Jessica R. Perry

Perry has been with Orrick since working as a summer associate at the firm 18 years ago and co-leads the firm’s litigation practices worldwide. As an employment partner, Perry represents industry leaders in tech, retail and financial services in significant class, collective, representative and multi-plaintiff actions under state and federal laws.

“There’s definitely been an increase in gender discrimination claims, particularly those involving pay and promotions,” Perry said. She added she sees “a strong desire by a lot of companies to tackle this issue, and a lot of companies have spent a lot of time, effort and resources working on diversity and inclusion.”

Perry said there has been an increase in cases involving equal pay and promotions, and for many companies, “it is a challenging issue to increase the numbers.”

She has led a number of significant wage and hour class action matters, focusing on minimum wage, overtime, meal and rest break penalties, vacation and personal days, expense reimbursements, reporting time wages, waiting-time penalties, Private Attorneys General Act penalties and work uniform violations.

Additionally, Perry has experience advising companies in the “additional nuances” of the rapidly evolving sharing and gig economy. “I think it’s just a whole new way of looking at the industry and looking at how people provide services. It’s much different than the traditional way that we used to handle these cases,” she said.

In some cases, “you are trying to push a square peg into a round hole and you really have to think about how you can provide a solution that is both legal and works for the business,” said Perry.

— Skylar Dubelko