Jon D.Meer

Partner

Jon is aggressive and results-oriented. He works collaboratively with clients to understand their definition of a successful outcome, and then he’ll offer creative alternatives to meet their goals.


More About Jon

Jon is a street-level-lawyer, who consistently develops creative strategies for "high stakes" or "bet the company" lawsuits. He is passionate about getting results and he has successfully defeated class action cases, collective action cases, cases brought under the Private Attorney General Act ("PAGA") and the California Unfair Competition Law ("UCL"). Several of the cases where Jon defeated claims were brought against companies, with some of the best known brands, in lawsuits with potential exposure in excess of $250,000,000.

Jon is among the most winningest lawyers at any firm. He has recently won summary judgment in dozens of cases, defeated class certification in dozens of cases, and has won over a dozen jury trials. He has also one of only a handful of lawyers with successful class action trial experience before a California jury.

Jon has experience in litigation and client counseling of employers in all areas of wage & hour class action, collective action, and representative action litigation, mass layoffs and related litigation, employment discrimination class actions, and high exposure claims for wrongful discharge, discharge in violation of public policy, sexual and other harassment, disability, reasonable accommodation and access issues, labor arbitration, unfair business practice litigation, employee benefits litigation, and protection of employer trade secrets and non-competition issues.

Jon also has assisted numerous clients in large employment-related transactions such as wage & hour compliance audits, corporate restructuring, plant or facility closures, reductions in force, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, internal investigations, state and federal audits and investigations, trade secret protection and privacy issues, electronic discovery issues, and document retention for litigation.

Professional Accolades and Peer Recognition

Jon has been named one of the "Top Five Employment Lawyers" in the United States by Law360 (Portfolio Media, Inc.), Lexis-Nexis in its annual MVP Awards (2017). The MVP winners are selected by the editors of Law360 as the "attorneys who have distinguished themselves from their peers in high-stakes litigation, record-breaking deals and complex global matters."

Jon has been named to the list of "Top 75 Lawyers in California" in 2012, 2019 and 2022 by The Daily Journal legal newspaper, which selects the Top 75 California labor and employment attorneys, based on professional accomplishments and case victories.

Jon was also included in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Attorneys are selected based on extensive client and peer research conducted by London-based Chambers and Partners Legal Publications.

Jon was one of only a handful of lawyers listed in two separate categories by The Legal 500 (Legalese Ltd.) (2019), based on client references gathered by independent researchers. For the category of "Labor and Employment Disputes, including Collective Actions," Jon has been "praised for his immense knowledge and trial practice." For the category of "Workplace Employment And Counseling," Jon has been noted as "an excellent strategist." These accolades helped to place the firm with an overall "Tier 1" ranking.

Jon was also selected to be included in The Best Lawyers In America (Woodward/White Inc.) (2013, 2017-2024). This publication is based on a peer review process where leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers in 135 practice areas, covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The lawyers selected are the top 1%, based on the evaluations received.

Jon was also selected to be included in Los Angeles’ Best Lawyers in 2012, which is published by The Best Lawyers In America (Woodward/White Inc.). This publication selects approximately 100 lawyers in the field of labor and employment law, in the Los Angeles area.

Jon is listed in the National Bar Registry of Preeminent Lawyers and has an "AV" Rating from Martindale-Hubbell/Thomson-Reuters, which is their highest peer review survey rating for legal abilities and ethical standards. Jon also received a 5.0 out of 5 peer top ranking for legal abilities by lawyers.com.

Jon was also included in Southern California’s "Top Rated Lawyers" in 2012, based on a peer review survey that selected approximately 100 employment lawyers. The selection process was conducted by American Law Publishing and the listing appeared in The American Lawyer and The Los Angeles Times.

Jon was also selected to be included in the Southern California Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters) in the area of Labor & Employment Law in a peer ranking survey in Los Angeles Magazine and has been included in the Nationwide Corporate Counsel Edition of Super Lawyers based on national rankings from in-house corporate counsel at Fortune 500 companies. Jon was included in the Super Lawyers Business Addition for the Nation’s Top Attorneys in Business (2004-2008, 2015-2018).

Jon was selected as one of the Top Attorneys In Southern California by Los Angeles Magazine. Jon was selected to be included in the "Top Lawyers" listing selected by the Beverly Hills Courier. Jon has also been listed in the National Register for Marquis Who’s Who In American Business, Worldwide Who’s Who of Executives, and Professionals and Elite American Lawyers. Jon has also been profiled in Bloomberg Businessweek.

Jon is frequently quoted on matters pertaining to labor and employment issues and has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune, The National Law Journal, msnbc.com, Law360.com, workforce.com, law.com, complianceweek.com, allbusiness.com, Inc. Magazine, The Los Angeles Business Journal, The Los Angeles Daily Journal, The San Francisco Recorder, and Legal Elite.

Trial, Class Action And Case Victories

Jon is one of the most successful trial lawyers in Southern California and one of the most successful class action trial lawyers nationwide. He is also one of the original members of the firm’s National Trial Team. Jon is one of only a handful of employment lawyers in with successful class action trial experience, including the successful defense of wage & hour claims in a class action that went to trial before a Los Angeles jury. He has won complete defense verdicts for employers in several wage and hour trials and also obtained complete defense verdicts for employers in over a dozen other jury trials.

Jon has been lead counsel in class action cases with potential exposure in excess of $250,000,000. He has a consistent record of defeating class certification in wage & hour cases as well as complex discrimination and civil rights cases. Jon has defeated class certification or conditional certification in dozens of cases and has obtained summary judgment for employers in dozens of cases in state and federal courts. He has also won appellate cases before the California Court of Appeal and the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit.

