
Joel’s diverse employment law practice comprises six areas: restrictive covenant and trade secret disputes, class and collective action defense, California employment law expertise, appellate advocacy, single plaintiff litigation, and HR counseling and advice.
As a Shareholder, Joel prosecutes and defends against non-competition, non-solicitation, and misappropriation claims in federal and state courts throughout the country, with particular expertise defending complex multi-party litigation when a group of employees jointly move their skills or business to a new employer. Joel defends companies against class litigation, including wage-and-hour and other representative claims. He lends his California expertise to companies nationwide, helping multi-state employers comply with, and defend litigation regarding California’s unique employment laws. He has a proven track record winning appeals before federal and state appellate courts, drawing upon his multiple federal circuit court clerkships. Joel rounds out his practice by advising and litigating a full range of employment disputes involving discipline and discharge; wage-and-hour compliance; race, age, sex, and disability discrimination suits; and whistleblower and retaliation claims.
Key Practice Experience
- Non-compete and trade secret litigation
- FLSA/Wage-and-hour defense
- Discrimination defense
- California employment law compliance
- Whistleblower defense
- Executive agreements and severance
- Preventative employment counseling
- Workplace investigations
- Trials and arbitrations
Clerkships
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, Honorable William J. Riley, 2005-2006
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Honorable David R. Thompson, 2004-2005
- District of Nevada, Honorable Robert A. McQuaid, Jr., 2004-2004
Key Industry Experience
- Manufacturing
- Startups/Emerging Businesses
- Retail
- Food/Beverage
- Health Care
Representative Matters
Trade Secret and Restrictive Covenant Litigation
- Piper Sandler & Co. v. Gonzalez (D. Minn.) – Defeated motion for temporary restraining order and motion for expedited discovery on claim of breach of customer non-solicitation agreement in financial services industry.
- C.H. Robinson Worldwide v. Traffic Tech (8th Cir.) – Obtained reversal of summary judgment on breach of non-solicit claims and improper application of state choice-of-law rules.
- Boston Scientific v. Shockwave Medical (Minn. Dist. Ct.) – Defeated motion for temporary restraining order, and subsequent motion for temporary injunction following expedited discovery. Court found on both motions that Boston Scientific completely failed to show even a single factor supported injunctive relief, leading Boston Scientific to dismiss all its claims with prejudice.
- Miller v. Honkamp Krueger Financial Services (8th Cir.) – Obtained reversal of improvidently granted injunction in non-compete and customer non-solicit case under South Dakota law.
- BTM Global Consulting v. Centium Consulting (Minn. Dist. Ct.) – Obtained summary judgment on misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of non-compete, breach of confidentiality, and related tortious interference claims in dispute between NetSuite implementation companies.
- J. Swanson & Co. v. Ighodaro Consulting (Minn. Dist. Ct.) – Defeated motion for temporary injunction on sale-of-business non-compete claim.
- ImageTrend, Inc. v. Locality Media, Inc. (D. Minn.) – Obtained dismissal of trade secret misappropriation, tortious interference, and corporate defamation claims in dispute between computer software companies.
- Fulton v. Honkamp Krueger Financial Services (D. Minn.); Moeschler v. Honkamp Krueger Financial Services (D. Minn.); Honkamp Krueger Financial Services v. Anderson and Straumanis (Iowa Dist. Ct.) – Defeated multiple motions for temporary injunctions in non-compete and customer non-solicit cases under Iowa and Minnesota law.
- Smart Express, Inc. v. Precision Diagnostics, Inc. (Minn. Dist. Ct.) – Defeated motions for temporary restraining order in non-compete and customer non-solicit case, with court finding every factor favored defendants.
- IWCO v. Nahan (Minn. Dist. Ct.) – Defeated motion for temporary restraining order in trade secrets dispute between direct marketing competitors.
- PMT v. Fredrickson (Minn. Dist. Ct.) – Obtained six-figure sanctions award for discovery misconduct against opposing party and its counsel following two-day evidentiary hearing.
- Mental Health Resources, Inc. v. ExpanseMN (Minn. Dist. Ct.) – Defeated motion for temporary injunction seeking enforcement of sale-of-business and employment-based non-compete agreements in mental health industry.
- Duncan LLC v. Allied Valve, Inc. (Minn. Dist. Ct.) – Defeated motion for temporary restraining order in breach of confidentiality and trade secrets dispute.
