Jack Yates is Chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group and offices in the Kansas City, Missouri office of Husch & Eppenberger, LLC. Jack focuses on the representation of private and public employers in labor and employment matters, including both client counseling and litigation.
His experience covers the full range of employment practice including employment discrimination (race, age, sex, sexual harassment, national origin, religion, and disabilities), as well as claims brought under OSHA, ERISA, WARN, RICO, FMLA and the FLSA. He has represented employers in individual, multi-plaintiff, class action, and collective action cases. He has also litigated a broad variety of Duty of Fair Representation (DFR) claims, as well as state law and common law claims for breach of implied contract, wrongful termination, Missouri Service Letter Statute, defamation, negligent hiring and retention of employees, and negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Over the thirty years Jack has been practicing labor and employment law, he has represented a wide variety of clients ranging from Fortune 50 companies to start-up businesses. He has worked extensively in the automotive, transportation, telecommunications, packaging, banking, and personnel services industries. He has also represented a wide variety of public sector employers, including police departments, municipalities, colleges and universities in a wide-variety of employment issues and litigation matters. A substantial part of Jack's practice in recent years has involved client counseling over a wide-variety of topics, including ADA compliance, reductions in force, and the design and implementation of risk avoidance programs. He has also mediated a number of employment related cases.
Practice Areas:
Labor & Employment, Class Actions
Education:
J.D., George Washington University Law School (1973, with Honors); George Washington Law Review (Board of Editors).
B.A., Public Affairs, George Washington University (1969).
Admissions:
Missouri (1973); U.S. Supreme Court.
Legal Associations:
American Bar Association; The Missouri Bar; The Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association; American College of Labor and Employment Lawyers (Fellow); American Employment Law Council (Charter Member); Defense Research Institute.
Speaking Engagements:
Adjunct Professor of Law, teaching Employment Discrimination Law, at the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law, 1980-2002;
Frequent lecturer at local and regional seminars and programs for employment relations professionals and labor and employment lawyers. |