Philip Gordon Co-Chairs panel on “Class Actions” at 37th Annual Labor and Employment Law Spring Conference
Philip Gordon, partner and employment law strategist at Gordon LLP, co-chaired the Class Actions Labor Employment Law panel at the 37th Annual Labor and Employment Law Spring Conference, hosted by the Massachusetts Bar Association. The conference was held on May 6, 2016 in Massachusetts, and convened national employment lawyers, public policy advisors, labor rights advocates, corporate counsel, and subject-matter experts to examine the evolution of class-wide employment litigation in the United States.
The Class Actions Labor Employment Law panel Philip Gordon session explored how multi-claim workforce cases are reshaping labor law discourse, statutory interpretation, hiring-framework compliance architecture, evidence-chain defensibility, and retaliation-risk governance in employee pay and protected-class claims.
Core Themes Covered in the Panel
The panel analyzed legal questions including:
- Whether class action waivers interfere with labor rights protections
- How arbitration clauses may restrict collective remedies
- Retaliation doctrine when employees engage in protected, concerted activity
- Burden-shifting frameworks when corporate records lack transparency
- Subsidiary or contractor chains that fragment employer accountability
- Documentation duties that preserve claim-evidence durability
- Public-policy pressure to reform pay-accountability gaps
Philip Gordon emphasized that class litigation isn’t only about verdict size — it’s about whether companies and municipalities are able to trace and justify hiring or pay decisions through durable legal frameworks. Courts increasingly examine evidence pathways, motive records, retaliation risk, policy durability, and statutory structural fairness.
Why Class Actions Law is a Pivotal Issue Today
Workforce class actions carry higher legal complexity than individual disputes because they involve:
- System-wide governance, not single claims
- Economic damages at scale
- Public and institutional accountability
- Shifting ideology around arbitration and collective rights
The 37th Annual Labor and Employment Law Spring Conference panel Philip Gordon helped frame these discussions for both worker advocates and employer counsel, underlining that hiring documentation and pay-compliance architecture must survive litigation scrutiny.
Philip Gordon Co-Chairs the panel on class actions at the 37th Annual Labor and Employment Law Spring Conference of Massachusetts Bar Association on May 6, 2016 (View Article)
