Overview
Adam maintains a growing labor and employment practice that includes representing clients in employment litigation before federal and state administrative agencies and in trial courts in over 25 states, as well as counseling employers in all areas of employment law and labor relations related.
Adam has extensive experience defending numerous cases under the FLSA and state wage and hour laws, including collective and class actions regarding employee misclassification, unpaid overtime and minimum wages, meal and rest breaks, PAGA in California, and other wage issues. He also has experience and has handled numerous cases and charges involving employee misclassification, wages and overtime, meal and rest breaks, wrongful discharge, retaliation, sexual harassment, discrimination, including disability, age, race, pregnancy, and gender, and intentional torts. Adam has experience advising companies regarding restrictive covenants, litigating the enforceability of restrictive covenants and confidentiality agreements, and obtaining and opposing TROs and preliminary injunctions.
Experience
Advised client on orchestrating a campaign to defeat a union election. We trained supervisors and managers on how to interact with employees in light of NLRB restrictions and created extensive campaign materials to share with the employees. We also coordinated on-site conversations to persuade employees to oppose the union. Ultimately, the union withdrew the petition before an election was even held.
Defended client against a claim of unpaid wages and unpaid overtime for a remote, on-site ATM technician. Secured a complete victory at arbitration by proving that NCR’s policies and practices appropriately paid for all time worked by such remote technicians, provided the technicians follow company policy and appropriately report their time worked. Also successfully defeated novel claims by claimant’s counsel that imputed income for personal use of a vehicle or insurance premium credits for being healthy should be considered wages to increase the regular hourly rate and overtime premiums and not fringe benefits.
Defended client against discrimination and retaliation charges brought by pregnant former employee whose employment was terminated as part of a reduction in force. Successfully prevailed before both the Florida Commission on Human Relations and on appeal to an Administrative Law Judge after a hearing, both of whom found no probable cause for discrimination or retaliation.
Brought action to enforce non-solicitation, non-disclosure, and non-competition agreement against former manager who sought to move into the same role with a competitor in the same geographic region. We were lead counsel and responsible for enforcement of the agreement from the cease and desist letter through filing a verified complaint, a motion for a temporary restraining order and/or a preliminary injunction, and expedited discovery.
Successfully represented clients in DOL Wage and Hour audits in New Jersey, Georgia, and Washington.
Secured summary judgment in Ohio state court in a case brought by a former employee for race and age discrimination, wrongful termination, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Substantively, we were able to secure admissions from the employee that she committed an egregious rule violation and that she could not identify anyone who was treated differently.
In litigation before the NLRB, obtained dismissal of an unfair labor practice charge which enabled a decertification election to proceed in timely manner. The Communication Workers of America Union filed a blocking charge with the NLRB in an attempt to thwart a decertification petition. By successfully refuting the union’s position at hearing that the petition was barred by an automatic extension of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement, the NLRB dismissed the Union’s charge which allowed the decertification election to continue and gave employees the right to vote regarding union representation.
Represented The Services Companies, Inc. in a class action of over 200 employees in Florida regarding failure to pay overtime wages to piece rate workers over a 16-month period, including liquidated damages and attorneys’ fees. We prevailed on denying preliminary certification due to plaintiffs’ failure to show class-wide interest as well as highlighting the need for individualized inquiries into each putative class member in order to prove either liability or damages. After the court denied preliminary certification, we engaged plaintiffs in settlement negotiations.
Represented Installed Building Products, LLC in matters including securing a pre-certification settlement of a 100+ member, 4-year class action in Florida. Plaintiffs’ claims were based on alleged failure to pay minimum wage and overtime caused by off-the-clock work. We adopted an aggressive approach to the case, quickly producing payroll records for the named plaintiff and clearly identifying that he was a piece rate worker and only entitled to half rate premiums for overtime. We followed this limited discovery with aggressive settlement negotiations that resulted in a settlement of nuisance value.
Successfully represented Installed Building Products, LLC in matters including a class action in Washington regarding meal and rest breaks and unpaid time. In a litigious case, we aggressively opposed burdensome discovery and overbroad claims. After preliminary certification of a class, we prevailed on a motion to clarify the class definition, reducing one of the three claims by approximately 16 months, resulting in the elimination of approximately $700,000 in exposure, prevailed on a motion to quash a third-party subpoena and denying motion to compel native files of produced documents. The results ended in a very favorable settlement of all three claims.
