Mark Potashnick | Fair Wage Lawyer | Wage and Hour Attorney

Mark Potashnick has practiced in the areas of labor, employment and employee benefits law for 16 years. He has obtained six and seven figure jury verdicts in employment cases and has obtained multiple orders reinstating health and disability benefits. His current practice encompasses wage and hour collective actions and class action employee benefit claims. Mark has served as class counsel in wage and hour, employee benefit, and WARN Act claims. He is an executive board member of the National Employment Lawyers Association – St. Louis. Mark graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and Washington University School of Law in 1993. He has spoken around the country on employment law, workplace rights, and employee benefits.


	MARK POTASHNICK 11500 Olive Blvd., Suite 133 St. Louis, Missouri 63141 Phone: (314) 997-9150 ext. 2 Facsimile: (314) 997-9170 markp@wp-attorneys.com

Litigation Highlights:*

• Recovered unpaid overtime wages and liquidated damages for a class of 594 customer service representatives. The class representative alleged the employer required these employees to work without pay (“off-the-clock”) in logging on to computer systems and programs, reading company publications, competing customer service calls and logging off from the computer systems and programs. Wolfert v. UnitedHealth Group, et al., Case No. 4:08CV01643 (TIA) (E.D. Mo. 2009).

• Obtained a court order reinstating the health, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits to a class of disabled persons. Recognizing the value of such reinstatement, the court awarded $454,431.75 in attorney’s fees and $10,689.45 in recovery of litigation costs advanced. Halbach & Schield v. Great-West Life Insurance & Annuity Co., et al., Case No. 4:05CV02399 (ERW) (E.D. Mo. 2007).

• Obtained relief for a class of employees terminated without receipt of WARN Act notices. Teamsters Local 604, et al. v. Inter-Rail Transport, Inc., Case No. 02-1109-DRH (S.D. Ill. 2004)

• Obtained a $1,206,000.00 jury verdict in a claim for sexual harassment and wrongful termination with no witness corroboration of the harassment. Flotron v. AdOne Media, Inc., et al., Case No. 07CC-000373 (Cir. Ct. of St. L. County, MO 2008)

• Obtained a $1,006,400.00 jury verdict in a claim of wrongful termination when a recycling company fired its trucking foreman for refusal to assign truck drivers in violation of the Department of Transportation’s maximum hour regulations. Williams v. Omaha Paper Stock, Inc., Case No. 062-888-1 (Cir. Ct. of City of St. L., MO 2007)

• Obtained jury verdicts totaling $245,000.00 in two related sexual harassment claims. The court awarded an additional $71,000.00 in attorney’s fees and costs. Coats & Harrold v. Premier Mortgage Funding, Inc., et al., Case No. 06-2611 G CV (Cir. Ct. of St. L. County, MO 2007).

• Obtained several orders reinstating the health, disability and retirement benefits of many claimants. See, e.g., Halbach & Schield v. Great-West Life Insurance & Annuity Co., et al., Case No. 4:05CV02399 (ERW) (E.D. Mo. 2009) (class reinstatement); Michael v. AIG, et al., Case No. 4:05CV02400 (ERW) (W.D. Mo. 2008); Wakefield v. Accor Economy Lodging, et al., Case No. 03-309 (S.D. Ill. 2005).

• Obtained millions of dollars for clients through settlements of employment claims. (confidential settlements).

• At a prior firm, Mark was instrumental in recovering $2,300,000.00 for a class of employees who lost benefits as a result of an early retirement plan which violated the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act. Goldman & Smith, et al. v. General Dynamics, Case No. 4:95CV1452 (TCM) (1996).

• At a prior firm, Mark Potashnick of Weinhaus & Potashnick obtained a bankruptcy court order reinstating the employment of 40 truck drivers pending further legal proceedings. In re Valley Steel Products Co., Case No. 92-40778 (E.D. Mo. Bkrptcy. 1992).

