
We fight for opportunity, fair pay, and a workplace free from discrimination.
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Christopher M. McNerney
About
CHRISTOPHER M. MCNERNEY is a partner with Outten & Golden and an experienced litigator. As a member of the firm’s Class Action, Discrimination and Retaliation, and Sex Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Practice Groups, he is focused on cutting edge civil and workers’ rights class actions pushing the law towards realizing its latent promise of justice.
Christopher represents employees in class action discrimination (race, gender and criminal history, among other topics), wage and hour, and Fair Credit Reporting Act cases, as well as other civil rights cases on behalf of criminal defendants, tenants, and other impacted individuals. He has particularly devoted his career to impact litigation addressing the collateral consequences of criminal convictions, challenging employers’ criminal history screens that disproportionately screen out applicants of color – and has litigated such cases against some of the largest and most prominent employers in the country, including Walmart, Hertz, Target, Madison Square Gardens, the State of Washington and its 39 Counties, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, and the United States Census Department (for which Christopher was named Trial Lawyer of the Year by Public Justice, Gonzalez v. Pritzker, in 2017), among many other employers.
Throughout his career, Christopher has recovered over $100 million for workers and other aggrieved individuals. Christopher has successfully litigated in federal and state courts across the country, including by:
- Upholding the unconscionability of an adhesive arbitration agreement in the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit;
- Reversing a district court’s dismissal of Fair Credit Reporting Act claims on standing grounds in the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit;
- Reversing a district court’s decertification of a Fair Labor Standards Act collective in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit;
- Certifying a contested defendant settlement class of employers violating New York City’s Fair Chance Act while overcoming online job boards’ Communications Decency Act arguments for dismissal in New York State Supreme Court;
- Achieving a nearly two-million dollar settlement of Title VII disparate impact race and national origin claims in the District of Delaware Bankruptcy Court, as part of the company’s restructuring plan after it declared bankruptcy and litigation in the Northern District of California was stayed; and
- Certifying Rule 23(b)(3) Title VII disparate treatment and impact gender discrimination claims against Goldman Sachs in the Southern District of New York—in one of the closest watched employment cases of the last decade.
Christopher especially focuses on areas of the law that need development, and strategically litigates to push the law to more robustly protect vulnerable individuals.
Christopher writes and speaks frequently about employment issues, including in the criminal history context, and is a contributor to the legal treatise, Collateral Consequences of Criminal Conviction Law, Policy and Practice.
Christopher received his B.A., with honors, from Macalester College, and his J.D., with honors, from NYU School of Law. He clerked for the Hon. Sarah Netburn in the Southern District of New York.
Bar Admissions & Professional Activities
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Mr. McNerney is admitted to practice law only in New York.
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Mr. McNerney is admitted to the following federal courts: The United States District Courts for the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, the Western District of New York; and the Eastern District of Michigan; and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Third Circuit and the Ninth Circuit.
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New York State Bar Association
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National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA)
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National Employment Lawyers Association/New York (NELA/NY)
Speaking Engagements
2020
- Speaker: "Fighting for Legal Justice in the Workplace and Beyond," #AskAnExpertSeries, #AskAnExpertSeries, Webinar
2019
- Panelist: "Navigating the Hiring Minefield - Developments in NY Employment Law and Litigation Trends and the Role of ADR," JAMS NY, New York, NY
- Speaker: "Available relief under the FLSA, 29 USC §216, and state laws," 2019 National Academy of Arbitrators Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA
- Speaker: "Cooperating And Collaborating With Other Plaintiffs’ Counsel In Wage And Hour Cases," NELA, 2019 Spring Seminar: Epic Advocacy: Protecting Wages In Litigation & Arbitration, Denver, CO
2018
- Speaker, Moderator: "Using Criminal History in the Workplace," Fordham Law School, NELA/NY Fall 2018 CLE Conference, New York, NY
- Presenter: "Applying for Work in California With a Prior Conviction," Impact Fund, Summer Webinar Series
- Panelist: "Introduction to Public Interest Law Firms," New York University School of Law Public Interest Law Center, New York, NY
2017
- Panelist: "Introduction to Public Interest Law Firms," New York University School of Law Public Interest Law Center, New York, NY
Publications & Articles
In many employment discrimination lawsuits brought in federal court under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, one of the first hurdles most...
Individuals who have criminal records that include a crime involving dishonesty, breach of trust, or money laundering have long been prohibited from...
Last month, Los Angeles joined a growing group of U.S. cities taking steps to end hiring discrimination based on a job applicant's criminal history...
When the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its opinion in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins last May, employers, as well as the companies that provide employers with...
Job seekers in Illinois will soon likely have fewer reasons to worry that past convictions will stand in the way of future employment opportunities...
Job seekers and workers in Philadelphia will soon have fewer worries about whether their criminal or credit histories will stand in the way of...
In New York City and elsewhere in the country in recent years, job applicants and employees have obtained increased protections from employment...
It has been said that in every crisis lies opportunity. Unfortunately, the twin crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recession that followed have...
The laws in New York and elsewhere throughout the country have come a long way in recent years when it comes to protecting job applicants from...
Awards & Recognition
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Best Lawyers Ones to Watch: 2021-2022
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Legal 500 United States Recommended Labor and Employment Lawyer: 2021
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Lawdragon 500 Plaintiff Employment Lawyer: 2021
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Super Lawyers Rising Star: 2017-2023
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Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, Public Justice, Gonzalez v. Pritzker, 2017