Eric Amdursky
Partner
Eric Amdursky is the Managing Partner of O’Melveny’s Silicon Valley office and a member of the Labor and Employment Practice. He regularly represents clients in federal and state court cases involving individual and classwide claims of employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, sexual harassment, wage and hour violations, and breach of fiduciary duty. Eric has argued before the California Court of Appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. Eric also focuses his practice on defending and prosecuting claims regarding non-competition agreements, “corporate raiding,” unfair competition, and trade secret misappropriation. He has litigated several cases regarding employment issues arising from mergers and acquisitions, as well as disputes among venture capital partners.
Eric regularly assists Fortune 500, middle market, and start-up companies in implementing reductions in force, handling termination and discipline decisions, and counseling clients on complying with wage and hour, disability, and family and medical leave laws. He also frequently conducts sexual harassment investigations and sexual harassment prevention training.
Eric also regularly provides labor and employment law expertise on corporate transactions. He drafts non-competition agreements, employment agreements, severance agreements, change-in-control agreements, and provides advice on other labor and employment law issues arising out of mergers and acquisitions.
Illustrative Professional Experience
- Represented a Fortune 500 semiconductor company in obtaining a TRO and Preliminary Injunction against several current and former employees, as well as their new employer, for misappropriating trade secrets and breaching a Non-Competition Agreement. The Ninth Circuit subsequently affirmed the order granting the Preliminary Injunction and ordering an asset freeze against the competitor and its CEO.
- Represented an investment bank in a pair of gender discrimination cases brought by a managing director and a principal of the firm who alleged they were terminated from the partnership and/or denied promotion to partnership on the basis of their gender.
- Lead trial counsel in an arbitration for a land development company that obtained a complete defense verdict and six-figure attorneys’ fee award against former executive who claimed he was wrongfully denied significant bonuses. The California Court of Appeal subsequently affirmed the arbitration order in its entirety.
- Lead trial counsel in an arbitration for a homebuilding company that obtained complete defense verdict in a wrongful termination case brought by the former CFO. The arbitrator also ruled in favor of the employer on its counterclaim for defamation and awarded the employer nearly US$500,000 in compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs.
- Lead counsel for a technology company in obtaining stipulated injunction and six-figure recovery against a former executive for breach of duty of loyalty and unfair competition.
- Represented an entertainment company in a series of complex pattern and practice wrongful termination/discrimination cases over a several year period.
- Lead counsel for a cosmetics company and its CEO in obtaining a favorable resolution of a gender harassment/constructive discharge case.
- Represented a Fortune 500 company in obtaining a dismissal with prejudice of a case involving potential damages of US$240 million brought by several employees against their former employer and its seven-highest ranking officers for allegedly inducing 5,000 employees to remain employed through the closing of a sale of a division based on alleged fraudulent promises.
- Represented a Fortune 500 telecommunications company in a case involving claims for wrongful termination in violation of public policy and breach of implied contract. Eric obtained an award of summary judgment and costs.
Professional Activities
Admitted to Practice, U.S. District Court, Central, Southern, Northern, and Eastern Districts of California; U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Member of the Board of Directors, CIGNA Healthcare of California, 2006-2008
Author, "Protecting Trade Secrets When Employees Depart,"
Employment Law360 (September 2009, co-authored with Mark Robertson); "D&O Liability For Wages, WARN Act Violations,"
Employment Law360 (February 2009, co-authored with Ryan Rutledge); "Hazards of Hiring — Avoiding Trade-Secret Spillage," Daily Journal (June 8, 2007)
Presentations, Frequently gives presentations on drafting, defending and prosecuting restrictive covenants; sexual harassment prevention training; labor and employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions; employment law issues arising out of social networking, blogging and internet search engines; and conducting internal investigations in the wake of recent corporate scandals.