We are skilled at defending employers against all manner of employment discrimination and harassment complaints, both in court and before administrative agencies. We are regularly involved in defending high profile, sensitive discrimination and equal pay complaints, often with a cross-border element and requiring industry-specific knowledge.

Our highly experienced workplace investigations team conducts thorough, insightful and discreet investigations and—where appropriate—identifies internal policies, procedures or practices that may have been misapplied or unenforced. We routinely detail steps that a company should—or must—take to prevent future occurrences and recommend remedial actions to regain trust and demonstrate accountability to employees, clients and the general public.

• We are defending a financial services institution in a gender discrimination claim brought by a male trader alleging he was passed over for promotion in favor of a female colleague.
• We defended a multinational bank in a sexual discrimination claim with respect to employment terms, remuneration and promotion opportunities.
• We are defending a leading electric scooter company in putative class actions alleging Americans with Disabilities Act and state-law disability violations by both the company and municipalities involving access to sidewalks and related areas as a result of scooter usage.
• We investigated allegations of inappropriate behavior, including comments related to workplace diversity issues, by an employee of a Japanese corporation. After the investigation, we made a recommendation as to next steps with regard to the employee and trained the employee on appropriate workplace conduct.
• We conducted a workplace diversity investigation for a financial services client across Europe and Asia, using teams of employment lawyers based in our London and Hong Kong offices.
• We defended a charge of discrimination for a skilled nursing facility before the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and are defending a lawsuit pending in federal court alleging claims of disability discrimination, failure to accommodate and retaliation.
• We are defending a global consulting firm on an equal pay claim where certain of the parties are based out of the jurisdiction.
• We advised a client in relation to a harassment investigation in the UK, which included detailed advice in relation to its regulatory reporting obligations, working closely with members of the Mayer Brown regulatory group.

We regularly provide strategic counseling to companies on the development of policies and procedures to address DE&I issues and help companies craft, implement and defend successful and lawful programs. We also help clients analyze their current employee DE&I-related metrics, identify areas for improvement (such as recruitment and retention), and develop and implement necessary changes.

• We are advising a global manufacturer about processing its employees’ diversity and inclusion data in more than 50 jurisdictions, including the development of an online tool to facilitate communication and ongoing access to data for the global team.
• We have advised an international insurance provider on introducing diversity data gathering and sharing across its jurisdictions.
• We have audited gender treatment metrics for a French subsidiary of a global technology company and subsequently implemented the gender equality index required by French labor law. We update this index annually.
• We advised a global law firm on the introduction of proposed ethnicity targets for promotion/employment of partners.

Pay equity studies and related litigation center around the pay gaps that have been documented in the market between female employees and male employees in many countries, as well as among employees of different backgrounds. We consult with our clients in the structuring of equitable merit-based pay systems and analysis of pay equity gaps in their workforce and work closely with world class statistical experts. We also defend investigations and litigation centered on pay and promotion equity.

• We successfully represented a global financial services firm in defending against allegations by several senior female employees that the firm’s promotion and pay structure indirectly or directly discriminated against women, resulting in lower promotion statistics, lower pay and less successful career paths than for men.
• We represented a financial services firm in defending against allegations that its pay practices had the effect of discriminating against African-American employees.
• We advised a global client on a UK-based pay gap review in partnership with a well-known statistical expert.
• We work with statistical experts to assist clients in structuring pay systems to be consistent and merit-based, without regard to race, gender or other legally protected characteristics.
• We advise clients on compliance with laws requiring reporting of pay information in the US, UK, and globally.

We regularly work with clients to develop and present practical training materials for both supervisory and non-supervisory employees on a wide range of DE&I issues and support clients in complying with related legal requirements, often across multiple jurisdictions. Recent client trainings include:

• Respect in the Workplace: Discrimination and Harassment
• Diversity/discrimination trends across the EU, UK and US
• Effective Communication Techniques & Becoming an Upstander
• Hong Kong Discrimination Ordinances
• Enhanced Benefits and Protection for Working Moms
• The Why and How for Embracing LGBTQ+ Diversity

Our lawyers regularly counsel clients on their corporate governance requirements under relevant codes of conduct, exchange listing standards, regulations and legislation, at both global and regional levels.

We bring together highly experienced lawyers from across our practices to help both public and private companies establish and maintain a comprehensive governance framework, including for key diversity considerations, which allows directors and senior managers to more effectively guide their organizations in an increasingly complex and interconnected global environment.

Our advice, where needed, also extends to advising directors and senior management on their adherence to individual accountability rules, as well as managing activist investors. This includes advising clients on social aspects of their corporate governance, such as board diversity; drafting and reviewing governance-related policies; liaising with regulators; and assisting with filings where required.