Position: Partner

David Freedman is a partner in the firm’s Employment Practice Group, concentrating his practice in the areas of employment litigation and counseling, higher education law, and business immigration. He also chairs Barley Snyder’s Higher Education Industry Group and co-chairs the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Service Team.

Employment Litigation

David represents public and private employers of all types and sizes – including employers in the health care, higher education, and hospitality industries – in litigation before state and federal courts and administrative agencies. David has represented employers in claims brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Combined Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA), the Pennsylvania Wage Payment Collection Law, the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Law, the Pennsylvania Whistleblower Law, and the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Law, among others. As a litigator, David has:

– Defended an FLSA collective/class action involving a multimillion dollar claim with over 2,000 plaintiffs against hospitality industry client

– Obtained summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for a hospital-employer in case alleging violation of Title VII based on refusal to accommodate geriatric nurse’s claimed religious objections to influenza vaccination requirement

– Served as lead counsel before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission defending a health care system against approximately 30 claims of failure to accommodate religious objections to COVID-19 vaccination requirement 

– Obtained a trial verdict in favor of an employer in a suit brought by a terminated long-term employee alleging worker’s compensation retaliation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

– Obtained trial verdict in the Adams County Court of Common Pleas in favor of a health care system against claims by a terminated physician for alleged violation of Pennsylvania Whistleblower Act 

– Obtained a preliminary and final injunction from the Adams County Court of Common Pleas in favor of a health care system preventing a former employee-physician from establishing a competing medical practice

– Successfully defended a health care system against declaratory judgment and preliminary injunction action in York County Court of Common Pleas seeking to invalidate a neurosurgeon’s non-competition agreement  

– Obtained summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania for an employer in an age discrimination case in which the plaintiff sought more than $2 million in lost wages and liquidated damages

– Obtained dismissal from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania of case against a health care system alleging violations of the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act (ERISA), the ADEA, the False Claims Act and various state law tort claims

– Convinced the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court to reverse an administrative ruling permitting an employee terminated for falsifying documents to obtain unemployment compensation benefits

– Obtained summary judgment for an employer in a case involving allegations of race and age discrimination brought by a 30-year employee in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

– Obtained summary judgment for an employer in a case involving allegations of race discrimination in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

– Obtained early dismissal of a sexual harassment claim brought against a local government in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

– Successfully argued before the United States Court of Appeals for complete reversal of a $23 million remedial order entered against a local government under Title II of the ADA

– Obtained a trial verdict in favor of a property owner in a breach of contract action arising out of the restoration of a landmark

– Handled more than 70 unemployment compensation referee hearings and 40 appeals before the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Board of Review 

Labor and Employment Counseling

David also counsels employers on issues related to employee discipline, termination, workplace harassment, wage and hour compliance, and compliance with federal and state laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, the FMLA, Title VII, the ADA, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and numerous other employment laws. He has experience counseling employers from a wide variety of industries including the hospitality industry. Some examples of David’s counseling experiences are:

– Providing training in the labor and employment laws in both English and Spanish

– Assisting employers in conducting confidential internal investigations into allegations of workplace sexual harassment

– Conducting internal sexual harassment investigations in Spanish

– Performing audits to ensure proper classification of employees’ exempt/non-exempt status under the FLSA and the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Law. (He has also conducted audits of workers’ status as an independent contractor/employee under several laws including the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Law.)

– Assisting employers in responding to investigations by government agencies, such as the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the United States Department of Labor, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry

– Assisting employers in evaluating their pre-employment screening procedures for compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Pennsylvania Criminal History Information Act, the ADA and Title VII

– Assisting restaurants in complying with the intricacies of the “tip credit” under federal and state wage and hour laws

– Drafting complete employee handbooks and reviewing specific policies to ensure compliance with state and federal laws, such as Title VII, the ADA, the ADEA, the FMLA, the PHRA and the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA). (He has drafted some of these policies in Spanish for employers with large Spanish-speaking employee populations.)

Higher Education Litigation and Counseling

David provides extensive counseling and training for administrators, faculty and staff regarding student rights and discipline issues arising under a host of federal and state laws including the Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Act, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act, the Clery Act, and the Violence Against Women Act. David has assisted colleges and universities in drafting and implementing Title IX-compliant sexual misconduct policies and grievance procedures. David has also served as a part-time Title IX coordinator at a private college in Pennsylvania, giving him a unique “insider’s” perspective regarding the complex nature of Title IX compliance. He has conducted extensive, comprehensive internal Title IX investigations. David also provides institutions with counseling regarding faculty hiring, promotions and tenure removal issues. David has also represented public and private colleges and universities in a diverse array of litigation matters. Some of David’s more notable litigation matters for colleges and universities include the following: 

– In a matter of first impression, David convinced the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court that students cannot assert claims against institutions of higher education for disability discrimination under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act for failure to accommodate students’ use of marijuana, even when such use is authorized under the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act.

– Obtained summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in suit brought by former nursing student who alleged that she was removed from the nursing program based on her race

– Obtained summary judgment on damages claim brought by a suspended student alleging that a private college violated Pennsylvania common law by failing to follow internal discipline procedures

– Successfully settled Title IX claim against a college based on a terminated professor’s allegedly non-consensual sexual contact with student 

– Successfully defended dozens of claims before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, the U.S. EEOC, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights by former administrators, faculty, staff and students.

Immigration

David counsels employers and individuals regarding their immigration needs. He has assisted employers in securing non-immigrant work visas and legal permanent residency for new hires and transferring employees within multi-national companies. David also counsels individuals and businesses regarding various immigrant investor programs. His current business immigration work includes:

– Representing individuals seeking EB-1 immigrant visas, including foreign nationals of outstanding ability, outstanding researchers and executives of multinational corporations

– Assisting individuals in obtaining a wide variety of employment-based temporary visas, the H-1B specialty occupation visa, the L visa for intercompany transferees, the E visa for treaty traders or investors and the O visa for individuals with extraordinary abilities in the areas of science, art, education, business or athletics

– Assisting food and agribusiness clients in employment law, specifically with I-9 compliance

– Assisting employers addressing the nuances of the optional practical training program for employment of F-1 student visa holders

– Filing lawsuits against USCIS in federal district court challenging unreasonable delays in visa processing and arbitrary and capricious denials of employment-based visa applications under the Administrative Procedure Act

Pro Bono

David also maintains a robust pro bono immigration practice, representing victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and LGBT persecution. He has handled asylum, U-Visa cases, and has represented a habeas corpus petitioner. David currently serves as the lead attorney in the U Visa Litigation Project, which has involved filing federal lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for failure to timely decide U visa petitions filed by victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The Project is a joint effort among the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center, volunteer law students from the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law, and volunteer attorneys from the Lancaster County Bar Association, the York County Bar Association, the Dauphin County Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The Project is a “first of its kind effort” and its efforts have been chronicled in a number of media outlets including The Associated Press, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and CBS-21 News. David is in the processing of assisting the creation of a similar project in the Richmond, Va. area. David also previously volunteered for the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, investigating inmates’ claims of wrongful conviction.

Prior Experience

Prior to joining Barley Snyder, David served as an assistant city attorney for Richmond, Va., representing the city in police liability and other civil rights matters under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Voting Rights Act, Title VII, the ADA, as well as cases involving construction law, automobile accident liability and other miscellaneous tort and criminal matters. 

Earlier, David was an associate with McGuire Woods, LLP, in that firm’s Richmond, Va., office. David started his legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Sylvia H. Rambo, U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.