Jennifer S. Harpole

Jennifer S. Harpole represents and advises employers on Colorado and federal wage and hour laws, with a particular emphasis on high stakes class, collective, and multiplaintiff actions. She is frequently lead counsel on claims regarding misclassification, minimum wage and overtime matters including regular rate and “off-the-clock” work, meal and rest breaks, commission and bonus plans, joint employment, and the enforceability of arbitration agreements.

Jennifer’s recent representative experience includes successfully moving to dismiss a putative class action based on a novel regular rate theory under Colorado law, which she recently argued before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as negotiating favorable resolutions in Colorado meal and rest period and Motor Carrier Act claims.

Jennifer regularly handles oppositions to conditional certification, class member, company and manager depositions, and complex discovery issues, and has successfully defeated these types of claims on summary judgment. She is also adept at favorably resolving these matters, which often result in multimillion dollar settlements, including shepherding them through the court approval process.

Jennifer also defends companies in connection with federal, state, and local agency wage and hour audits and complaints (including with respect to regular rate issues) and advises clients on all aspects of wage and hour law, including Colorado’s COMPS Order and Equal Pay for Equal Work Act. She relishes finding practical solutions for the complex compliance challenges posed by these state statutes, especially for multijurisdictional employers, and has advised hundreds of employers to date on Colorado’s new job posting requirements. She regularly conducts compliance audits for companies to assess risk of worker misclassification. In addition, Jennifer advises and litigates on the full spectrum of discrimination claims and defends companies in unemployment and workers’ compensation matters.

Jennifer also serves as a liaison for Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute (WPI). She focuses on Colorado state legislative and regulatory developments in employment and labor law, as well as municipal ordinances and regulation of the workplace. Jennifer assists the employer community in understanding and impacting Colorado legislation before it becomes law, submitting comments to regularly agencies to influence the rulemaking process and, where necessary, filing legal challenges to unworkable statutes.