Thomas F. Doherty | McCarter & English, LLP

Thomas Doherty helps employers stay on top of constantly evolving workplace legal requirements and defends their interests in litigation with former employees and competitors.

Tom counsels employers on workplace policy best practices and defends them in employment litigation covering issues ranging from discrimination and harassment to whistleblowing to wage and hour non-compliance. Companies and executives alike rely on Tom to prepare and negotiate employment contracts, separation agreements, non-solicitation and non-competition agreements, and confidentiality agreements. He is also called upon by businesses and executives to handle litigation in state and federal court involving various employment-related agreements, as well as associated issues of employee disloyalty, employee raiding, and misappropriation of trade secrets.

In addition, Tom advises companies concerning hiring, terminations and complex personnel issues and conducts internal investigations. He also counsels companies on employment-related issues and due diligence matters in merger and acquisition deals.

To keep his clients abreast of important workplace changes, Tom frequently authors client alerts, including ones on leave rights, overtime exemptions, and sexual harassment laws. He has also commented on important employment topics in varied publications, including the New York Times and Fortune.

In addition to his employment law work, Tom represents corporations in product liability and commercial litigation matters involving such areas as unfair competition, breach of business agreements, mortgage lending practices, franchise terminations, consumer fraud, intellectual property, civil RICO, and business torts.

Argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of amicus curiae the New Jersey Business & Industry Association in an important case addressing whether amendments to the New Jersey Wage and Hour Law (WHL) – including a new six-year look-back period and new damages and remedies – could be applied retroactively to claims based on an employer’s conduct that predated the amendments’ effective date. The Court adopted McCarter’s position that the WHL’s amendments applied prospectively, rather than retroactively, and precluded plaintiffs bringing WHL claims from recovering the new damages and remedies added to the WHL for any conduct occurring prior to the August 6, 2019 effective date of the amendments. Maia v. IEW Construction Group, 257 N.J. 330, 313 A.3d 887 (2024).

Obtained injunctive relief prohibiting a former employee of a nationwide financial services company from using misappropriated confidential information, requiring the return of all such information and documents, and mandating that the ex-employee’s personal computer devices be produced for computer forensic analysis.

Represented a nationwide human resources consulting firm in vacating an ex parte judgment for almost $1 million obtained by the Department of Labor as a result of an unemployment audit. As a result, the audit was re-opened, and the client was owed a refund.

Representing a nationwide pool equipment manufacturer concerning the employment law aspects of corporate acquisitions and transactions, including drafting employment-related agreements and severance agreements, conducting due diligence reviews, and advising on Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act issues.

Defended a non-profit organization against discrimination and whistleblower retaliation lawsuits and administrative charges filed by a number of former employees. All court cases were settled on favorable terms at early stages of litigations and prior to the client being required to produce witnesses for depositions, and administrative proceedings before the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights were dismissed after favorable findings by the agency.

Defending a Catholic healthcare system in a well-publicized gender identity discrimination case relating to patient care that implicates important constitutional issues of religious freedom.

Defended a vendor in the healthcare industry against multiple trade secret and contract-related claims. We obtained a very favorable settlement after obtaining dismissal of most of the plaintiff-competitor’s claims via pre-answer motion practice.