The WTO employment group has broad experience litigating discrimination and harassment, ERISA, breach of contract, non-compete and trade secret actions, in addition to defamation, wrongful discharge, retaliation, and related tort claims.

Attorneys have prevailed at both the trial and appellate court levels in complex class actions, as well as in actions brought by individual employees.  The firm frequently prevails in disposing of cases at the summary judgment stage and has also succeeded in compelling arbitration of employee claims.

WTO attorneys also represent management in labor issues involving unionized workforces.  The firm has successfully represented employers in arbitrations involving complex questions of contract interpretation and grievances challenging disciplinary actions and discharges.

Following are descriptions of some employment matters that we have handled recently:

• WTO obtained a preliminary injunction enforcing its client's noncompetition agreement with a former employee. The former employee had resigned and almost immediately formed a competing business in breach of his contractual obligations.  After a two-day hearing, a judge in Jefferson County enjoined the defendant from competing within a 100-mile radius of Denver and Avon, Colorado and awarded attorney's fees to WTO's client.
• WTO obtained a complete defense verdict after a one-week jury trial on behalf of a major telecommunications company in a case that involved important issues under the public-policy exception to Colorado's employment-at-will doctrine. The plaintiff claimed she was fired for complaining to the Department of Labor that the company was not paying employees across the country the full amount of commissions they had earned.  The jury found that The Plaintiff was fired for insubordination. The case was selected among Law Week Colorado's 2010 top defense verdicts.
• The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado dismissed all claims of alleged gender discrimination and retaliation filed against WTO's client, a technology service provider. WTO established that the plaintiff had engaged in fraudulent conduct, including manufacturing evidence and filing false affidavits to support her meritless claims. Following dismissal of the case, the Court entered an order directing both the plaintiff and her attorney to pay attorneys' fees to WTO's client as the prevailing party in the litigation.
• The Colorado Civil Rights Division ruled for WTO's client, a Colorado college, in one of the first complaints filed under the 2007 amendment to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.  The amendment extended state law protection against discrimination in the workplace to discrimination based on an individual's transgender status.  The plaintiff, a staff member and instructor at the college who had started a gender change from male to female, was terminated for insubordination.  WTO established that the plaintiff was terminated solely for her misconduct, and not because she was transgender.
• The federal court in Colorado granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to WTO's client, an international software developer.  The TRO and PI enjoined two of the clients' former employees from violating their non-compete and proprietary information agreements.
• A Colorado state court granted injunctive relief to WTO's client, an international payroll services company, enforcing the company's rights under a non-solicitation agreement against a former employee who had gone to work for a competitor.
• WTO successfully argued that a judgment previously entered against its client was improper.  The new order vacated the $500,000 judgment entered against the defendant by a Colorado state court in 2008 in an ERISA matter originally handled by another firm.
• The federal court in Colorado granted summary judgment for our client, a large telecommunications company, in a whistleblower case.  The plaintiff claimed she was fired for complaining to the Department of Labor that the company was not paying employees across the country the full amount of commissions they had earned.  The judge found that she was fired for insubordination.
• The former CEO and chairman of our client company, a securities broker-dealer, had asserted employment-related claims of more than one million dollars plus punitive damages against our client.  After a week-long arbitration, the panel ruled in favor of our client.
• WTO lawyers won summary judgment on all claims for a major manufacturing firm in an ERISA class action in federal court in Indiana.  The plaintiffs, who had been employed by the manufacturing facility over a span of 25 years, sought to require our client to provide lifetime retiree medical benefits to all members of the class. 
• WTO defended a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in Colorado against a national financial institution accused of discriminating in its lending practice based on national origin.
• WTO represented a major federal contractor in connection with a pattern-and-practice EEOC investigation relating to alleged gender discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, and glass ceiling issues.
• WTO obtained a temporary restraining order to stop the former employee of a health care third party administrator and his new employer from contacting the TPA's customers.  WTO also obtained a declaratory judgment that the TPA's non-compete agreement was enforceable under Colorado law.