R. PEPPER CRUTCHER, JR. is a counselor to and advocate for businesses and entrepreneurs in the Southeastern United States. His counseling and planning work relates principally to human resources policies and practices, including non-judicial conflict resolution. His litigation practice mixes employment matters with other complex and class action work, including consolidated, multi-district litigation. Mr. Crutcher also helps producers, writers and actors understand and overcome entertainment law challenges. Mr. Crutcher has recently defended clients in Wage & Hour (FLSA) collective actions, race, sex and age discrimination suits, non-competition covenant and tortious interference disputes, lender liability and Fair Debt Collection Practices Act class claims, antitrust (group boycott) litigation, software design defect litigation, and pharmaceutical pricing litigation.

Mr. Crutcher has been rated "AV" by Martindale Hubbell and since 2004 has been been selected to be included in Chambers USA America's Leading Lawyers for Business: The Client's Guide (Employment, Mississippi).

Representative Experience

• • Age Discrimination in Employment Act – defense of ADEA disparate impact suit, and suits arising from position elimination and performance requirement enforcement
  • Americans with Disabilities Act – psychological and physical disability discrimination and accommodation refusal suits under Title I and DOJ investigations of architectural guideline compliance
  • Antitrust – defense of concerted refusal to deal claim made against casinos by innovative cyber squatter
  • ERISA - sustained claim of pre-emption of Mississippi tort claim for alleged failure to approve covered treatment
  • Fair Debt Collection – defense of individual and class claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
  • False Claims Act – quit tam and retaliation claim representation of defense contractor
  • Film Production – LLC creation and operating agreements, finance and rights negotiations, crew and cast agreements
  • FLSA Collective Actions (Poultry Processing) – brought by several thousand claimants, with and without collateral claims under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act
  • Immigration Law Enforcement - counseling related to CIS rules, ICE enforecement, IRCA and related state laws
  • OSHA Catastrophe and Fatality Investigations – nine, including employer representation following worst industrial accident in Mississippi history
  • Race Discrimination – defense of failure to hire claims, discharge and harassment claims
  • Representation Cases – political counseling and legal representation of employers involved in union representation campaigns regulated by the National Labor Relations Board (both certification and decertification proceedings)
  • Sex Discrimination and Sex Harassment – litigation of male’s claim that he was laid off due to female preferences in wireless communications business; defense of female’s claim that she was subjected to pornographic e-mail at work
  • Software – defense of auto component manufacturer accused of faulty algorithm design
  • Trade Secrets - defense of actions claiming that company hired new employee to steal his former employer's trade secrets
  • Unfair Competition – judicial and arbitration actions against employees who entered competition with former employer armed with the employer’s confidential business information, in violation of relevant agreements
  • Union Contracts – negotiation of union contracts and arbitration under union contracts, including arbitration of employer’s discharge of wildcat strikers
  • Whistleblowers – defense of suit by employee claiming to have been dismissed for refusing supervisor’s instructions to give company property to pet employees; defense of suit by employee allegedly fired for reporting manager’s transgression of corporate ethics policy; defense of suit by employee allegedly fired for reporting to USDA her food processing employer’s falsification of testing data
  • Workers Compensation - assisted employer's successful application to self-insure.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

• • Mississippi Bar Association, Section of Labor and Employment Law, past Chairman
  • The Mississippi Lawyer (Bar membership magazine), former editor
  • Federalist Society National Lawyers Chapter, Vice Chairman of the Labor & Employment Practice Group
  • Federalist Society of Mississippi, Co-Chairman

NEWS

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Speaking Engagements