Jon also has been particularly successful in recovering significant amounts of money on behalf of employers and companies, after defeating claims brought by former employees. He has recovered attorneys’ fees for employers in over a dozen cases after winning dismissal of their lawsuits, with awards of attorneys’ fees ranging from $5,000 to $1,000,000.

Jon has defeated a case brought by a chief executive officer of a pharmaceutical company, resulting in an order for the plaintiff to pay $1,000,000 in attorneys’ fees to the defendant as well as a criminal conviction for the plaintiff. He also defeated a case brought by a Senior Vice President of a large publicly traded company, resulting in an attorneys’ fees award to the defendant in excess of six figures. He has also defeated a case brought by an in-house counsel, resulting in an attorneys’ fee award to the defendant in excess of six figures, along with litigation costs. He also defeated a case brought by a serial litigant who had previously filed over 100 discrimination cases, resulting in an attorneys’ fee award for the defendant in excess of six figures, which was then executed as a judgment lien on the plaintiff’s other pending lawsuits.

Class Action Dismissals And Settlements

Jon has defeated class certification in dozens of cases alleging wage-related claims such as failure to pay overtime, failure to pay for "off the clock" work, failure to provide meal or rest periods, failure to provide the “regular rate of pay for overtime wages, failure to pay for time spent in exit or security inspections, failure to reimburse for business expenses, failure to account for tip-related pay, failure to provide accurate wage statements and failure to pay accrued wages.

Jon has also successfully won summary judgment or defeated class certification in cases alleging “misclassification” of salaried exempt employees and independent contractors. He has also successfully won summary judgment in cases challenging the constitutionality of the exemptions to the new test for determining independent contractor status.

Jon has also negotiated favorable class action or collective action settlements in over 45 cases involving wage & hour, unfair competition and discrimination claims. Recently, he negotiated a class action settlement with a payment representing less than 3% of the potential exposure in a case involving 25,000 current and former convenience store employees of a global corporation with potential damages and penalties exceeding $125,000,000.

He also recently negotiated a settlement for less than 5% of the potential exposure in a class action case brought against one of the nation’s largest commercial construction companies, which settled on the second day of trial. Before trial, the plaintiff class demanded a settlement in excess of $15,000,000.

Jon also recently negotiated a PAGA settlement for $1,250 involving over 400 employees. This has been cited as the “lowest ever” PAGA settlement approved by a Los Angeles Superior Court.

Jon also has settled a state-wide class action case involving 600 current and former employees for a single payment of $5,000 to the class representative.

Jon also settled a state-wide class action for a single payment of $1,000 to the class representative, in a case brought on behalf of approximately 500 call center employees.

Jon also settled a class action case for an $8,000 payment divided among two class representatives in a lawsuit brought on behalf of over 300 commercial truck drivers.

Jon obtained a walk-away dismissal of all class action and individual claims in a case alleging failure to pay overtime based on an inaccurate calculation of the "regular rate" of pay, for a potential class of over 3,000 employees.

Jon also obtained a dismissal of a nationwide class action for failure to pay overtime based on alleged "off the clock" work for a class of over 15,000 retail store employees and obtained dismissal of a California subclass of 6,000 retail store employees alleging meal and rest period violations.

Jon obtained a walk-away settlement in a class action alleging various ERISA violations for failure to pay benefits, benefit cutbacks and breach of fiduciary duty. The claims alleged in this case, if successful, could have destroyed the solvency of tax-qualified status of the pension plan that was sued.

Jon also has obtained walk-away settlements in three other class action cases, each of which involved over 300 employees. He has also negotiated favorable settlements in four class action cases brought by large labor unions.

Jon also obtained a walk-away dismissal of all class action claims in a case filed on behalf of approximately 500 management consultants and analysts, who claimed they were improperly classified as exempt from overtime, meal period and rest period obligations.

Jon also obtained a walk-away dismissal of all class action claims in a case filed on behalf of approximately 450 insurance adjusters who claimed they were improperly classified as exempt from overtime, meal period and rest period obligations.

Jon obtained dismissal of a class action brought on behalf of 4,000 current and former employees of a national defense contractor and the case settled for a single payment of $2,999 to the class representative.

Training, Audits and Litigation Avoidance

Jon can arrange on-site training for in-house counsel, executive officers, human resources representatives, management or any level of employees through the "Seyfarth At Work" training series. This training focuses on current issues in employment law presented in programs such as "Managing Within The Law," "Human Resources Nuts And Bolts," "Responding To Internal Complaints" and state-required non-harassment training.

Jon also conducts full-scale or topical audits of human resources policies or practices to help avoid litigation. These audits include review of all written policies, review of all required employer postings, notices, recordkeeping requirements, review of exempt and non-exempt job classifications and statistical sampling of payroll records to identify potential issues regarding overtime, meal periods and rest periods.

Jon also frequently help clients develop and implement litigation avoidance procedures, including standardized review processes, documentation protocols, decision-making flow-charts, statistical auditing and electronic document management.

  • JD, Boston University School of Law

    Boston University Law Review, executive editor for publication
    Paul J. Liacos Scholar

  • BS, Cornell University, School of Industrial and Labor Relations

    With honors
    Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society
    Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity

  • California
  • US Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
  • US District Court, Central District of California
  • US District Court, Eastern District of California
  • US District Court, Northern District of California
  • US District Court, Southern District of California
  • US District Court, Eastern District of Michigan
  • US District Court, Western District of Missouri
  • US District Court, District of Nevada
  • US District Court, District of New Mexico
  • US Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California