Overview
The retail industry is uniquely informed by its interaction with customers. Much of the legal and regulatory framework governing the industry is aimed at protecting those customers, as well as the employees who engage them.
As retailers embraced e-commerce (while often maintaining their "brick and mortar" facilities) and e-commerce retailers expanded to physical stores, customer expectations increased, and the attendant legal needs grew more complex.
At Epstein Becker Green, we represent retailers of all types and sizes—big-box stores, grocery chains, pharmacy chains, restaurants, luxury stores, and much more—both on- and offline. We advise them on their myriad issues of labor, employment, and workforce management. We also bring a special focus to health care retail, a rapidly expanding field with its own particular compliance challenges.
Employment, Labor, and Workforce Management Services
In a field characterized by high employee turnover, attendance issues, and a wide range of staffing problems, our attorneys handle all aspects of the employment relationship as applied to retailers. This includes defending clients in litigation, particularly in wage and hour disputes; claims of wrongful discharge, retaliation, harassment, and discrimination; and Americans with Disabilities Act (discrimination and accommodation) disputes.
Our lawyers advise retail clients on constantly changing regulatory and compliance issues, which vary widely by state and by locality. We help clients draft their employment agreements and employment policies, train their workforces in proper procedures, and provide day-to-day advice on employment matters. Retail clients also seek our guidance on employee benefits and executive compensation, immigration, and worksite enforcement matters and on the protection of their trade secrets and other proprietary information. We are also highly experienced in more traditional labor issues—collective bargaining, grievance arbitration, unfair labor practices, etc.—and we help retailers avoid or counter unionization efforts. Finally, our attorneys are squarely at the intersection of technology and the workplace, and they counsel our retail clients on potential legal risks to implementing technologies that leverage artificial intelligence, biometrics, and other similar workplace innovations.
Health Care Retail Services
As the health care industry continues to grow exponentially, it has given rise to a substantial retail component. We represent clients across the entire spectrum of health care retail, including pharmacies, clinics, and every type of ambulatory care facility. We help them address the myriad compliance obligations they face, including those pertaining to distribution, marketing, prescription drugs, reimbursement issues, and data privacy and security. We facilitate their transactions, including hospital-physician joint ventures, contract pharmacy arrangements, and in-store clinics.
We also represent health care retailers in disputes. Our skilled litigators regularly defend them in administrative charges—federal, state, and local—as well as in mediations, arbitrations, and commercial litigation matters. We also handle bankruptcies and out-of-court restructurings.
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Focus Areas
Services
- ADA and Public Accommodations
- Affirmative Action/OFCCP Compliance
- Appellate
- Business Torts, Competition & Trade Secrets
- Class Actions
- Commercial and Contract Litigation
- Corporate & Transactional
- Corporate Financing
- Corporate Governance
- Corporate Reorganization
- Cross-Border Data Transfers
- Cross-Border Transactions
- Cybersecurity Risk Assessment
- Data Asset Management
- Data Breach and Incident Response
- Data Breach/Cybersecurity Investigations & Litigation
- Data Protection
- DEI Compliance and Legal Counseling
- Employee Benefits and ERISA
- Employment Compliance Counseling
- Employment Litigation
- Employment Training
- Employment, Labor & Workforce Management
- ERISA – Retirement and Benefit Plan Litigation
- Executive Compensation
- Financial Restructuring and Bankruptcy
- Foreign Multinational Counseling and Litigation
- Immigration
- Insider Threats
- Intellectual Property
- Intellectual Property Litigation
- Labor and Employment Due Diligence
- Labor Management Relations
- Litigation & Business Disputes
- Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestitures
- Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA)
- Pandemic Workforce Issues
- Pay Equity
- Privacy Compliance Strategies
- Privacy, Cybersecurity & Data Asset Management
- Ransomware
- Real Estate
- Remote and Hybrid Work
- Social Media and the Workplace
- State Privacy Law Compliance
- Tax and Tax-Exempt Counseling
- Trade Secrets & Employee Mobility
- Wage and Hour
- Whistleblowing and Compliance
- Workforce Government Relations
- Workforce Restructuring and Other Cost-Saving Mechanisms
- Workplace Investigations
Experience
- Defeated a class action lawsuit alleging that a global retailers’ failure to provide Braille gift cards violated federal, state, and local accessibility laws. Our attorneys got the cases completely dismissed, and established not only that the claims had no basis in the law/regulations but that the clients also sufficiently provided access in other ways.
- Defended a large independent shoe retailer against attempts to certify a nationwide Fair Labor Standards Act collective action involving the exempt status of store managers. We challenged the plaintiff’s contention of common practices by proving the plaintiff had limited knowledge of payment practices at other store locations.
- Mitigated potential total exposure in a novel wage and hour class action that affected thousands of a national retailer’s workforce located in New York State. Upon investigating and confirming that the client had inadvertently violated the statute at issue and faced approximately $25 million in exposure, we strategically focused on mitigation by pursing mediation. Through creative arguments, we successfully resolved the matter for less than $2 million.
- Represented a luxury retailer in successfully managing its nationwide restructuring as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We helped the client implement layoffs and furloughs by providing strategic advice to successfully avoid litigation and comply with an ever-changing legal landscape. We also provided advice on how to restructure the organization effectively to be able to compete in the current and post-pandemic environment.
- Negotiated the terms of, and drafted contracts to implement, numerous 340B contract pharmacy arrangements among retail pharmacy chains, hospitals, and 340B technology services vendors.
