Denise K Drake

Expert in these Jurisdictions

Bar Admission

Missouri, 1992

Kansas, 1993

Nebraska, 2001

Iowa, 2007

Illinois, 2022

Court Admissions

United States Supreme Court

U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri

U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri

U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa

U.S. District Court, Southern District of Iowa

U.S. District Court, District of Kansas

U.S. District Court, District of Nebraska

Practice Areas

Employment Advice & Investigations

Employment Litigation, Arbitration & Dispute Resolution

Labor & Employment

Labor & Employment - Health Care

Employment Class & Collective Actions

COVID-19 Resources

Workplace Safety, Health (OSHA) & Environmental Advising

ERISA Litigation

Restrictive Covenants & Trade Secrets Litigation

Class Action & Multidistrict Litigation

Litigation

Professional Memberships

American Bar Association

- Member of Labor and Employment Section Leadership Council

- Employer Leadership Liaison to Fair Labor Standards Legislation Committee

- Employer Leadership Liaison to United States Federal Judicial Clerk Training Committee

- Employer Leadership Liaison to Immigration Administration Committee

- Former Management Co-Chair, Labor and Employment Section, 9th, 10th, and 11th National Conference Planning Committees

- Former Management Co-hair, Labor and Employment Section, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee

- Former Administrative Co-Chair, Labor and Employment Section, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee

- Former Program Co-Chair, Labor and Employment Section, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee

- Former Marketing Co-Chair, Labor and Employment Section, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee

- Former Management Subcommittee Co-Chair, Labor and Employment Section, Employment Rights and Responsibilities Committee, -Privacy, Membership, Trial Advocacy and Legislative Developments Subcommittees

Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association

- Executive Board Member

- Legal Advisor to the Executive Board

- Former Chair, Labor and Employment Committee

- Former Chair, Federal Courts Committee

Association of Workplace Investigators

- Planning Committee, National Conference

Publications

May 24, 2022

Publications

Why 'Proximity Bias' Is A Term Employers Should Get To Know

Quoted, Law360

November 16, 2021

Webinars

Managing Vaccine Mandates and Exemptions Webinar

September 10, 2021

Publications

President Biden Mandates COVID-19 Vaccinations: Stay Tuned…

Co-Author, Polsinelli At Work Blog

January 26, 2021

Publications

A- on EEOC Report Card For 2020

Author, Polsinelli At Work Blog

December 31, 2020

Publications

Happy New Year and Happy Vaccination Day: Maintaining Workplace Safety During the Vaccine Roll-Out

Co-Author, Polsinelli At Work Blog

October 26, 2020

Publications

The POWER List: Commercial and Consumer Law Digital Edition

Featured, Missouri Lawyers Weekly

May 11, 2020

Publications

How to keep your workplace safe — legally

Quoted, Kansas City Business Journal

May 7, 2020

Publications

CDC Leaves Businesses on Their Own: CDC “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework” Will “Never See the Light of Day”

Author, COVID-19 Blog

April 10, 2020

Publications

Top Workplace Lawyers Scramble To Master Unemployment

Quoted, Law360

March 23, 2020

Publications

Weathering Coronavirus: Furloughs, Layoffs or Pay Cuts?

Quoted, SHRM

March 22, 2020

Publications

Taking Care of Essential Business Despite Growing Number of Shelter in Place Orders

COVID-19 Blog

March 17, 2020

Updates

Options for Employers When Employees Cannot Work From Home

March 16, 2020

Publications

Employer Tips for Telework

Author, COVID-19 Blog

Work Highlights

Selected Class / Collective / Multi-Plaintiff Actions

- Defeated class certification on behalf of national casino gaming company based on rounding of time clock entries/off-the-clock work, improper sharing of tip pool proceeds, and misclassification of supervisory employees.

- Defeated nationwide FLSA conditional certification of tip credit and misclassification claims on behalf of 15 casinos and casino parent company.

- Defeated nationwide certification and obtained favorable result for national health care provider in FLSA wage & hour collective action alleging off-the-clock work by LPNs.

- Counsel for mortgage company in FLSA wage & hour collective action, alleging misclassification of loan officers. Used offers of judgment to narrow the field of opt-ins, and eventually, to remove the lead plaintiff from the case, which resulted in a highly favorable resolution for client.

