Todd H. Lebowitz

Experience

Employment Law

• Team Leader and founder of BakerHostetler’s Contingent Workforce Practice Team, which takes a multidisciplinary approach toward advising employers on the use of non-employee workers, including independent contractors, gig workers, staffing agencies and other contract labor The team's multifaceted approach includes evaluation of employment, benefit, and tax issues, Affordable Care Act compliance, industry-specific regulations, and the constantly evolving federal, state, and local tests and standards. Actively works with national and regional employers to evaluate and advise on their use of independent contractors and regularly reviews master service agreements with staffing agencies. Recent risk assessment projects include company-wide analysis for a national insurance company and an international provider of audio and infotainment equipment.
• Multiple ongoing independent contractor and joint employment projects, including proactive risk assessment and redrafting agreements, for nationwide clients across various industries, including insurance, electronics, manufacturing, property management and retail.
• Obtained dismissal of a California class action alleging independent contractor misclassification and California Labor Code violations, with zero dollars paid to the plaintiffs. Dismissal resulted directly from changes to client’s independent contractor program that Todd had drafted a year earlier.
• Secured a published opinion letter from the Department of Labor (DOL) on behalf of a client that wished to pay consultants on a per-project basis, with the per-project fee divided into biweekly installments. The DOL issued a response that clarified the legal issue at stake and allowed the client to move forward with its plans, confident that it was in compliance with the law.
• Won motion to dismiss putative class action filed by independent contractors alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Todd prevailed by demonstrating to the federal court that the FCRA provisions did not apply, despite published guidance to the contrary by the Federal Trade Commission and despite claims by the contractors that they should be permitted to adduce evidence to try to show that they were employees.
• Obtained reversal of independent contractor misclassification finding by New York State Department of Labor, after $420,000 in back assessments had been issued against the client, stemming from a filing for unemployment benefits by a single individual. Todd was hired three weeks before the hearing, after previous counsel had told the client that the case was unwinnable.
• Background checks: Regularly advises employers and consumer reporting agencies on nationwide background check requirements under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and state and local laws, including ban-the-box developments. Advises clients on best practices in light of the patchwork of federal, state and local laws and the EEOC's current enforcement priorities and its disparate impact theory.
• Successfully defended a multistate retailer in a putative class action alleging willful violations of credit card truncation requirements in the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Novel strategic approach and defense strategy resulted in an extremely favorable settlement for the client and avoidance of class certification.
• Successfully avoided class certification and obtained summary judgment for a manufacturing client in an FLSA misclassification case alleging failure to pay overtime to shift supervisors.
• Drafted arbitration agreements, employment agreements and master services agreements for clients across multiple industries and in multiple states. 
• Fully admitted to practice in 10 federal and state jurisdictions; has litigated employment disputes in more than 20 states, including pro hac vice admissions.

Professional Sports

Team & League Representation

• Drafted and negotiated player contracts for a Major League Baseball team.
• Representation of Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) in broad range of legal matters, including drafting and negotiating business contracts with various industry partners, employment, and intellectual property protection.
• Drafted a contract covering SABR's development of the SABR Defensive Index for use in the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards balloting process.
• Drafted player agreements for eSports team.
• Drafted a uniform player contract for a professional soccer league (now defunct).

Athlete, Entertainer & Other Individual Representation

Representation of numerous professional athletes and other sports industry clients in various personal and business matters, including personal services agreements, confidentiality agreements and data security. Examples include:

• Representation of Cy Young Award winning baseball player in iPhone data breach and related investigation and data privacy protection strategies;
• Representation of retired NHL star victimized by wine futures fraud scheme; recovered several hundred thousand dollars;
• Representation of NBA champion player in drafting personal services and confidentiality agreement;
• Representation of MLB All-Star in numerous personal ventures, including the hiring of a personal assistant, confidentiality agreements, estate planning, and personal business ventures;
• Representation of MLB player and family members on business ventures, including contracts, intellectual property protections, and media negotiations;
• Representation of MLB team executive in personal real estate transaction;
• Representation of baseball trainer and inventor on patent matters.
• Representation of Apollo 11 astronaut in negotiations for feature film documentary;
• Representation of professional magician in documentary TV deal and various other endeavors.
   

Memberships

• Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) (2000 to present)
  • Board of Directors, Secretary (2011 to present)
• American Bar Association
• Ohio State Bar Association
• Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association

Community

• Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park: Human Resources Committee