Our Team
Media
Events
Upcoming Events
- July 24 - 25, 2025
Past Events
Insights
Insights
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “No Tax on Tips Muddled by Confusion, Unintended Consequences”3 minute read
- PublicationsDOJ’s Final Rule on Bulk Data Transfers: A Road Map21 minute read
- Firm AnnouncementsEpstein Becker Green's Paul DeCamp Elected a Fellow of The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers4 minute read
- Publications#WorkforceWednesday: What Employers Need to Know—Key Labor and Employment Developments in Washington State, Ohio, and ...3 minute read
- PublicationsNew York Paid Prenatal Leave: NYC Adds to State Mandate, Imposes More Employer Requirements7 minute read
- Blogs
Master the First Moves in Litigation for Courtroom Advantage – Speaking of Litigation Video Podcast
27 minute read - BlogsPay Equity Expands in Ohio: Cleveland Passes Ordinance6 minute read
- PublicationsWashington Overhauls Employment Laws on Reductions in Force and Background Checks13 minute read
- BlogsMinimum Wage Increases Coming Soon Across the Nation – Especially in California15 minute read
- BlogsSpilling Secrets Podcast: Legal Shifts in 2025 Put Employer Non-Compete Strategies at Risk2 minute read
- BlogsOhio Leads the Way Allowing Employers to Post Digital Labor and Employment Notices3 minute read
- BlogsFederal Jurisdiction and Review Standards at Issue in Cases Ranging from Terrorism to Tobacco - SCOTUS Today18 minute read
- BlogsVideo: Workplace ICE Raids Are Surging—Here’s How Employers Can Prepare - Employment Law This Week2 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Earns Top Honors in Legal 500 2025 for Excellence in Client Service and Achievements Across Key Health ...
3 minute read - Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “Trump HR’s New Essay Question Risks Politicizing Federal Hiring”2 minute read
- BlogsVideo: DOL Restructures - OFCCP on the Chopping Block as Opinion Letters Expand - Employment Law This Week2 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Recognized by Chambers USA 2025 for Delivering Excellence on Behalf of Healthcare, Labor & Employment ...
5 minute read - Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “Injunctions Key Tool in W&H Fights, Birthright Case Illuminates”3 minute read
- BlogsAs Retail Worker Safety Act Becomes Effective, NYSDOL Issues Guidance and Materials for Employers2 minute read
- BlogsVideo: Abortion Protections Struck Down, LGBTQ Harassment Guidance Vacated, EEO-1 Reporting Opens - Employment Law This ...2 minute read
- BlogsTime Is Money: A Quick Wage-Hour Tip on . . . Successful Summer Internship Programs7 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “DOL Wage Policy Team Brings Biz-Friendly Experience”3 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Thirteen Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Named to the 2025 Washington, DC Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
6 minute read - PublicationsDifferent Kinds of Cool That Still Just Don’t Register: Why Birkenstocks & Melted Rink Ice (AKA Water) Aren’t ...4 minute read
- BlogsMaryland Delays Start of Paid Family and Medical Leave Program4 minute read
- BlogsEEOC Opens 2024 EEO-1 Reporting and the Deadline to File is Weeks Away6 minute read
- BlogsVideo: New Executive Order Targets Disparate Impact Claims Nationwide - Employment Law This Week3 minute read
- Blogs
Harnessing AI in Litigation: Techniques, Opportunities, and Risks – Speaking of Litigation Video Podcast
27 minute read - BlogsVideo: How Modern Workplaces Navigate Generational Shifts: One-on-One with Jeff Landes2 minute read
- BlogsUpdated New York Retail Worker Safety Act Takes Effect Soon4 minute read
- BlogsVideo: Independent Contractor Rule, EEO-1 Reporting, and New York Labor Law Amendment - Employment Law This Week3 minute read
- BlogsDOL Shelves Independent Contractor Rule4 minute read
- BlogsDisparate Impact Liability Under Fire10 minute read
- BlogsNew York City Employers: It’s Time to Post Your Lactation Policy4 minute read
- BlogsTime Is Money: A Quick Wage and Hour Tip . . . Contractual Indemnification May Not Guard Against FLSA Claims8 minute read
- BlogsSpilling Secrets Podcast: Trade Secrets on Trial - Strategic Decisions for the Courtroom2 minute read
- Media CoverageFrank Morris Quoted in “Trump Disparate Impact Order Shifts Agency Civil Rights Mission”2 minute read
- BlogsCalifornia Court of Appeal Holds That Prospective Meal Waivers for Shifts Between Five and Six Hours are Enforceable ...4 minute read
- BlogsVideo: 100 Days In - What Employers Need to Know - Employment Law This Week3 minute read
- PublicationsNew Executive Order Addresses Disparate Impact Liability: Key Implications for Employers13 minute read
- BlogsStates Continue to Introduce Legislation Aimed at Restricting Noncompete Agreements11 minute read
- Media CoverageMarc Mandelman Quoted in “The Latest Blow to Civil Rights in the Workplace”4 minute read
- BlogsVideo: Non-Competes Eased, Anti-DEI Rule Blocked, Contractor Rule in Limbo - Employment Law This Week3 minute read
- BlogsNew Jersey Supreme Court Confirms: Commissions Are Wages Under the New Jersey Wage Payment Law4 minute read
- BlogsInsider Strategies for Wage and Hour Compliance Success: One-on-One with Paul DeCamp2 minute read
- BlogsNew York State Proposes Bill to Ban Noncompetes Except for Highly Compensated Workers and in Sales of Businesses ...6 minute read
- BlogsVideo: Can the President Fire NLRB Members Without Cause? SCOTUS May Decide - Employment Law This Week3 minute read
- BlogsTexas Joins List of Legislatures Seeking to Ban Noncompete Agreements4 minute read
- BlogsVideo: Artificial Intelligence Regulations for Employers - Employment Law This Week3 minute read
- PublicationsCTA Interim Final Rule Eliminates Requirements for U.S. Companies and U.S. Individuals to File Beneficial Ownership ...3 minute read