EMPLOYMENT

PRACTICE HISTORY

Former partner in one of the world’s largest employment law firms, Jackson Lewis.
Over 30,000 hours in over 350 employment disputes.
Over 66% of practice devoted to employment litigation for over 20 years.
Over 75 federal court employment lawsuits in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico.

AWARDS

Certified Employment and Labor S​pecialist ​by the ​New Mexico Board of Legal Specialization (2005 to 2010 and 2017 to 2021).
Listed in New Mexico’s Top Rated Lawyers for Employment Litigation.
Listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business for Employment and ERISA Litigation.
Listed in Super Lawyers for Employment Litigation.

SPECIFIC EXPERIENCE

All Basic Employment/Civil Rights Claims

• Sex discrimination
• Sexual harassment (sexual assault, quid pro quo, and hostile work environment)
• Race discrimination
• Ethnic discrimination
• Sexual-orientation discrimination and harassment
• Gender-identity discrimination
• Disability discrimination and failure to accommodate
• Religious discrimination and failure to accommodate
• Age discrimination
• Free Speech rights of public employees under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Section 17 of the N.M. Constitution Bill of Rights. (Mr. Howell is a member of the Legal Network of “FIRE,” the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and has represented several university professors and faculty in defending their Free Speech, Academic Freedom, and due process rights.)
• Retaliation
• Employee benefits
• Wrongful discharge
• Whistleblower and qui tam
• Express and implied contract
• Bad faith breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing
• Fraudulent and negligent misrepresentation

Employment Trial and Final Merits Advocacy

including lead counsel experience presenting final merits on employment cases before administrative agencies, state courts, and federal trial and appellate courts.

Employee Benefits

including thousands of hours worked in defending 40+ litigations under ERISA, including group life insurance, group health insurance, and group short-term disability (“STD”) and long-term disability (“LTD”) insurance benefits.

Class Discrimination Claims

including lead counsel experience defending one of the world’s ten largest companies against a class discrimination lawsuit by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”).

Corporate Defense

including multiple lead counsel roles in other employment litigations for two more of the world’s ten largest companies.

Government Investigations

including lead defense counsel roles representing corporations with government investigators in multiple state and federal workplace investigations.

Teaching Employment Law

including dozens of written and spoken presentations in professional education courses on employment law and in-house trainings for public and private employers.

State and Federal Employment Statutes

• New Mexico Whistleblower Protection Act (“NMWPA”), NMSA § 10-16C-1 et seq.
• New Mexico Human Rights Act (“NMHRA”), NMSA § 28-1-1 et seq.
• New Mexico Fair Pay for Women Act (“NMFPWA”), NMSA § 28-23-1 et seq.
• New Mexico Statutes Chapter 50, Article 4 (Right to Breastfeed in Public and to Use a Breastpump at Work)
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.
• Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d)
• Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, P.L. 95-555, 92 Stat. 2076
• Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq.
• “ERISA,” Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq.
• Sections 1981 through 1988 of Title 42 of the United States Code, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981-1988
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., as amended by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq.
• “WARN,” Workers Adjustment Retraining Notification Act, 29 U. S. C. § 2101 et seq.
• National Labor Relations Act of 1935, 29 U.S.C. § 151 et seq.
• Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”), 15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.
• Federal False Claims Act (“FCA”), 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729–3733
• New Mexico Medicaid False Claims Act (“NMMFCA”), NMSA § 27-14-1 et seq.
• New Mexico Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (“NMFATA”), NMSA § 44-9-1 et seq.
• New Mexico Workers’ Compensation Retaliation Statute, NMSA § 52-1-28.2
• New Mexico Statutes Chapter 50, Article 4 (“Labor Conditions; Payment of Wages”), including New Mexico Minimum Wage Act, NMSA §§ 50-4-19 through 50-4-30
• Albuquerque Minimum Wage Ordinance, Albuquerque Code of Ordinances §§ 13-12-1 through 13-12-6
• Santa Fe Living Wage Ordinance, Santa Fe City Code of 1987, §§ 28-1.1 through 28-1.12

Published Writings on Employment and Labor Law

• Contributing Editor, DEVELOPING LABOR LAW (Supps. 2003-2004, 2008).
• Author, “Charge-Barring Agreements Retaliatory?”, Defense Research Institute, The Voice, Jan. 2007.
• Contributing Author, ERISA SURVEY OF FEDERAL CIRCUITS (2005, 2007).
• Author, “ERISA Preemption of Bad Faith Claims following Kentucky Association of Healthplans, Inc. v. Miller,” American Bar Association Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Committee Newsletter, Summer 2003.