• Mark was apparently instrumental in preventing a corporate merger which would have violated federal bankruptcy law and resulted in a 17.5% wage reduction for about 3,000 truck drivers around the United States and Canada. Automobile Transport Chauffeurs Demonstrators and Helpers Union, Teamsters Local 604 & Warner v. Allied Holdings, Inc., et al., Adversary Case No. 07-06695 (N.D. Ga. Bkrptcy. 2008) and In re Performance Transportation Services, Inc., et al., Case No. 07-04746 (MJK) (W.D.N.Y. Bkrptcy. 2008).

• Mark forced arbitration by a recalcitrant car dealer, then recovered unpaid sales commissions and benefits for a group of 26 automobile sales representatives. Teamsters Local 604 v. Feld Chevrolet Company, Case No. 4:06CV01368 (ERW) (E.D. Mo. 2006) & subsequent arbitration (2006).

Current efforts include:

• Collective action litigation against NPC International, the largest Pizza Hut franchisee with approximately 1,161 stores, for failure to pay minimum wage and reimburse job expenses to delivery drivers.

• Class action litigation against KV Pharmaceutical and responsible executives for improper investment of employee ownership funds.

• Continued class action efforts to retain the health, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits to members of a class of disabled persons.

• Bankruptcy litigation against various advertising firms to recover billboards and other assets on behalf of multiple creditors.

Areas of Practice:

• Wage and Hour Collective Actions
• Employee Benefits Class Actions
• WARN Act Class Actions
• Employment Discrimination and Harassment
• Copyright, Name and Image Infringement

Bar Admissions:

• Missouri
• Illinois
• U.S. Court of Appeals 7th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit
• U.S. District Court – Eastern District of Missouri
• U.S. District Court – Southern District of Illinois
• U.S. Tax Court

Education:

• Washington University School of Law, Juris Doctorate (J.D.), 1993
• University of Pennsylvania, 1989, B.S. Economics, 1989

