Greg W. Knopp

Greg W. Knopp

LOS ANGELES - Until recently, Akin Gump’s Los Angeles office was headed by Greg W. Knopp, a recognized leader in the firm and in the world of labor and employment law. He has played a crucial role in many of the nation’s highest-profile employment disputes involving class actions and PAGA claims for industry giants including Starbucks, Ernst & Young, and Michael’s Stores, Inc.

He represented Starbucks in one of the most closely watched cases in California because it could have had major implications for unpaid work cases.

The plaintiff filed a putative class on behalf of tens of thousands of current and former California employees, alleging Starbucks failed to pay for time spent closing the store after clocking out.

“We moved for summary judgment on the ground that the plaintiff’s alleged off-the-clock closing tasks were based on the de minimis doctrine,” Knopp said. “I think what’s significant about Troester is that it went to the California Supreme Court and resulted in a fairly significant development in the law, and yet we still were able to defeat the class claims after remand.” Troester v. Starbucks Corp., 387 F. Supp. 3d 1019 (C.D. Cal. 2019).

Upon remand, Starbucks obtained summary judgment in part on the plaintiff’s claim for waiting time penalties on the grounds that a “good faith dispute” existed regarding whether any wages were due.

In addition, in January 2020, the court denied class certification of the plaintiff’s wage claims and granted summary judgment on the plaintiff’s claim for deficient wage statements. As a result, only the plaintiff’s individual wage claim remained.

The parties then settled the plaintiff’s individual claims in October 2020.

“We’re proud of our work in that case because, while things didn’t go the way we had hoped they would at the California Supreme Court level, we were able to recover and get a really excellent result for the client in spite of that,” Knopp said.

--Douglas Saunders