Jennifer C. Terry

Terry provides management-side defense to state, national and international employers, particularly in retail, consumer products and entertainment.

Terry began her career in general litigation, but sought out more client interaction. While about 65 percent to 70 percent of her work involves litigation, the balance involves staying in touch with clients and counseling them “during the quiet times,” she said. She updates clients on changing laws and advises in areas of wage and hour compliance, fair pay, employee handbooks and policy review, paid leave, reasonable accommodations and sexual harassment.

“I love the employment space; it’s so personally focused,” Terry said. “You can do a lot to shape policies that protect employees in the workplace, and you can help employers set up standardized practices so that they protect themselves. It’s really fulfilling work.”

Very large national retailers comprise about 80 percent of her client base. While she could not discuss those clients and their cases due to confidentiality, Terry said her retail clients are watching new California regulations that went into effect July 1 addressing protections for transgender employees and customers. While California already protects people who identify as transgender, the new regulation expands the law within the customer context as well.

“What we’ve been doing on the counseling side is working with employers to get ahead of it, working to revise their anti-harassment policies as necessary, whether it’s equal employment opportunities or dress code,” she said.

Another challenge for retailers is the recently expanded California Fair Pay Act, which now requires employers to provide equal pay for work that is “substantially similar.” However, the law does not define what substantially similar work means. That means employers must anticipate what might be constituted as substantially similar, and ensure their pay structures are based on objective criteria, Terry said.

“A lot of what the new law says is being tested and defined,” she said. “In the retail space, you might have one employee working in the Westwood store and one in the Ogden, Utah store doing the same thing, but they have a different cost of living. What are the objective factors a company can use to determine pay? … There’s confusion about what substantially similar means, because there’s not much precedence.”

— Jennifer Chung Klam