Selected Cases:*

• Wolfert v. UnitedHealth Group, et al., Case No. 4:08CV01643 (TIA) (E.D. Mo. 2009) (collective action for violation of federal and state wage and hour laws)
• Bengana v. AT&T Corp., Case No. 4:07CV00910 (CEJ) (E.D. Mo.) (violation of Family and Medical Leave Act)
• Coats & Harrold v. Premier Mortgage Funding, Inc., et al., Case No. 06-2611 G CV (Cir. Ct. of St. L. County, MO 2007) (sexual harassment and unlawful termination)
• Cornett v. Tanner Seed, et al., Case No. 1:96CV00021 (ERW) (E.D. Mo.) (violation of Violence Against Women Act)
• Covington v. J.C. Penny Corporation, et al., Case No. 4:04CV00329 (SNL) (E.D. Mo.) (misappropriation of image for commercial use)
• Covington v. L’oreal U.S.A., et al., Case No. 022-9430 (Cir. Ct. of City of St. L., MO) (breach of contract & misappropriation of image for commercial use)
• Crocker v. KV Pharmaceutical, et al., Case No. 4:09CV0019 (CEJ) (breach of fiduciary duty by misuse of employee stock ownership funds)
• Davis v. Anheuser-Busch Employees’ Credit Union, Case No. 4:05CV00146 (CEJ) (violation of Family and Medical Leave Act)
• Deleon v. Applebee’s International, Inc., et al., Case No. 3:06CV00149-GPM-PMF (S.D. Ill.) (racial harassment in employment)
• Goodspeed v. CNA Group Life Insurance Co., Case No. 4:02CV01961 (RWS)
(E.D. Mo.) (wrongful denial of disability benefits)
• Flotron v. AdOne Media, Inc., et al., Case No. 07CC-000373 (Cir. Ct. of St. L. County, MO) (sexual harassment in employment & retaliatory termination)
• Gallegos, et al. v. General Motors Corp., et al., Case No. 4:07CV00002 (SNL)
(E.D. Mo.) (wrongful denial of employee benefit plan documents)
• Garfinkel v. BJC Health System, et al., Case No. 4:07CV00005 (CAS) (E.D. Mo.) (wrongful denial of employee death benefits)
• Goldman & Smith v. General Dynamics, Case No. 4:95CV01452 (E.D. Mo. 1996) (wrongful denial of retirement benefits based upon unlawful early retirement plan)
• Halbach & Schield, et al. v. Great-West Life Insurance Co., et al., Case No . 4:05CV02399 (ERW) (E.D. Mo.) (class claim for unlawful elimination of health, dental, vision and prescription drug benefits to disabled plan participants and individual claim for wrongful denial of employee benefits documents)
• Havener, et al. v. Power Screen USB, et al., Case No. 4:94CV02277 (JCH) (wrongful termination of employee group and workplace harassment based on sex, age and disability)
• Harris, et al. v. Kraft Foods Global, Inc., et al., Case No. 07BA-CV3803 (Cir. Ct. of Boone County, MO) (racial and sexual harassment in employment).
• Hutton v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., et al., Case No. 04CC-003062 (Cir. Ct. of St.
L. County, MO) (sexual harassment) (sexual harassment)
• Kennedy v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., et al., Case No. 4:02CV00183 (TCM) (E.D. Mo.) (wrongful denial of disability benefits)
• Jordan v. Van Lenhardt, Inc., et al., Case No. 3:05CV00767-WDS-CJP (wrongful denial of public accommodation based on race)
• Menz v. Procter & Gamble Health Care Plan, et al., Case No. 4:04CV00077 (RWS) (E.D. Mo.) (wrongful denial of prosthesis)
• Michael v. AIG, et al., Case No. 4:05CV02400 (ERW) (E.D. Mo.) (wrongful denial of disability benefits)
• Moore v. St. Louis Composting, Inc., Case No. 08SL-CC02852 (Cir. Ct. of St. L. County, MO) (denied employee use of “whites only” restroom)
• Niethammer v. Prudential Insurance Company of America, Case No. 4:06CV01664 (CDP) (E.D. Mo.) (wrongful denial of disability benefits)
• Turner v. Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P., Case No. 4:04CV01688 (SNL) (E.D. Mo.) (wrongful termination based on employee’s refusal to waive legal rights against employer)
• Ragland v. Gannett Co., Inc., et al., Case No. 4:05CV02398 (FRB) (copyright infringement)
Simms, et al. v. EMI Capitol Records, et al., Case No. 4:06CV01557 (RWS) (E.D. Mo.) (copyright infringement)
• Teamsters Local 604, et al. v. Inter-Rail Transport Co., Case No. 3:02CV01109-DRH-CJP (S.D. Ill.) (violation of WARN Act through failure to provide notice of facility closure)
• Teamsters Local 604, et al. v. Allied Holdings, Inc., et al., Adversary Case No. 07-06695 (N.D. Ga. Bkrptcy. 2008) and In re Performance Transportation Services, Inc., et al., Case No. 07-04746 (MJK) (W.D.N.Y. Bkrptcy. 2008) (apparently prevented threatened violation of bankruptcy law which would have resulted in 17.5% wage decrease to about 3,000 truck drivers in U.S. and Canada)
• Wakefield v. Accor Economy Lodging, et al., Case No. 03-309 (S.D. Ill. 2005) (wrongful denial of health insurance and failure to provide notice of continuing insurance rights)
• Ward v. Monsanto Co., Case No. 4:04CV670 (ERW) (wrongful denial of disability benefits)
• Watson v. Weekends Only, Case No. 4:06CV00599 (CAS) (E.D. Mo.) (violation of employee’s rights against unlawful subjection to lie detection test by employer)
• Williams v. Omaha Paper Stock, Inc., Case No. 062-888-1 (Cir. Ct. of City of St. L., MO 2007) (termination in violation of public policy)

Professional Associations and Memberships:

• Missouri Bar
• Illinois Bar
• Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
• National Employment Lawyers Association – St. Louis (Executive Board Member)
• National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives

* Past results afford no guarantee of future results. Every case is different and must be judged on its own merits.

The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.

HOME - PRACTICE AREAS - LOOKING FOR CASES - ATTORNEYS - RESULTS - CONTACT US - DISCLAIMER - SITEMAP

SITE CREATED & MAINTAINED BY: associativecreative