Minnesota Lawyer

Steven Andrew Smith would like to bring another tip-pooling case, but now is hardly a good time, with restaurants closed or even out of business.

David E. Schlesinger is the proud son of Robert Schlesinger, who was described in a magazine article in the 1970s as “typical of the new breed of liberal, courageous lawyers … long of hair, long on guts.” The civil rights lawyer instilled a similar ethic in his son, a member of Sen. Paul Wellstone’s campaign when the senator’s plane crashed. Persuaded by Wellstone’s commitment to the “little guy,” he decided to focus on individual plaintiffs, in another branch of civil rights, employment law.

Lawrence Schaefer launched his employment discrimination career by working on the iconic Minnesota case Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co., decided in 1997, the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States. The class was certified by Judge James Rosenbaum. After a special master awarded the members, whom he called “histrionic,” about $10,000 each, the 8th Circuit reversed and the case subsequently settled for $3.5 million. The appellate court characterized the harassment as “egregious, to say the least.” The opinion clarified that the defendant takes the victim as he finds her when it comes to assessing damages.

The complexity of the employment law field is aptly explained by the lists of practice areas on the Minneapolis firm of Felhaber Larson’s website. It covers the field from the Americans with Disabilities Act to wrongful termination. It explains why representing employers is starting to involve more advice and training and somewhat less litigation, according to Penelope Phillips. Focusing on compliance is the “preventive medicine” approach to the law, she said.

Discrimination never goes away, and some employment issues never go away. “Some things disappoint over and over,” said attorney William O’Brien, at Miller O’Brien Jensen, who has practiced law for nearly 40 years.

Historically, cultural or social uncertainty has increased interest in labor unions. Uncertainty marks the United States as it deals with a deadly pandemic, business shutdowns, unemployment, and the task of getting restarted again. So it isn’t surprising to Michael Moberg that now is the time for a push by organized labor, with the support of a like-minded president.

Despite Gov. Tim Walz’s explicit executive orders requiring working from home during the pandemic, some employees are subject to pressure from employers to return to the workplace. Minneapolis attorney Nicholas May is in the prelitigation stage of a case over a pretty blatant directive to return.

Trial preparation starts when the complaint is drafted.

There seems to be a consensus that to really move on from the pandemic, people have to get back to work and, as a practical matter, children have to get back to school. There also seems to be a consensus that children are not only educated, but nurtured, in schools.

In 2017 former Chisago County Sheriff Rick Duncan approached a crime analyst and told her he had received letters from an anonymous source called “Control Freak” who threatened the analyst, Michelle Jacobson. Duncan later produced an email from the same source demanding that Jacobson go to a hotel in Bemidji with Duncan. She didn’t and eventually left her job. Duncan resigned as well. The hoax was revealed.