Overview
Kerry Alan Scanlon focuses his practice on complex employment discrimination, wage and hour, and disability rights cases, representing entertainment, pharmaceutical, technology, finance, transportation, and retail companies. In addition to his 25 years in private practice, Kerry previously held top civil rights positions in the Federal government and in two premier racial justice organizations. His public-law and corporate-client experience give him an exceptional perspective with which to advise clients and litigate employment and civil rights cases. Kerry is head of the Firm’s US labor and employment litigation practice.
His areas of specialty include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and other federal and state civil rights laws. Kerry has successfully litigated some of the country’s largest employment discrimination class actions and he played an instrumental role in the enactment by Congress of landmark job discrimination legislation. He also uses his experience to counsel companies on strategic employment and civil rights issues such as pay equity, diversity and inclusion, selection criteria, wage and hour policies, termination, and disability accommodations.
In addition to counseling clients and defending them in trial courts and administrative proceedings, Kerry has argued cases in federal and state courts of appeal and in the United States Supreme Court. Many of his cases have set legal precedents.
Kerry was previously co-chair of the labor and employment group of an international law firm based in New York. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice where he helped develop and enforce the Clinton administration’s civil rights agenda, supervised the successful litigation of numerous groundbreaking civil rights cases, and worked with top officials in other agencies on civil rights enforcement.
Prior to his government service, Kerry spent a combined 15 years with the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. During that time, he was successful in over 100 major cases and became a nationally recognized equal employment and fair housing attorney. Members of Congress and business leaders relied on Kerry’s expertise and worked closely with him on the enactment of bipartisan civil rights legislation, such as the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988.
Results
- Prevailed in all 60 cases litigated over 8 years in federal court on behalf of one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, defeating claims of systemic and intentional discrimination in public accommodations brought by persons with disabilities.
- Won a three-week jury trial on behalf of the largest eye care device company in the world, which was sued by a senior-level executive alleging he was terminated because of race and national origin discrimination.
- Successfully defended an international cosmetics and skin care company in a nationwide collective action brought by employees at 350 retail locations, seeking overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
- Represented one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical corporations in a series of nationwide class actions involving the “outside sales” and “administrative” exemptions to the requirement to pay overtime wages.
- Achieved complete victories in two across-the-board employment class actions, one based on race and the other on national origin, at what was then the largest single-site employer in the country.
- Prevailed at trial, and then on appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in a landmark case construing the limits of what a place of public accommodation must do to modify its policies to reasonably accommodate persons with disabilities.
- Successfully defended an entertainment company’s decision to prohibit the use of two-wheel, stand-up mobility devices on safety grounds, defeating objections to the policy by the US Department of Justice, 23 State Attorneys General, and several advocacy groups.
- Represented pharmaceutical company in California wage-and-hour class action, using on-site workplace inspections and interviews, and strategic discovery to undermine plaintiffs’ allegations that they were forced to work overtime, off-the-clock, and during meal and rest breaks.
- Prevailed in case of first impression in Illinois holding that parties to a class action settlement are not required by due process to go through the effort and expense of providing individual notice, instead of publication notice, to absent class members.
- Advised and defended companies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the enforcement of face mask and vaccination policies, including companies operating retail stores and theme parks.
- Represented one of the world’s largest information technology consulting companies against claims that a former Senior Vice President’s transfer and termination resulted from discrimination because of her race, gender, and age.
Recognitions
- Chambers USA 2014 to 2022
- Benchmark Litigation 2016 to 2022
- Legal 500 USA 2020 and 2021
- United Cerebral Palsy 2007 Distinguished Service Award
Community
- Elected to the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
Credentials
Education
Harvard College, AB
Antioch Law School, JD
Honors
Fulbright Fellowship to Germany
Clerkships
Law Clerk to the Honorable Richard P. Match, U.S. District Judge for the District of Colorado
Admissions
District of Columbia
Courts / Agencies
Supreme Court of the United States
US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
US District Court for the District of Columbia
