employment Law practice includes day-to-day preventative counseling and policy and procedure review to ensure that our retail clients comply with the myriad federal, state, and local laws applicable to them. We advise retail clients on a wide range of human resources issues, such as employee leaves of absence, disability accommodations, gender transitions, dress codes, employee performance management, and internal investigations. We also regularly draft and update employment policies and procedures, including social media policies and employee arbitration agreements.

Employment Litigation

The lawyers in Ogletree Deakins’ Litigation Practice Group are experienced in all aspects of employment law and offer their clients advice and counsel on complex employment litigation matters, including class and collective actions. Our litigation practice includes vast experience with the multitude of federal and state laws governing the workplace, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Equal Pay Act, the ADEA, the ADA, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), the FLSA, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, and many other federal and state laws.

We represent retailers before the DOL, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), state agencies, and federal and state courts across the country. The Retail Industry Group includes many practitioners who have tried numerous employment cases on behalf of members of the retail industry.

Governmental Affairs and Regulation

Through its Governmental Affairs practice, Ogletree Deakins offers full-service legislative and regulatory affairs consulting to its retail clients. Ogletree Deakins has close working relationships with the leading trade associations serving the retail industry, as well as with Congress and the federal labor and employment agencies.

Our attorneys also provide experienced counsel to guide retailers through the complex regulatory system in the United States and to advise retailers on matters such as the U.S. Department of Transportation hours of service regulations that impact retailers’ distribution operations and state and federal Drug Testing laws and regulations.

Immigration

Ogletree Deakins has one of the largest business immigration practices in the United States and provides a wide range of legal services for retail clients seeking temporary business visas and permanent residence on behalf of foreign national employees. Our Immigration Practice Group consists of experienced and dedicated immigration lawyers who work regularly with retailers in developing appropriate strategies to facilitate the international transfer of skilled employees. Our full-service immigration practice also assists retail clients in planning for the immigration impact of mergers and acquisitions, as well as providing guidance with regard to I-9 compliance and the anti-discrimination provisions related to I-9 compliance.

International Labor and Employment

Ogletree Deakins offers cross-border solutions to the key challenges faced by retailers managing a global workforce and establishing operations overseas for the first time. Our International Practice Group assists retailers with global codes of business ethics and employee handbooks, global compensation and benefit plans, worker classifications, facilitating a mobile workforce, investigations, data privacy, reductions-in-force, restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, and works council and trade union negotiations, as well as global management training.

Labor Relations

Ogletree Deakins has considerable experience in handling complex and sophisticated Traditional Labor Relations matters for retailers. This experience extends from conventional organizing campaigns, including those seeking to certify micro bargaining units, to corporate campaigns and efforts by groups such as the Retail Action Project (RAP). It also includes experience advising and representing retailers of all sizes and types in connection with collective bargaining negotiations, strike preparations, labor arbitrations, and NLRB proceedings.

Noncompetition

Our Unfair Competition and Trade Secrets Practice Group attorneys assist retail clients to create and implement policies and practical steps to protect their valuable customer relationships, trade secrets, and other confidential information. They also help clients modify, design, and implement effective policies and agreements regarding noncompetition, invention assignment, and nonsolicitation of customers, vendors, and employees. When litigation is necessary, our attorneys provide fast, thoughtful, focused, effective, efficient, and, if necessary, aggressive representation.

Wage and Hour

Our Wage and Hour attorneys regularly conduct wage and hour audits for retail clients, design and review commission plans, and provide advice on issues such as meal and rest periods, classification of retail managers, deductions from earnings, child labor restrictions, and overtime earnings. Our attorneys have in-depth knowledge of federal laws, including the FLSA, the FMLA, and prevailing wage laws (such as the Davis-Bacon Act), as well as comparable state laws. Our California Wage and Hour Practice Group has detailed knowledge of and experience with all aspects of California’s wage and hour laws.

Workplace Safety and Health

Ogletree Deakins’ Workplace Safety and Health attorneys engage in a nationwide practice that includes the representation of retail clients in all aspects of workplace safety and health. Our attorneys understand the specific and unique health and safety issues that can arise on the sales floor, in distribution facilities, and beyond. We work with retail clients on active shooter policies, workplace violence policies, investigations of workplace accidents, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspections and whistleblower complaints on safety issues, negotiation and resolution and/or litigation and trial of OSHA citations, as well as best practices and safety and health audits.