- Defeated nationwide certification of off-the-clock claims by hairstylists and obtained favorable resolution for a retail salon with more than 2,000 locations in the first nationwide FLSA wage & hour collective action filed in Missouri.

- Obtained favorable result for salad dressing manufacturer in donning, doffing, rounding, auto-deduction, walking, and waiting time FLSA collective action based on detailed time and distance measurements, admissions by four named plaintiffs during depositions, and declarations obtained from plaintiffs’ co-workers.

- Represented national gaming company in nationwide FLSA collective action and Missouri state law class action, alleging failure to properly notify all non-exempt tipped employees of tip credit, unlawful rounding, improper unpaid training (off-the-clock work), and various state law violations. Obtained highly favorable resolution following successful use of post-Campbell offers of judgment, in-depth strategic review of corporate practices, detailed risk analysis, and various other immediate actions focused on minimizing any argument or even slight potential for liability.

- Co-counseled with California attorney following consolidation of national mortgage company FLSA wage & hour collective actions, alleging off-the-clock work by loan processors. Settled on behalf of more than 2,000 employees.

- Represented taxi cab company in lawsuit brought by the Department of Labor, challenging the independent contractor status of the drivers when they were performing alleged non-taxi driver work. Obtained favorable resolution on behalf of company.

- Oversaw FLSA collective action and Kansas state law class action against national pizza crust manufacturer. Defeated class action based on language in the Kansas wage & hour law. Strategically decided not to oppose conditional certification based on likelihood for low opt-in rate. Efficiently obtained favorable result for client with only two employees electing to opt-in.

- Obtained highly favorable resolution in nationwide FLSA collective action on behalf of national cereal and snacks manufacturer, following strategic decisions to immediately fix all potential issues related to liability, voluntarily pay employees, and not fight conditional certification.

Selected Trials / Summary Judgments

- Jury verdict in favor of retail grocery store on assistant bakery manager’s claims of retaliation against bakery manager, in spite of bakery manager’s decision to support plaintiff during the trial. Summary judgment previously granted on plaintiff’s sexual harassment claims. - Strategic determinations to allow evidence of harassment to be introduced at trial, as well as to not call certain witnesses once favorable facts were established during cross-examination of plaintiff, contributed to success.

- Defense verdict in race discrimination failure to hire case against national retail clothing store, in spite of evidence assistant store manager used racial epithets.

- Verdict on behalf of retail furniture store in sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and retaliation case, in spite of the death of key defense witness immediately before trial.

- Jury verdict on behalf of bottling company in first Americans with Disabilities Act case tried in Missouri.

- Defense verdict against Chief Information Officer whistleblower in three-arbitrator arbitration on behalf of national health insurance company and CEO accused of violating the False Claims Act, retaliating against CIO pursuant to common law and False Claims Act for reporting violations of the False Claims Act, and retaliating against CIO pursuant to the Missouri Human Rights Act for participating in investigation of subordinate’s sex and national origin discrimination claims.

- Obtained summary judgment on behalf of hospital accused of sex discrimination and retaliation in the decision to terminate a resident’s residency. Upheld on appeal.

- Represented pork processing plant in one of the first Americans with Disabilities Act cases filed in Nebraska. Obtained summary judgment on production worker’s disability claims. One of the first ADA case reviewed by the Eighth Circuit, and summary judgment was upheld.

- Summary judgment granted on behalf of insurance company accused of improperly classifying insurance agents as independent contractors, and age discrimination in the termination of the agent’s contract. Upheld on appeal.

- Represented national call center in complicated FMLA and pregnancy discrimination action. Summary judgment granted and upheld on appeal.

- Persuaded female senior executive to voluntarily dismiss sexual harassment, sex discrimination and retaliation case against bank following detailed investigation and strategic use of facts discovered to demonstrate consensual nature of relationship with male senior executive.

- Obtained voluntary dismissal of sexual harassment and retaliation case on behalf of national call center, immediately following Plaintiff’s deposition, based on strategic use of Plaintiff’s handwriting on romantic notes and journal entries falsely written in support of Plaintiff’s claims.

- Race discrimination, sex discrimination, and sexual harassment case brought by not-for-profit employee voluntarily dismissed following detailed investigation and discovery of fake fiancé, as well as numerous other discrepancies in Plaintiff’s case.

Education

Awards