Robert S. Dowd, Jr. has experience in employment law including litigating wrongful discharge, discrimination, sexual and other forms of harassment, retaliation and class action wage and hour claims under state and federal law, negotiating of separation and severance agreements, preparing employment handbooks, and counseling individuals and businesses on a wide variety of employment matters and disputes.

 

Bob’s employment law practice has focused on claims involving violations of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, New Jersey’s whistleblower statute and wage and hour laws, sexual harassment, as well as the negotiation of severance agreements, particularly in the pharmaceutical and financial services sectors. Bob regularly represents employees as well as employers, giving him a perspective that provides a valuable advantage to his clients. He has obtained scores of confidential pre-suit settlements on behalf of employees claiming wrongful termination, and secured dismissals or minimal settlements of filed claims against employers for discrimination or sexual harassment.

 

Among the significant cases in which Bob has been involved on behalf of terminated employees is Turner v. Schering-Plough, 901 F. 2d 335 (3d Cir. 1990), where the appellate court reversed the trial court's dismissal of a terminated executive's age discrimination claim in a novel case involving the burden of proof in employment litigation.

 

Bob has been a speaker at employment law seminars and published articles in this area of the law, including those listed below. He has participated as a “Master of the Bench” in the New Jersey Sidney Reitman Employment Law Inn of Court.

 

Bob is a member of the Labor and Employment Section of the New Jersey Bar Association.

 

Publications:

• "A Little Knowledge Can Be a Dangerous Thing (Several Issues to Consider before Litigating a Noncompete Case),” The New Jersey Law Journal

• “Defining the Contours of Individual Liability Under the NJLAD for Aiding and Abetting Sexual Harassment,” The Bergen Barrister

 

Seminar:

• Taking Your Company's Temperature: Do Your Personnel Practices Comply with Recent Developments in NJ & NY Employment Law?

 

Representative Matters:

• Obtained multi-million-dollar settlement of Federal District Court collective action on behalf of employees mischaracterized as independent contractors for claims of wage and hour violations under Federal Fair Labor Standards Act and New Jersey State Wage and Hour Laws.

• Obtained numerous six-figure settlements and one seven-figure settlement of employees after filing litigation against employers for claims of discrimination, whistle-blowing violations and sexual harassment.

• Secured pre-discovery de minimus settlement of sexual harassment claim against principal of financial services company after participation in independent investigation of alleged conduct.

• Achieved favorable settlement after entry of preliminary injunction against former employee executive who resigned and took electronic copies of proprietary information including customer lists.

• Secured favorable settlement within one month of initiation of suit against client company that hired executives bound by restrictive covenant to former employer.

• As part of litigation team representing the plaintiff class in the largest wage and hour class action to that date in New Jersey, settled claim involving Poland Spring and approximately 600 of its New Jersey-based drivers who alleged entitlement to overtime. The class action, which raised a number of novel employment law issues, was settled for approximately $5 million.