Secured dismissal of discrimination charge brought against our client, a provider of hospitality industry services, based on religion and sex as well as sexual harassment. We defended the charge through our position statement, showing that claimant filed for repeated aggressive behavior towards co-workers. We also showed that the company repeatedly accommodated claimant’s requests for religious accommodations by allowing him to leave work early or arrive late to attend Friday prayer services and take prayer breaks throughout the workday which resulted in the dismissal of the underlying charge.
Secured summary judgment for Myers Industries, Inc. in a disability discrimination case brought by a former employee. We handled this case from filing to conclusion, ultimately prevailing at summary judgment and on appeal before the Second Circuit. Substantively, we were able to prove that Plaintiff never disclosed his alleged disability to Myers Industries, Inc., which defeated his claims for disability discrimination or failure to accommodate when he was otherwise returned to work with no restrictions after a short medical leave.
Represented employers in arbitration cases over union employee discipline and discharge, union contract interpretation and senior executive compensation disputes.
Defended employers against charges of unfair labor practices filed with the NLRB all over the country based on alleged discrimination or retaliation due to an employee’s union status.
Defended employers against charges of discrimination filed with the EEOC and state civil rights agencies all over the country based on age, gender, race, disability, religion, national origin, equal pay, pregnancy, sexual harassment, and retaliation.
Successfully defended company against grievance alleging lack of just cause to terminate long-term employee for repeated poor performance.
Successfully defended city and police department against grievance alleging lack of just cause to terminate police officer who assaulted his fellow officer while at work in the police station. We convinced the arbitrator to uphold termination despite the fact that the grievant was a 23-year veteran with a clean record.
Successfully defended salesman and new employer against prior employer’s efforts to enforce an overbroad non-compete agreement. Although there was some overlap between prior employer’s and current employer’s services, we convinced the court to dissolve a temporary restraining order and deny the prior employer’s request for a preliminary injunction allowing the employee to return to work.
Reached favorable resolution for client in pursuing enforcement of non-compete agreement against former coaches who improperly funneled targeted recruits to other schools both during and after employment with client.
Reached favorable resolution for client in pursuing enforcement of non-compete agreement against former salesman who contacted client’s customers and vendors via LinkedIn.
Secured summary judgment for client in disability discrimination case, including aggressively moving to strike multiple sham affidavits of plaintiff.
Successfully represented client in a wage and hour class action in Tulare County, California, alleging unpaid time caused by rounding policy as well as derivative claims. In February 2018, attained a class-wide settlement with class counsel on extremely favorable terms for the company, just months prior to the California Supreme Court deciding a separate case with nearly identical rounding policies and finding that such practices were not permitted.
Successfully represented client in a wage and hour class action in San Diego, California, seeking damages for alleged missed and/or unpaid meal and rest breaks, unpaid time, and various penalties and derivative claims for approximately 550 putative class members. In May 2019, we obtained court approval for a class-wide settlement with class counsel on extremely favorable terms for the company.
In a case of first impression, secured summary judgment for client in an action alleging interference and retaliation under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act, as well as constructive discharge stemming from plaintiff’s request for lactation breaks.
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- Trustee, Strongsville Education Foundation
- Board Member, Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity
- Named, Benchmark Litigation 40 & Under, 2022-2025
- Listed, Ohio Super Lawyers – Rising Stars, 2019-2021, 2023-2025
Related News & Insights
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Effective May 15, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has formally removed the Biden-era 2024 overtime exemption rule from the Code of Federal Regulations (“CFR”) after multiple federal courts vacated the rule. The amendment impacts regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) governing the executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer employees exemptions from minimum wage and overtime requirements. More specifically, the amendment restores the salary thresholds and reinstates regulatory text established under the Department’s 2019 final rule.
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Judicial Green Light: Court Upholds NLRB’s Cemex Decision
On April 21st, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific, LLC., reinforcing a significant shift in federal labor law governing union recognition and employer conduct during organizing campaigns.