Andrew Turnbull co-chairs the firm’s Global Employment + Labor Group and DEI Strategy + Defense Task Force. He has extensive experience advising, defending, and investigating high stakes and class discrimination, harassment, and whistleblower claims, including enforcement actions by EEOC, DOL, DOJ Civil Rights, ICE, and similar state agencies.  He is also well versed in defending and pursuing employee mobility and trade secret misappropriation claims, including breach of non-competes, non-solicits, and non-disclosures claims as well as and duty of loyalty and trade secrets claims. Andrew also routinely defends and advises companies, board of directors, and executives on the significant reputational, business, and compensation issues arising from executive disputes.

A primary focus of Andrew’s practice involves helping companies handle the unique employment issues and challenges from doing business with the federal government, including:

• Defending whistleblower qui tam and retaliation claims under the False Claims Act, the National Defense Authorization Act, and other whistleblower laws;
• Advising and defending government investigations and litigation under the Service Contract Act, the Davis-Bacon Act, and other prevailing wage laws;
• Compliance and litigation defense relating to federal and state affirmative action requirements and DEI related risks;
• Advising on unique compliance issues for federal contractors, such as mitigating discrimination risks when screening for export control compliance under ITAR and EAR, conducting E-Verify audits and compliance, and navigating the Drug-Free Workplace Act.

Andrew is problem-solver. He routinely provides clients from Fortune 100 companies to startups with practical and business-minded risk mitigation strategies for various employment and labor issues, including:

• Developing DEI, affirmative action, pay transparency, antidiscrimination, and antiharassment programs and policies;
• Conducting pay equity studies, adverse impact analysis, and bias testing of employment tests and tools, including for artificial intelligence;
• Developing trade secrets protection and restrictive covenants strategies;
• Reductions in force, furloughs, and high-risk terminations;
• Risks related to 1099s and other contingent workers; and
• Risks related to I-9 and E-Verify compliance, audits, and raids.

Andrew also advises companies and executives on a wide range of employment agreements, including drafting and negotiating executive employment agreements, separation agreements, non-competes and non-solicits, and commission and bonus plans.

Andrew also represents employers in matters involving union avoidance, negotiating and drafting collective bargaining agreements, handling union grievances, and avoiding and defending unfair labor practice charges.

Prior to joining private practice, Andrew worked as a human resources manager for a company recognized on the Inc. 500, an annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States.  Andrew received his J.D. with honors from the George Washington University Law School, where he served as a notes editor for The George Washington Law Review.  While in law school, Andrew interned at the Commercial Litigation Branch of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Andrew is an active member of the steering committee of the Washington Metro Industry Liaison Group.