Katharine Parker is a Partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Employment Law Counseling & Training Group and Government Relations & Contract Compliance Group.
Katharine has extensive experience litigating employment disputes of all types, including claims alleging race, age, disability, and sex discrimination, retaliation, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, violations of wage and hour laws, and breach of contract. She has represented employers in single and multiple plaintiff, collective action, class action, and EEOC pattern and practice cases before federal and state courts and administrative agencies, and in various arbitration forums.
Complementing her employment practice, Katharine represents employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries and/or service providers in connection with lawsuits arising from single participant benefit claims and class actions. She has litigated the full range of employee benefit-related matters, including claims for medical, long-term disability, and pension benefits, as well as breach of fiduciary duty, in connection with the administration of 401(k) and other benefit plans and investments of plan assets.
Representative litigations include the defense of:
-
Title VII class action involving claims of race discrimination in promotion and discipline and implementation and defense of claims in complex settlement claims process
-
Publisher in arbitration involving alleged breach of employment and asset purchase agreement
-
Alleged fiduciary in major ERISA class action arising out of investment in company stock
-
Trustees of several multiemployer welfare plans in complex ERISA class action involving claims of breach of fiduciary duty
-
Multi-plaintiff ERISA action involving alleged breaches of fiduciary duty and benefit claims arising out of change in severance policy
-
Various companies in single and multi-plaintiff age, religious, disability, race, harassment and gender discrimination claims
-
Management in complex interest arbitration
-
Employer in three related complex NYSE arbitrations involving claims of breach of contract, promissory estoppel, negligent hiring, and management
-
Board of Trustees and municipality of public pension fund in a 45,000+ person class action litigation involving challenges to actuarial calculations of pensions
In addition to litigation, Katharine’s clients regularly call on her to provide advice on compliance with various laws affecting the workplace, including the FMLA, ADEA, Title VII, ADA, FLSA, and state wage and hour laws. She has extensive experience in assisting companies in the planning and execution of reductions in force, mergers, and other organizational changes affecting employees. Katharine assists clients in all aspects of planning and implementing Affirmative Action Plans and Diversity Programs, in conducting self-audits of employment practices and policies and compensation, and defending OFCCP audits. She also is frequently called upon to conduct internal investigations of discrimination and harassment issues.
Katharine speaks and writes on a variety of topics, including the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, glass ceiling litigation, Title VII, ethics in employment law, ADA, FLSA, whistleblowing laws, internal investigations, and the FMLA. She also conducts management training with regard to EEO and anti-harassment laws, as well as hiring, evaluating, and terminating employees. In addition, she has taught classes on glass ceiling issues for Cornell University's extension program and as an adjunct professor of employment law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She has appeared on Fox News and WCBS News.