A group of industrial workers retained Mr. Shoemaker to assert claims of unpaid overtime against their employer. This case dealt primarily with the workers not being paid for donning and doffing special equipment at the beginning and end of their shifts. The equipment was critical to the safe and effective performance of their positions. The employer had not been paying them for the time necessary to don and doff the equipment. Mr. Shoemaker obtained a settlement for his clients in the amount of $750,000.00.
Mr. Shoemaker has represented many relators in False Claims Act and Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower actions. His clients have participated in cases that have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars being returned to government agencies and his clients earning several millions of dollars in whistleblower awards. Mr. Shoemaker’s experience as an employment lawyer makes him a more effective qui tam lawyer. In several of these cases, parallel retaliation claims were also asserted that afforded his clients significant additional recoveries.
Three separate Fraternal Orders of Police have chosen Mr. Shoemaker to represent urban police forces in wage and hour matters. Two of these cases resulted in more than $3.8 million in settlements and a third case is still in litigation.
Mr. Shoemaker represented a group of African-American employees who asserted claims of race discrimination, harassment and retaliation against a large corporate employer. After months of litigation, hearings on various issues and numerous depositions, a settlement was recovered in the amount of $4,000,000.
An executive was fired after allegedly failing to inform her employer that she would return from Family and Medical Leave Act leave one day after her original anticipated return-to-work date. This executive had used less than half of her FMLA leave allotment, kept her employer fully informed of her status in accordance with its policies and procedures, and was entitled to more than twice the FMLA leave than she actually took. When her employer wrongfully terminated this executive mere hours after human resources erroneously thought she should be back at work, she hired Mr. Shoemaker. After a trial in United States District Court, she was awarded more than $747,000 in damages. This is the largest FMLA verdict ever obtained in Virginia.