- Cambria Company LLC v. Mohawk Industries, Inc., Dal-Tile Tennessee, LLC and Schumann (D. Minn.) – Successfully opposed motion for preliminary injunction alleging inevitable disclosure of trade secrets and breach of contractual confidentiality provision.
- Prime Therapeutics LLC v. Maxor National Pharmacy Services, LLC (D. Minn.) – Defeated injunction motion seeking to prevent high-level executive from becoming employed by competitor based on implementation of phased job duties negating alleged inevitable disclosure of trade secrets.
- C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. v. Tu (D. Minn.) – Defeated motion for judgment on the pleadings arguing unenforceability of restrictive covenant agreement.
- St. Jude Medical S.C., Inc. v. Suchomel (D. Minn.) – Defeated motion to dismiss term-of-years agreement as allegedly violating California public policy.
- PCM Sales, Inc. v. [Employee] (C.D. Cal.) – Negotiated confidential settlement agreement requiring 10-month customer non-solicit for California employee based on stolen trade secrets.
- Nilfisk, Inc. v. Liss (D. Minn.) – Obtained temporary restraining order prohibiting competing employment by former sales director employee.
- TelCom Construction Inc. v. Michael Simon and MP Nexlevel, LLC (Minn. Dist. Ct.) – After replacing prior counsel, obtained vacatur of previously entered temporary injunction and obtained summary judgment on non-compete and tortious interference claims.
- Achieved multimillion-dollar settlement during three-week jury trial involving claims for breach of non-solicitation agreement, tortious interference, and misappropriation of trade secrets.
- Prosecuted restrictive covenant claims against former sales and executive employees in Iowa, Minnesota, New York, and California for national media company.
- Enforced Minnesota forum-selection clause and non-solicitation agreement against former New Jersey sales manager.
- Obtained injunctions and monetary settlements against former sales employees of national technology company in California, New York, and Oregon.
- Enforced Minnesota forum-selection clause against California sales employee and imposed non-solicitation obligations.
- Reached favorable settlement for national insurance company after injunction hearing against former executives.
- Enforced non-competition agreements against former employees of Minnesota healthcare provider.
- Represented national printing company in defense of non-competition claims involving hiring of new executive employee.
Wage-and-Hour Litigation
- Represented national technology company in California, New York, and nationwide FLSA and state law hybrid action alleging meal and rest break, overtime, and derivative claims.
- Achieved favorable settlements for national restaurant chain in Minnesota, Illinois, and FLSA tip-sharing and unpaid overtime cases.
- Negotiated nuisance-value settlement in Florida off-the-clock wait staff class action.
- Represented national manufacturing company in California meal and rest break and off-the-clock case.
- Member of team that conducted company-wide wage-and-hour exemption classification audit of national medical device company Investigated harassment claims leading to termination of company CEO.
- Obtained early pre-discovery resolution for national clothing retailer in California meal and rest break and off-the-clock cases.
- Member of team that defended national utility company in Minnesota off-the-clock case, obtaining favorable settlement days before trial.
Employment Litigation
- [Employee] v. [National Insurance Company] – Obtained summary judgment in multiple arbitrations on California employment and wage-and-hour claims.
- Sheeks v. CNH Industrial (D. Neb.) – Obtained partial summary judgment on FMLA retaliation claim.
- Represented multiple defendants in plaintiff and defendant class action involving social media recruiting advertisements
- Represented national technology company in defense of race, gender, age, and disability claims by employees in New York, New Jersey, and California.
- Defended manufacturing client in nationwide putative class action alleging across-the-board age discrimination under Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
- Managed investigation of multiple members of executive team of national company involving whistleblower, harassment, and retaliation allegations.
- Represented financial services company in Eighth Circuit appeal of race discrimination claims.
- Represented janitorial services company in Eighth Circuit appeal of sexual harassment claims by eleven employees.
- Won summary judgment for retail grocer in disability discrimination and Family and Medical Leave Act litigation.
- Obtained affirmance of summary judgment for national energy company in Eighth Circuit appeal of Equal Pay Act claims of three employees.
- Member of team that defended client in putative class action alleging across-the-board age discrimination under Minnesota law.
