Joel O'Malley is a senior associate in Dorsey's Labor & Employment practice group. His practice focuses on employment litigation and advice, labor arbitrations, and labor relations advice. He is licensed to practice in Minnesota, California, and Oregon.
Joel represents large and small corporations in employment litigation involving race, gender, national origin, religion, disability, and age retaliation and discrimination; federal and state leave laws (including the Family Medical Leave Act); sexual harassment; and wage and hour claims. His representation has ranged from single plaintiff cases to across-the-board class actions and multi-state wage-and-hour collective and class actions. He frequently represents employers and employees in claims involving enforcement of post-employment restrictive covenants (non-competition, non-disclosure, and non-solicitation). He also represents and advises management in labor arbitrations and traditional labor law issues.
In addition to litigation, Joel regularly counsels a wide range of corporations on labor and employment-related issues, including discipline and discharge decisions; policy creation and implementation; and California, Minnesota, and Federal wage-and-hour audits and investigations.
Joel also has extensive appellate experience. He has represented employers and pro bono clients before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Minnesota Court of Appeals, and the Minnesota Supreme Court. Before joining the firm, Joel served as a law clerk to the Honorable William J. Riley, Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals; the Honorable David R. Thompson, Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; and the Honorable Robert A. McQuaid, Jr., Magistrate Judge for the District of Nevada.