Jason C. Schwartz is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group and its Litigation Department. He also serves in the firm’s Office of General Counsel.
Mr. Schwartz practices primarily in the areas of labor, employment and trade secret litigation. He was recognized as a recommended lawyer in labor and employment litigation and workplace and employment law counseling by The Legal 500 US. His practice includes the full range of labor and employment matters, including those involving wage-hour and discrimination laws, non-competition agreements and trade secrets, Sarbanes-Oxley and other whistleblower protection laws, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).
Mr. Schwartz has litigated employment matters in state and federal courts and administrative forums throughout the country, as well as in arbitration, has represented clients before federal, state and local regulatory agencies and has conducted sensitive internal investigations. His recent representative matters include the defense of national employers in wage-hour class actions, the representation of numerous companies in high-stakes non-compete and trade secrets disputes, and the defense of a major automaker in age, race, gender and disability discrimination and ERISA litigation arising from a reduction in force. He has also successfully tried several sensitive whistleblower matters for major national employers, and he prevailed in a precedent-setting Labor Department appeal of one of the first Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower cases to proceed to trial. In a case of first impression, he successfully argued in the Utah Supreme Court against the recognition of a tort for spoliation of evidence. In addition, he recently served as lead trial counsel for a retailer in a highly-publicized OSHA enforcement action relating to crowd control at a day-after-Thanksgiving sale.
Mr. Schwartz also has significant experience in administrative law and rulemakings. He served as counsel to the Fair Labor Standards Reform Coalition, and he played a leading role in preparing comments on behalf of the business community relating to the U.S. Department of Labor’s new overtime exemption regulations. He is also a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Labor Relations Committee, and he testified before Congress regarding OSHA enforcement programs on behalf of the U.S. Chamber. He represented the Association of American Railroads in a major injury and illness rulemaking hearing before the Federal Railroad Administration. In addition, he participated in the representation of the National Association of Manufacturers in a lawsuit challenging a significant OSHA regulation, the settlement of which is published at 66 Fed. Reg. 66,943 (Dec. 27, 2001).
Mr. Schwartz frequently speaks and writes on employment law and trade secret related topics. He is the co-author of numerous articles, including “The Extraterritorial Application of the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Provisions,” 19 Employment Law Strategist 4 (August 2011); “SEC Adopts Final Rules Implementing Whistleblower Provisions of Dodd-Frank Act,” 15 Wall Street Lawyer 1 (July 2011); “Whistleblower Protection Under the SEC’s New Dodd-Frank Regulations: A Practical Guide for Employers,” 117 BNA Daily Labor Report I-1 (June 17, 2011); “U.S. SEC Adopts Final Rules Implementing Whistleblower Provisions of Dodd-Frank,” 43 BNA Securities Regulation & Law Report 1229 (June 13, 2011); “Recent Developments in Trade Secret Law: the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,” Society for Human Resource Management (June 10, 2011); “2010 Trade Secrets Litigation Round-Up,” 81 Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal 354 (Jan. 21, 2011); “A Measured Approach: Employment and Labor Law During the George W. Bush Years,” 32 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 997 (2009); “Expanding DCHRA Beyond DC Employment,” Employment Law360 (Nov. 5, 2009); “Not Your Average Whistleblower Statute,” Employment Law360 (July 31, 2009); “Evolving Employment Authorization Enforcement,” Employment Law360 (Apr. 21, 2009); and the monograph “Saga of Reform: Regulation of Worker Overtime,” published by the National Legal Center for the Public Interest in September 2004.
His recent speaking engagements and webinars include “EEOC Developments” at the Retail Industry Leaders Association Retail Law Conference; “Employment Class Certification After Wal-Mart v. Dukes,” “Employment Litigation Involving Trade Secrets: Leveraging the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to Defend Against Employee Misappropriation,” “EEO Internal Investigations: Legal and Practical Guidance for Employment Counsel” and “Protecting Trade Secrets When Key Employees Move to Competitors,” sponsored by Strafford Publications; “New Whistleblower Provisions of the US Financial Reform: Impacts on Your Compliance and Hotline Programs” and “Practitioner’s Guide to Social Media,” both sponsored by the General Counsel Roundtable and the Compliance and Ethics Leadership Council; “Employee Wellness Programs,” sponsored by the Benefits Roundtable; and “Drafting & Enforcing Noncompetes: Keys to Protect Your Trade Secrets” and “Defending & Litigating Wage & Hour Class Actions” for the National Constitution Center. He also served as moderator of a panel of federal judges at a recent American Conference Institute Employment Discrimination Litigation conference.
Mr. Schwartz earned his law degree magna cum laude from The Georgetown University Law Center, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and received the George Brent Mickum III Prize and the Charles A. Keigwin Award for the best academic record in first year courses. From 1995 to 1996, Mr. Schwartz worked as a Legislative Assistant to Congressman Jon D. Fox. Mr. Schwartz received a B.A. degree in international affairs cum laude in 1994 from the George Washington University.
Mr. Schwartz is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland, as well as in numerous federal courts. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, and provides pro bono employment counsel to numerous community organizations.