Butler, Wendy C.

Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Wendy Butler's practice focuses on the defense of management clients in employment-related litigation. She handles a broad range of cases, from individual employment disputes to multiplaintiff and class action litigation. Her experience is particularly deep in wage/hour, discrimination, and ERISA claims. Of late, she has been involved in the defense of complex wage/hour litigation, where she has taken a lead role in briefing key discovery motions and developing the factual record for opposition to class or collective action treatment. Her wage/hour experience includes the use of database and other technologies to coordinate document productions and discovery strategies in multiforum litigation.

Wendy has extensive experience with individual employment discrimination claims, which she has successfully defended on summary judgment and at trial. She has also handled ERISA cases on behalf of employers and insurance companies. Her ERISA work encompasses benefits and fiduciary duty claims and ranges from individual to multiplaintiff cases.

In addition to her litigation responsibilities, Wendy advises clients on a variety of employment issues. She has provided guidance to companies on the internal investigation of employee complaints, including discrimination, sexual harassment, and Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower complaints. She also counsels employers regarding day-to-day litigation avoidance practices. She has conducted training programs for management personnel on such topics as sexual harassment, the ADA, and the FMLA.

Wendy practiced in the Firm's Atlanta Office from 1997 until May 2002. Before attending law school, Wendy worked for a year in Costa Rica and then with the Hispanic Project of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society.

Areas of Practice

• Labor & Employment

Representative Cases

• Aetna obtains dismissal of whistleblower claim under Sarbanes-Oxley Act , (2009)
• GE prevails in bench trial involving former employee's retaliation claims
• Harsco Corp acquires steel mill services business for $229 million
• IBM settles FLSA and ERISA class action involving technical support workers' exempt status , (2009)
• NationsBank prevails on summary judgment and defends appeal in case involving ERISA benefits and fiduciary claims
• Pfizer defends against multiplaintiff cases involving claims for severance benefits under ERISA
• Wal-Mart coordinates discovery in various wage and hour class actions nationwide
• Westinghouse successfully defeats class certification in race discrimination action

West Practice Categories

Collective Bargaining, Labor Arbitration, Labor Disputes, Labor Law, Labor Legislation, Labor Relations Boards & Proceedings, Unfair Labor Practices, Unions, Wage & Hour Laws, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act

Bar Admissions

• New York

Education

• U of Texas - Austin
• Yale University

Published Works

• ALERT: New York Department of Labor Revises WARN Regulations, 2010
• ALERT: New York WARN Act Imposes Additional Requirements, 2008
• Preliminary Reinstatement Under Sarbanes-Oxley, New York Law Journal, 2006

Address

222 East 41st Street
New York, NY 10017-6702

Phones

1.212.326.7822 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.212.755.7306 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com