Kathryn T. McGuigan

Associate

Kathryn T. McGuigan is an associate in Morgan Lewis's Labor and Employment Practice. Ms. McGuigan focuses her practice on the representation of management in all areas of labor and employment. In addition to representing employers in employment litigation in state and federal courts, Ms. McGuigan provides day-to-day advice and counsel on a broad range of issues under both state and federal law. She has represented employers in class and collective actions brought under the FLSA and state wage and hour laws. Her wage and hour experience includes claims of misclassification, off-the-clock work, time-shaving, and meal and rest period violations.

Ms. McGuigan has represented employers in litigation and administrative proceedings, including claims for wage and hour violations, wrongful termination, discrimination, and harassment. She counsels employers in all areas of human resources management, including personnel policies, wage and hour issues, leaves of absence rights, personnel actions, harassment in the workplace, disability accommodations, performance management and compensation, employee benefits, job descriptions, and executive compensation. Ms. McGuigan assists employers in drafting, implementing, and administering personnel policies and procedures and conducts training seminars on various issues, including workplace harassment, performance evaluations, compensation, and performance management.

Ms. McGuigan volunteers as a guardian ad litem for Public Counsel’s Children’s Rights Project and works with the Los Angeles County Bar Association on its student outreach programs.

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Ms. McGuigan practiced labor and employment law at the Los Angeles office of a national law firm, where she focused on wage and hour class actions, employment advice and counsel, and training.

Ms. McGuigan is a frequent speaker at various risk management, human resources, and hospitality industry conferences and seminars.

Ms. McGuigan received her J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2004, where she was the literary citation editor of the Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal, a teaching assistant for legal research and writing, and a research assistant for NAFTA issues. While in law school, Ms. McGuigan held an externship with Judge Lourdes Baird of the U.S. District Court for Central District of California. Additionally, Ms. McGuigan served on the Pepperdine Advocacy in Mediation team. She received her B.A. in political science from Loyola Marymount University in 2001.

Before pursuing her law degree, Ms. McGuigan had an extensive career in the food service business and was instrumental in the development and startup of a national mall-based, multiconcept restaurant company, creating their human resources and training departments.

In addition, Ms. McGuigan spent eight years with a multinational restaurant chain as vice president of administration, managing all administrative functions of the company, including human resources, employment and customer claims, litigation, customer service and training, crisis management, risk management, and the company’s Bermuda subsidiary.

Ms. McGuigan is admitted to practice in California and before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Central, Eastern, Northern, and Southern Districts of California.