Amanda C. Sommerfeld

Amanda Sommerfeld's practice focuses on the defense of corporate clients in individual and class action litigation in state and federal courts. She helps solve client problems, whether in litigation or in preventing litigation. Amanda has an exceptional track record in defeating class claims at the certification stage and successfully defending those decisions in the courts of appeal. She has extensive experience with complex wage & hour class and collective claims of independent contractor misclassification, exemption misclassification, off-the-clock work, meal and rest period violations, unpaid travel time, unpaid expense reimbursement, and other pay-related practices.

Amanda also represents private and public employers in all aspects of employer-employee relations, including counseling, training, litigation, trial, and appellate work. She represents companies in various industries, including manufacturing, aviation, oil refining, homebuilding, and retail/service establishments. Amanda also conducts employment-related training for management and counsels employers on reductions in force, harassment and discrimination, investigations into employee misconduct, and wage and hour audits.

Prior to joining Jones Day in 2017, Amanda assisted Black & Decker in obtaining a 9-0 victory in the United States Supreme Court on an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) matter. She also managed the trial team in the first "suitable seating" class action to proceed to trial in California. In that case, which resulted in a judgment for the defendant retailer, the plaintiff had claimed that the nature of cashier work can reasonably be performed while sitting and that the retailer failed to provide suitable seats for its front end cashiers, in violation of California's wage orders.

Amanda frequently speaks on a variety of labor and employment topics, including wage and hour laws.