Michael J. Slocum

Michael J. Slocum focuses his practice on labor and employment law, including the defense of discrimination, retaliation, wrongful discharge and whistleblower claims. Michael has represented employers in a broad array of industries, including health care and life sciences, pharmaceutical, private security, and retail, and has experience defending against both individual employee claims and class actions.

Michael has written and spoken numerous times on a multitude of issues facing employers in diverse industries. In addition to many client alerts and online articles, Michael was a contributing author to "Avoiding Liability for Unconscious Bias and Subtle Discrimination" published in the New Jersey Law Journal in December 2008, as well as a chapter on the False Claims Act in the 2010 edition of "Health Law and Compliance Update." Michael was a speaker at a September 2008 seminar "The New Jersey FCA: Perspectives and Insight," as well as the firm's May 2013 "Taking Care of Business: An Annual Update on Labor and Employment Law" seminar. More recently, Law 360 published Michael’s article “NYC Earned Sick Time Act May Hit Small Business Hardest” in May 2014, and his article “NJ Supreme Court Reaffirms ‘Faithless Servant’ Doctrine” in November 2015. Michael also authored “EEOC Proposes Collecting Pay Data to Combat ‘Pay Discrimination,’” published by the New Jersey Law Journal in March 2016, and well as “Revisiting the Great Joint Employment Debate,” published by the New Jersey Law Journal in April 2018.

Prior to joining the firm, Michael practiced in the litigation department of a national firm focused on labor and employment matters in the life sciences industry, where he served as Editor of that firm's "False Claims Act Quarterly." He has experience representing clients at the trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts, as well as before a variety of state and federal administrative agencies.

Concentrations

• Labor and employment litigation, specifically:
  • Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FLSA, FMLA, and state and local analogues
  • NLRA, ERISA, and “ban-the-box” / “fair chance” laws
• Labor and employment counseling on multiple topics including:
  • handbook and policy review
  • wage and hour advice
  • employee relations
• Whistleblower claims, including NJ CEPA