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| Patrick W. McGovern - Partner
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Patrick W. McGovern
Partner
Direct Dial: 973-535-7129
FAX: 973-533-1112
pmcgovern@genovaburns.com
Practice areas:
• Labor Law
• Wage & Hour Compliance
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Patrick W. McGovern, Partner in the firm’s Newark, New Jersey office, is a member of the Employee Benefits and Labor Law Practice Groups.Mr. McGovern concentrates his practice in labor, employment, employee benefits and immigration law matters representing management. He counsels management regarding legal compliance as to all aspects of the employer-employee relationship, including union-free/union avoidance strategies, drug-testing policies, wage-hour compliance, immigration law compliance and the labor, employment and benefits issues that arise in the course of mergers, acquisitions, facility closings, business expansion, force reductions and merger integrations. He represents management in proceedings before the NLRB, including representation, decertification, unit clarification, and unfair labor practice proceedings, in labor arbitrations, in collective bargaining, and in proceedings in state and federal court and before regulatory agencies arising under fair employment practices laws, labor laws, wage-hour laws, and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).Before joining the firm, Mr. McGovern was in-house counsel at Allied Corp., AlliedSignal Inc., and Honeywell International Inc. for 20 years, and most recently as Associate General Counsel-Human Resources, where he specialized in labor and employment matters. Prior to going in-house, Mr. McGovern was an Associate at Kelley, Drye & Warren in its Manhattan office. Mr. McGovern earned his Juris Doctor degree from Fordham Law School, where he was associate editor of the Fordham Law Review. He earned his bachelor’s degree in cursu honorum, summa cum laude, from St. Peter’s College in 1976.Representative Matters:- Has assisted management teams with complex plant and operations closings, relocations, and downsizings both at unionized and non-union locations.
- Has represented management in successful union representation and decertification campaigns and proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board.
- Has defended employers in judicial proceedings under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) seeking pension, health insurance, severance pay benefits, and pension withdrawal liability.
- Has defended employers in the hospitality, transportation, manufacturing, energy and service industries in court and before the N.J. State Department of Labor against claims for “on-call” pay and overtime compensation.
- Has defended employers against claims by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs under Executive Order 11246, including claims of discriminatory compensation practices, failure to track applicants correctly, and failure to satisfy outreach requirements.
- Has assisted managements with the termination and wind-down of 401(k) plans and final distribution of plan assets.
- Has assisted plan sponsors with the successful correction of plan operational errors, including errors detected during U.S. Department of Labor audits.
- Has represented employers in prevailing wage litigation before the N.J. Department of Labor and the New York City Comptroller’s Office.
- Assisted management teams with the successful negotiation of project labor agreements in Essex and Bergen Counties, Manhattan and Brooklyn.
- Has helped organizations bring their policies and benefits plans into compliance with employment-at-will guidelines, wage-hour law, the FMLA, the ADA, and other federal and state anti-discrimination laws.
- Has provided just in time training to managers, supervisors, and Human Resources professionals regarding positive employee relations, maintaining a union-free workplace, managing in a union environment, violence in the workplace and the basics of employee benefits laws.
- Has counseled management regarding compliance with IRS guidelines that apply to non-qualified executive compensation arrangements.
Awards:- New Jersey Super Lawyer, 2009-2013, New Jersey Super Lawyers magazine
- Six Sigma Green Belt
Articles:- “New Jersey Law on Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace,” Institute of Business Law
- “New Jersey Cracks Down on Employers that Misclassify Employees,” HR Specialist, October 2007
- “N.J. Supreme Court: Strikers May Be Entitled to Unemployment,” HR Specialist, April 2009
- “Understand GINA’s New Prohibitions on Misuse of Genetic Info,” HR Specialist, February 2010
- “Rigorous Changes Coming Down the Pipeline for Federal Contractors,” Client Alert, October 2012
- “Expect No Change in OFCCP’s Aggressive Agenda Despite Election Year,” New Jersey Labor and Employment Law Quarterly, Volume 34, No. 2, December 2012
Presentations:- “Preempting a Corporate Campaign At Your Hospital,” Presentation to Hospital Law Institute, Hospital and Health Systems and Labor and Employment Practice Groups, February 14, 2008
- “Labor and Employment Law Issues Arising from Use of Independent Contractors,” New Jersey State Bar Association, Labor and Employment Section, 2008
- “The Proposed U.S. Department of Labor Rule to Modify the Definition of ‘Persuader Activities’ under the Labor Management Relations Disclosure Act,” New York Labor and Employment Relations Association, October 19, 2011
- “Avoiding the Wage-and-Hour Trap and Surviving a Wage-Hour Audit…and Avoiding Something Worse,” New Jersey Business & Industry Association, February 24, 2012
- “All aTwitter About Social Media,” American Arbitration Association University, April 3, 2012
- “Where the FMLA, the FLA, the ADA and the NLRA Interact,” Client Briefing, May 15, 2012
- “A Management Perspective on the Supreme Court Decision in Penn Plaza v. Pyett,” New Jersey Labor and Employment Relations Association, December 10, 201
Blog Posts:Third Circuit Clarifies Test for Joint Employer Status under FLSA,” Labor Law Blog, Genova Burns Giantomasi & Webster, July 11,2012 - “Third Circuit Clarifies Final Certification Standard for FLSA Collective Actions,” Labor Law Blog, Genova Burns Giantomasi & Webster, December 28, 2012
- “Appeals Court Nixes President’s Recess Appointments to NLRB Raising Question Whether Any NLRB Decisions Since 2011 Are Enforceable,” Labor Law Blog, Genova Burns Giantomasi & Webster, January 29, 2013
- “N.Y. Federal Court Holds that Fairness Hearing is Not Essential for Voluntary Dismissal,” Labor Law Blog, Genova Burns Giantomasi LLC, March 11, 2013
BAR ADMISSIONS:
- New York, New Jersey, and U.S. District Court, Southern, Northern and Eastern Districts of New York, and U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
EDUCATION:
- Fordham Law School, J.D., 1979
- St. Peter’s College, B.A., 1976
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