Overview
Attorney Jimmy Oh has seen and done it all (well, almost all), practicing in the employment law space for more than three decades.
Jimmy represents employers in various industries, including health care, insurance, and financial services, in various employment-related matters. His experience includes trying single-plaintiff and class action cases in federal courts around the country alleging violations of trade secret laws and/or non-competes, wage and hour laws, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. He has conducted numerous internal investigations of complaints of harassment, discrimination, whistleblowing, and unequal or unfair pay.
Jimmy provides counsel on compliance with the laws and regulations affecting the workplace, including trade secrets and restrictive covenants, wage and hour, disability accommodation, leaves of absence, affirmative action obligations, and recreational and medical marijuana laws.
He is a member of Epstein Becker Green’s National Employment, Labor & Workforce Management Steering Committee and active on the firm’s Diversity & Professional Development Committee and on the Executive Committee of the firm’s Minority Attorney Forum.
Jimmy has published numerous articles and made presentations on a variety of employment law topics, including restrictive covenants, recreational marijuana, class action certification, compliance with EEO laws, and wage and hour. He is a graduate of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and Northwestern University.
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Focus Areas
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Industries
Trending Issues
Experience
- First-chaired and won a trial of a collective and class action in federal court in Columbus, Ohio, in which special investigators at an insurance company alleged they were misclassified as exempt. Affirmed by the Sixth Circuit.
- First-chaired and won a trial in federal court in Anchorage, Alaska, at which a branch manager and a claims adjuster alleged misclassification as exempt under the FLSA.
- First-chaired and won a federal jury trial in Atlanta, Georgia, in which the plaintiff alleged disability and age discrimination. Affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit.
- First-chaired and won a federal court jury trial in Chicago, Illinois, in which the plaintiff alleged pregnancy discrimination. Affirmed by the Seventh Circuit.
- Won dismissal of a case brought by the EEOC and affirmed by the Seventh Circuit in one of the first decisions to apply the new pleading standard set forth in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly.
- Represented a hospital system in a high-stakes non-compete matter.
- Served on the trial team in the leading case on the doctrine of inevitable disclosure of trade secrets/confidential information.
- Guided a hospitality industry client through a nationwide reduction in force of thousands of employees necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in zero litigation.
- Protected a major insurance company from wage and hour class actions by implementing a nationwide arbitration program and agreement that includes a class action waiver for the company’s 30,000+ U.S. employees.
- Obtained decertification of a nationwide FLSA collective action with thousands of opt-ins, which reduced the settlement value from multi-millions to five figures.
- Defended an insurer’s ability to treat its paid-time-off (PTO) plan as an ERISA plan governed by federal law by twice suing the State of California to recognize the client’s PTO plan as an ERISA plan.
- Convinced the Southern District of Ohio and the Sixth Circuit that a provision of the Wisconsin Family and Medical Leave Act was preempted by ERISA.
- Convinced a U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Arkansas to limit a purported nationwide collective action of claims adjusters to two states and then to grant summary judgment because the claims adjusters were properly classified as exempt administrative employees.
- Obtained summary judgment from a U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Mississippi on the plaintiff’s claims that he was misclassified as exempt as a commercial lines insurance underwriter and on his age discrimination claim.
- Obtained summary judgment from a U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York for a Fortune 100 financial services company that two African-American men in IT were not discriminated against because of their race.
Recognition
- Chambers USA: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, Illinois—Labor & Employment (2022 to 2023)
- The Best Lawyers in America©, Employment Law—Management (2015 to 2024)
- Illinois Super Lawyers, Employment & Labor (2005 to 2013, 2015 to 2024)
- The Legal 500 United States, Workplace and Employment Counseling (2020, 2021); Labor and Employment Disputes (Including Collective Actions): Defense (2021)
- Lawyers of Color, “Nation’s Best” (2019)
- Diversity & the Bar Magazine, “Rainmaker” (2016)
- Martindale-Hubbell, AV® Peer Review Rating
Credentials
Education
- Northwestern University School of Law (J.D., 1987)
- Northwestern University (B.A., 1984)
Bar Admissions
- Illinois
Court Admissions
- Illinois Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
Professional & Community Involvement
- American Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law Section
Media
Events
Past Events
- November 9-12, 2023
- November 3, 2022
Insights
Insights
- Media Coverage
Five Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Named to the 2024 Illinois Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
3 minute read - Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Recognized by 2024 Best Lawyers for Excellence in the Legal Profession
12 minute read - Media CoverageJames Oh Quoted in "Employer Not Liable for Allegedly Spreading COVID-19 to Employee’s Wife"2 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Recognized for Focused Excellence Across Core Practice Areas in Chambers USA 2023
5 minute read - PublicationsDon’t Panic. Or Don’t Get Your Hopes Up: The FTC’s Proposed Rule Banning Non-Competes May or May Not Go into Effect ...2 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Five Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Named to the 2023 Illinois Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
3 minute read - Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Recognized by 2023 Best Lawyers for Excellence in the Legal Profession
11 minute read - Firm AnnouncementsChambers USA 2022 Recognizes Epstein Becker Green's Focused Excellence in Core Practice Areas: Distinguished in ...4 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Four Attorneys Named to the 2022 Illinois Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
3 minute read - Firm AnnouncementsFifty-Eight Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Recognized for Professional Excellence–Three Attorneys Distinguished as ...7 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Receives High Rankings for Health Care and Workforce Management Practices in 2021 Edition of The Legal ...