Recognition and Honors
- Labor & Employment Star, Benchmark Litigation
- MSBA North Star Lawyer, 2013, 2014 and 2016
Publications and Presentations
Select Publications
- “What Makes Minnesota tip-pooling Laws Unique,” Minnesota Lawyer, April 2, 2018
- Co-Author, Minnesota chapter, Employment at Will: A State-by-State Survey 2014 Supplement, Bloomberg BNA, 2014
- Co-Author, Chapter 7, The Federal District of Minnesota Civil Practice Deskbook, Minnesota CLE, 2014
- Co-Author, Chapter 9, The ADA Handbook, Minnesota CLE, 2013
- “The Developing Labor Law: The Board, the Courts, and the National Labor Relations Act,” Contributing Editor, ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, 5th Ed., 2007-2013
- “The Indulgence of Reasonable Presumptions: Federal Court Contractual Jury Trial Waivers,” 102 Mich. L. Rev. 104, 2004
Select Presentations
- “Non-Competes, Non-Solicits and Other Restrictive Covenants – How Proposed State and Federal Laws May Impact Advisory and Litigation Strategies,” Minnesota CLE, 2023 Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute, May 18-19, 2023
- “No-Poach, Non-Solicit, and Non-Compete Agreements – How to Vet Applicants for Existing Agreements, Weigh Risks and Benefits of Proceeding with Job Offers, and Handle Onboarding,” Minnesota CLE, Hiring Employees, January 25, 2023
- “Complex Restrictive Covenant Topics for the Advanced Practitioner,” Minnesota CLE, Drafting, Negotiating, and Enforcing Non-Competes and Other Restrictive Covenants, September 20, 2022
- “Complex Restrictive Covenant Topics for the Advanced Practitioner,” Minnesota CLE, 2022 Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute, May 23, 2022
- “One-Size-Fits-None: Practical Tips For National Employers On Developing And Enforcing A National Non-Compete Program,” ALFA International Client Seminar, March 3-6, 2022
- “Labor & Employment Lessons Learned from the Pandemic,” ALFA International Labor & Employment Seminar, February 2-4 2022
- “Legal Ethics and the New Sysdyne Defense in Restrictive Covenant Litigation – How the New Employer’s ‘Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card’ Can Land Lawyers in Hot Water,” Minnesota CLE, Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute, May 24, 2021
- “Enforceable Non-Competes Her and Afar – Concrete Guidance in Light of New Laws,” Minnesota CLE, 2021 Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute, September 15, 2020
- “How to Create Enforceable and Effective Restrictive Covenants,” Minnesota CLE, October 7, 2019
- “Is that Facebook Recruitment Ad Discriminatory? Employers Facing Age Discrimination Class Actions,” ALFA Labor & Employment Seminar, June 13, 2019
- “Complex Restrictive Covenant Topics for the Advanced Practitioner,” Minnesota CLE, 2019 Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute, May 20, 2019
- “Keeping Home Court Advantage…Away from California,” ALFA International Client Seminar, February 28, 2019
- “Protecting the Home Field: Creating and Enforcing Restrictive Covenants – Sophisticated Strategies for Multi-State Employers,” ALFA International L&E and Professional Liability Practice Groups, June 14, 2018
- “Creating and Enforcing Restrictive Covenants – A Deep Dive for Multi-State Employers,” Minnesota CLE, 2018 Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute, May 21, 2018
- “Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants: Protecting Assets and Litigating Disputes,” Minnesota CLE, February 20, 2018
- “Trying the Non-Compete Case: Lessons from the Trenches,” Dorsey Labor and Employment 2017 Conference, April 27, 2017
- “The Force Awakens: E-Discovery in the L&E World,” Dorsey Labor and Employment 2016 Conference, March 3, 2016
- “Brave New World: Managing Social Media,” Webinar discussion, June 17, 2015
- “Wage and Hour Laws: California,” Webinar discussion, April 16, 2015
- “Ring Around the White Collar: Exemptions, Misclassification, Independent Contractors and Overtime Calculation,” Dorsey Labor and Employment 2015 Conference, February 5, 2015
- “Mishandling Handbooks: Employers’ Biggest Mistakes in Drafting Employment Handbooks,” Webinar discussion, August 14, 2014
- “Write it Right! The Keys To Avoiding Your Document Being ‘Exhibit No. 1’,” Webinar discussion, March 20, 2014
