M. Brett Burns

For more than thirty years, Michael Brett Burns has represented leading employers and management in a wide range of employment and public accommodations-related matters. Brett’s practice focuses on employment class actions, wage and hour class, collective, and PAGA representative actions, complex public accommodations litigation, and federal and state agency pattern or practice actions (including lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and various state attorneys general).

• Defending a national staffing firm in statewide wage and hour class and PAGA representative actions presenting first-impression wage and hour claims (California).
• Representing a national retailer client in EEOC pattern or practice investigations presenting allegations that the use of criminal background checks during the hiring process has a disparate impact on minority applicants under Title VII (California, New York, Texas).
• Defending national casual dining and national retailer clients in nationwide FLSA collective actions presenting first impression “tip pooling,” “donning and doffing,” and misclassification claims, respectively (Fifth Circuit and Southern District of Texas, Northern District of Ohio, District of New Jersey).
• Defending national movie exhibitor clients in nationwide pattern or practice public accommodations cases filed by the U.S. Department of Justice presenting challenges to architectural designs under ADA Title III (Ninth Circuit and Central District of California, Ninth Circuit and District of Oregon, Sixth Circuit and Northern District of Ohio).
• Representing a national retailer client in a nationwide structured negotiations dispute presenting allegations that the use of personality assessments during the hiring process has a disparate impact on applicants with mental health disabilities under the ADA (California, Washington, D.C.).
• Defending a national employee screening services provider in a nationwide class action lawsuit presenting allegations that the use of hair drug testing during the hiring process resulted in disparate treatment and disparate impact discrimination against African-American applicants (California, Texas).
• Defending multiple statewide wage and hour class and collective actions against national retailer, casual dining, financial services, movie exhibitor, manufacturing, and hospitality clients presenting meal period, rest break, reporting time pay, misclassification, off-the-clock, tip pooling, and other claims (Central District of California, Southern District of California, California Supreme Court, California Court of Appeal, multiple California Superior Courts (Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, San Leandro, San Francisco, and San Diego), Middle District of Florida, Southern District of Florida, Southern District of Texas).
• Defending multiple statewide class, multi-plaintiff, state agency pattern or practice, and structured negotiations public accommodations actions against national movie theater exhibitor clients seeking to mandate new captioning, narrative description, and assistive listening technologies under ADA Title III and analogous state laws (Arizona, California, New York, Texas, Washington).
• Defending multiple class actions against national retailer, casual dining, financial services, movie exhibitor, manufacturing, and hospitality clients in website accessibility lawsuits presenting federal, state, and local claims (California, Florida, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas).
• Defending a national retailer client in a multi-year nationwide pattern or practice case filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission presenting race and national origin discrimination and harassment claims under Title VII (District of Arizona).
• Defending a national specialty coffee retailer in a nationwide class action lawsuit presenting allegations that charging customers different prices for coffee drinks made with plant-based milks resulted in disability discrimination against customers who have lactose intolerance (California).
• Defending a national retail client in a national public accommodations class action presenting challenges to architectural designs and construction of parking facilities and accessible paths of travel under ADA Title III (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia).
• Managing national and regional dockets of employment, wage and hour, and public accommodations litigation for multiple national clients (Arizona, California, Florida, Ohio, New York, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C.).
• Advising national clients on multiple employment, wage and hour, and public accommodations consulting projects (Arizona, California, Florida, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C.).

• Recommended for Labor and Employment Disputes (Including Collective Actions): Defense, Legal 500 United States, 2021-2025
• Recognized as a Leader in Labor & Employment, California, Chambers USA, 2021-2025
• Recognized as a Top 50 Labor and Employment Litigator, Benchmark Litigation, 2024-2026
• Listed as a Litigation Star (2025-2026) and a Labor and Employment Star (2018-2024), California, Benchmark Litigation
• Named among Top Labor and Employment Lawyers, Daily Journal, 2021