Josephine S. Noble

Josephine focuses a significant portion of her practice on proactively counseling employers with respect to litigation prevention and overall compliance with state, federal, and administrative laws and regulations, which includes reviewing and revising employee manuals and policies; reviewing and counseling management regarding termination decisions (including large-scale layoffs/reductions-in-force); performing exempt-status classification audits; and providing training.  In addition, Josephine is experienced in drafting various employment agreements, including noncompetes and severance agreements.

Josephine routinely defends employers against single-plaintiff claims, in both state and federal court, arising under Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and comparable state laws.   Josephine also has substantial experience defending employers in class and collective action disputes, including wage and hour litigation involving claims of allegedly unpaid meal and/or rest breaks; unpaid overtime; off-the-clock work; and/or exempt status misclassification.  In addition, Josephine regularly handles discrimination charges filed with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC), and whistleblower claims filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Her representative experience includes:

• Second chair trial experience defending a major healthcare and consumer technology company against breach of contract and promissory estoppel claims in federal court

• Obtaining a favorable settlement of collective action claims on behalf of a major food retailer for alleged failure to pay overtime and misclassification of assistant managers under the FLSA

• Representing a major healthcare industry client in a combined class and collective action filed by nurses alleging they were improperly denied overtime pay and that their regular rate of pay was miscalculated

• Defending a major telecommunications client against combined collective and class action claims alleging that customer service representatives were improperly denied overtime pay for off-the-clock work

• Obtaining summary judgment in Ohio state court on behalf of a major healthcare industry client against a former employee’s claim of defamation; false light; and tortious interference with business relations

• Representing securities brokerage firms in actions for temporary restraining orders and in arbitration before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in relation to broker departure disputes arising from breach of noncompete agreements

• Obtaining dismissal of an OSHA whistleblower charge filed by former pilots who claimed they were discharged in violation of Section 519 of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (“AIR21”), 49 U.S.C. § 42121, in retaliation for reporting maintenance issues with aircraft