Sean J. Oliveira

Sean Oliveira is an associate in the St. Louis office of Ogletree Deakins. A California, Bay Area native, Sean received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Philosophy from the University of California at Santa Cruz.  He graduated with an employment law concentration from St. Louis University School of Law and acted as Articles Editor with the ABA Labor and Employment Law Journal.

Sean joined the firm with fifteen years of experience as a federal investigator with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  During his time as an investigator, he handled all aspects of the administrative process, including systemic and class investigations and the negotiation of complex conciliations under every type of discrimination claim. He was also deeply involved in providing training on the anti-discrimination statutes before large and small employers and ultimately served on an EEOC committee formed to make recommendations regarding Quality Practices for Effective Investigations and Conciliations. 

Sean has brought his investigator experience and deep understanding of administrative agencies into advising and defending employers before numerous federal agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor; and across multiple state and local agencies such as the California State Department of Fair Employment And Housing, the Idaho Human Rights Commission, the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, the Missouri Commission on Human Rights, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the Washington State Human Rights Commission.  Colleagues and clients nationwide alike seek Sean’s breadth of agency knowledge in responding to and defending against agency overreach.  

Equally during his time as an attorney, Sean has successfully defended public and private employers in both state and federal court in multiple districts and across a variety of employment related claims, settling cases and winning multiple motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, and working with the firm’s appellate team to craft winning briefs. Sean works to determine his clients’ legal and practical needs related to employment law and then does not stop until he gets the best possible outcome.

Sean has also continued to utilize both his workplace investigatory skills and ability to train large and small audiences. He is often asked to provide workplace investigations or to speak on employment law. Sean has provided presentations to groups large and small, at conferences and trainings, and before employees, supervisors, human resources groups, general counsel, and hybrid groups.