- “Federal District of Minnesota Civil Practice Deskbook – Seminar 1: From Pre-Filing Considerations Through Discovery,” Minnesota CLE Seminar, February 25, 2014
- “ADA Reasonable Accommodation and the Interactive Process,” Minnesota CLE Seminar, December 5, 2013
- “Do as We Say, Not as They Did: More FMLA Lessons from Real Cases,” Webinar discussion, November 6, 2013
- “Minnesota Law Update,” Dorsey Employment Law Seminar, September 2013
- “Employment Law Institute: Winning ADA Litigation Strategies,” Webinar discussion, July 17, 2013
- “Do as We Say, Not as They Did: FMLA Lessons from Real Cases,” Webinar discussion, April 25, 2012
- “Perfect Attendance and Automatic Termination Policies: The Perfect Storm for Automatic Litigation,” Webinar discussion, February 16, 2012
- “Labor Law 2011 Year in Review,” Dorsey & Whitney L&E Department Breakfast Briefing, December 8, 2011
- “Same Sex Unions and Employment and Benefits Laws,” Hennepin County Bar Association, November 1, 2011
Professional Associations
- Minnesota Restaurant Association
Community Engagement
- Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, Cases and Interventions Committee
- Girl Scouts River Valleys, Former Board Member
- Yinghua Academy, Former Board Member
- Minnesota Legislature Passes Bill Limiting Future Non-Compete Agreements
- Minnesota Again Considers Banning Non-Competes
- Benchmark Litigation Recognizes Nilan Johnson Lewis
- Best Lawyers Recognizes Multiple NJL Attorneys
- Minnesota Legislature Considering Ban on Non-Competes
- Presidential Executive Order Targets Non-Compete Agreements
- In First Impression Decision, Minnesota Federal Court Applies Advice-of-Counsel Defense to Tortious Interference Claim
- Politics in the Workplace: When Political Speech Goes Against Employer Policies
- California Limits Wage Statements to California Employees
- California Employers: Internet Reimbursement for Home-bound Employees
- Employers May Face No-Hire Claims
- COVID-19 Employment Law Q&A for Hospitality Minnesota: State and Federal Requirements Impacting Employers
- Minnesota Restaurateurs: 5 Steps to Take Now to Avoid a Tip-Pooling Class-Action Lawsuit
- Minnesota Restaurateurs: Fix Your Tip Pools Before You’re Hit with a Tip-Pooling Class Action Lawsuit
- Minnesota to Ban All Non-Competes and Non-Solicits?
- California Employers: CA Supreme Court Takes Aim at Wage Laws, Contradicts Federal Law
- ABA Opines on Lawyer Non-competes, But Does It Apply to In-House Counsel?
- MN Restaurateurs: Proposed DOL Tip Credit Rule Won’t Impact Unique MN Tip-Pooling Laws
- EEOC Finds Age-Restricted Advertisements Violate ADEA
- AI & “Algorithmic Bias” in Hiring
- Food Fight: Restaurants in the Thick of Today’s Toughest Labor and Employment Challenges
- Plenty of Room at the HR California: Will Wage-and-Hour Laws in the Golden State Apply to Visitors?
- NJL Attorneys Speak at 2019 Upper Midwest Employment Law Institute
- Minnesota Restaurateurs: Get Compliant with Tip Statutes Before the Final Four
- A Business Tip Before Tipoff: Minnesota Restaurants Face Compliance Issues for Tips During Final Four
- Employers Should Immediately Review Recruitment Ad Practices Due to Facebook Class Litigation
- New Illinois Law Requires Employers to Reimburse Employee Expenses
- California Employers On the Hook for Tracking Employee Time
- In California, Ignorance of Complex Wage Laws is No Excuse
- DOJ Signals There Are Lawful “No-Poaching” Agreements
- DOL Creates Voluntary Program for Employers to Proactively Resolve Wage Issues
- Top Ten Laws Affecting California Employers in 2018
- Are Your Social Media Recruitment Practices Discriminatory? Employers Facing Age Discrimination Class Actions
- Minnesota Restaurateurs: Get Compliant with Tip Statutes Before Super Bowl LII
- California Whistleblowers Gain Easier Route to Reinstatement
- The Questionable Non-Compete: How to Hire Someone but Avoid a Tortious Interference Claim
- A Playbook for Employers to Avoid California’s Labor Code Section 925 Provisions
- Minnesota Tip-Pooling Laws (Chambers of Commerce Blog)
- How Employers Can Avoid California Labor Code Section 925
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Welcomes Joel O’Malley to Its National Labor & Employment Team