3 minute read - BlogsIllinois Lawmakers Pass Numerous Bills Affecting Employers7 minute read
- BlogsIllinois State Legislators Authorize Increased Wage Theft Penalties3 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Five Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Named to 2021 Illinois Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
3 minute read - Firm Announcements
Corporate Counsel Select Three Epstein Becker Green Attorneys as 2020 BTI Client Service All-Stars
2 minute read - PublicationsIndustry Voices—Employment Litigation Risks Due to the Pandemic That Healthcare Employers Should Know1 minute read
- Firm AnnouncementsFifty-Five Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Recognized for Professional Excellence–Two Attorneys Distinguished as ...7 minute read
- Firm AnnouncementsThe Legal 500 United States Recognizes Epstein Becker Green as Top-Tier Law Firm in Health Care and Workforce Management ...4 minute read
- PublicationsINSIGHT: Inoculating Against Covid-19 Related Wage and Hour Class Litigation2 minute read
- BlogsInoculating Against Wage and Hour Class Litigation Related to COVID-195 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Four Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Named to 2020 Illinois Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
3 minute read - Media CoverageJames Oh Interviewed on WGN Radio's Roe Conn Show on Marijuana in the Workplace4 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green’s James Oh Honored in Crain's 2019 Notable Minorities in Accounting, Consulting & Law
2 minute read - Firm AnnouncementsEpstein Becker Green Awards Three 2019 Core Values Champions3 minute read
- PublicationsPreparing for Legal Recreational Marijuana: The Illinois Example1 minute read
- Media CoverageJames Oh, Kathleen Barrett Quoted in "Can I Get Fired for Using Marijuana? Your Legal Weed Questions Answered"2 minute read
- Media CoverageLaw360's Hottest Firms and Stories Features Cannabis Transaction Article by Epstein Becker Green Attorneys2 minute read
- Publications8 Best Practices for Cannabis Transaction Due Diligence1 minute read
- Media CoverageEpstein Becker Green’s Clifford Barnes and James Oh Featured in "Nation’s Best" Lawyers of Color Journal3 minute read
- PublicationsThe Elephant Is in the Room and Her Name Is Mary Jane3 minute read
- BlogsEmployer Insights: Illinois’ Permanent Commitment To Medical Marijuana5 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Forty-Seven Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Named by The Best Lawyers in America 2020, One Attorney Distinguished as "Lawyer ...
5 minute read - PublicationsIllinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (Cannabis Act)1 minute read
- Media CoverageJames Oh Quoted in "Central Illinois Employers Prepare for Legal Pot"1 minute read
- Firm AnnouncementsEpstein Becker Green's James Oh Recognized as a "Nation's Best" Honoree by Lawyers of Color2 minute read
- BlogsEmployer Insights: Recreational Marijuana in Illinois6 minute read
- Media CoverageJames Oh Featured in "News and Notes from the Legal Community: Moves"1 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Four Epstein Becker Green Attorneys in Chicago Named to 2019 Super Lawyers List
2 minute read - Media CoverageJames Oh Featured in "Notable Moves & Promotions"1 minute read
- Media CoverageJames Oh Featured in "In the News"1 minute read
- Firm AnnouncementsEpstein Becker Green Welcomes James J. Oh to Its Chicago Office3 minute read
- Media CoverageJames Oh Featured in "Epstein Becker Green Adds Ex-Littler Board Member"2 minute read