Practice Areas

Employment litigation
Employment advice and counseling
Employment compliance
Employment policies and procedures
Workplace investigations
Website and mobile app accessibility
Workplace reductions in force

Eric Beane is a Partner at Foundation Law Group LLP where he leads the firm’s Labor and Employment group.

Eric has spent over 20 years advising clients ranging from family-owned businesses to Fortune 100 global corporations. He works with clients in a range of industries including entertainment, retail, financial services, transportation, insurance, telecommunication, construction, hospitality and manufacturing.

Eric has extensive experience in complex litigation, including class action litigation, wage and hour litigation, mass layoffs, trade secret and non-compete issues and ERISA claims. He has defended employers in claims of wage and hour violations, wrongful discharge, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets and discrimination pursuant to Title III of the ADA and the California Unruh Act, including accessibility claims involving websites, mobile apps, kiosks and physical locations.

Eric regularly counsels employers on employee discipline, employee hiring, wage and hour issues, employee privacy matters and the creation and implementation of new and revised personnel policies. His work also includes drafting executive compensation agreements and separation agreements, especially in conjunction with mergers and acquisitions. He has conducted workplace investigations and provided training on a number of employment related topics. Eric has also been a speaker at numerous class action and employment seminars.

He represents employers and management in state and federal courts and before administrative bodies throughout the United States. These include the California State Labor Commissioner, California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the United States Department of Labor, the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.

Before joining Foundation Law Group, Eric was a partner at the international firm of DLA Piper.

Eric is licensed before all California courts, the United States District Court for the Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts of California, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He is a member of the California bar.

Eric graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where he received the M.H. Goldstein Memorial Prize for earning the highest grades in the field of labor law. He received his Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Phi and Golden Key National Honor Societies and graduated in the top 10% of his class.

Representative Significant Matters

Efficiently handled numerous website accessibility matters alleging discrimination pursuant to Title III of the ADA and the California Unruh Act
Successfully defended a wage and hour class action both through a five-week jury trial resulting in a hung jury and then through a subsequent bench trial
Obtained dismissal of a putative wage and hour class action involving a nationwide class consisting of thousands of employees
Filed proactive motion to preclude class certification resulting in dismissal of all class action and collective action allegations under state and federal law
Defeated class certification in multiple wage and hour class actions
Represented the retail arm of a global energy company in two large wage and hour class actions filed in Los Angeles (16,000 and 5,000 employees, respectively)
Represented a major financial services defendant in a $22 million wage and hour class action that had potential implications regarding the classification of exempt employees
Counseled several multimillion-dollar entities regarding the employment implications of their proposed mergers or acquisitions
Successfully tried a discrimination lawsuit pending in the Los Angeles Superior Court, resulting in a complete defense verdict
Represented a US entertainment conglomerate with international operations in prosecuting a complaint for misappropriation and embezzlement against a former employee
Represented a global manufacturer’s research organization regarding exempt employee classification in California and Ohio. Negotiated settlements avoiding penalties
Redesigned employment policies and procedures for a leading international manufacturer to facilitate numerous reorganizations. Trained in-house legal and human resources personnel regarding those policies and procedures
Obtained summary judgment on an ERISA claim for wrongful denial of benefits
Obtained summary judgment on discrimination and wrongful termination claims
Successfully defended discrimination charges in different jurisdictions
Counsels small, medium, and large national and international corporations regarding employment issues on an ongoing basis