Edward J. Wynne graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1989 with Honors and the University of Santa Clara Law School in 1992.
Since 1994 his California Bay Area practice has been devoted to complex class action litigation, much of it prosecuting wage and hour laws in both state and federal courts.
Mr. Wynne has litigated class actions and individual actions under the following exemptions: executive, administrative, outside sales, commissioned sales, and for drivers.
Representing employees in the retail, foodservice and financial services industries — including banking, brokerage services, loan brokerage, and accounting — he has litigated over 50 wage and hour class actions in both state and federal court on issues such as:
- Meal and rest breaks
- Vacation pay
- Final payments at time of termination
- Off-the-clock compensation
- Minimum wage violations
- Failure to properly calculate premium wage rate
- Failure to pay business expenses
- Unlawful deductions from pay
Mr. Wynne tried the only known class action to go to trial in California under this state’s outside sales exemption at both the liability and damages phases. That case, Duran et al. v. U.S. Bank, N.A. (Alameda County Superior Court Case 2001-035537), found that certain US Bank’s employees in California were misclassified exempt as opposed to non-exempt, and were owed overtime compensation. In awarding attorney fees to Mr. Wynne in a thoroughly contested motion, the trial court found that:
“Plaintiff’ principal counsel, Edward J. Wynne, is a highly skilled and experience trial attorney, with extensive class action experience and extensive recognized expertise in California’s overtime laws and various exemptions employers use to try and avoid them…. The Court finds that Mr. Wynne is highly regarded among his peers for his skill, experience and tenacity.”
U.S. Bank appealed the judgment and it is currently on appeal before the California Supreme Court.
Mr. Wynne was also one of the counsel in Sav-On v. Superior Court (2004) 34 Cal.4th 319 — a certified class action of over 1,500 California Sav-On store managers seeking earned and unpaid overtime compensation and derivative penalties under the California Labor Code. The California Supreme Court opinion affirmed the trial court’s grant of class certification, which had been previously reversed by the court of appeal in a published decision.
Mr. Wynne has been repeatedly recognized as one of Northern California’s “Super Lawyers” in the area of employment and labor law and has been invited to speak and write specifically on wage and hour issues for:
- The Labor and Employment Section of the California State Bar Association’s Annual Meeting
- Bridgeport’s Wage & Hour Conferences
- Mealy’s Wage and Hour Litigation Teleconference
- Local bar association meetings
- KALW San Francisco’s radio program “Your Legal Rights”
In addition, Mr. Wynne was elected to serve as a Trustee for the Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross, California. He has also donated his time and expertise by serving on various local community and school committees on such projects as school bonds, finance, traffic, and fund raising.
On July 15, 2014, Edward J. Wynne was honored as a top Labor and Employment Lawyer by the Daily Journal for his work in the Duran v. US Bank case. Click the link below to read the article.
