Jennifer S. Harpole

Jennifer S. Harpole represents and advises employers on a wide variety of employment matters, with a particular emphasis on class, collective, and multiplaintiff actions. She has extensive litigation experience relating to state and federal wage and hour laws, including opposing class and collective action treatment. Jennifer also advises clients on all aspects of human resources and wage and hour law and works closely with clients to revise and implement policies, review position classifications, and advise on day-to-day personnel matters from leaves of absence to employee discipline. She frequently defends employers in independent contractor misclassification claims in litigation and the administrative process, including unemployment and workers’ compensation cases.

Jennifer also regularly defends companies against the full spectrum of discrimination claims, including those based on age, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, sex, and sexual orientation, as well as harassment and retaliation claims. These include multiplaintiff and statistics-based adverse impact cases. She represents employers in federal and state courts, private arbitration, and before administrative agencies. Her experience includes every phase of litigation, from initial case assessment to depositions and discovery, briefing to hearing or trial, and the appeals process. She also regularly obtains favorable settlements for clients through negotiations and mediation. 

In law school, Jennifer was lead articles editor for Law and Contemporary Problems.