David Fortney is a co-founder of Fortney & Scott LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based, law firm counseling and advising clients on the full spectrum of workplace-related matters, including employment discrimination and labor matters, compliance programs, government contracting, executive employment and compensation, and developing strategies for avoiding or responding to workplace-related crises. Mr. Fortney has a broad-based practice representing and counseling employers in employment and labor matters, including wage and hour matters, government enforcement agencies' audits and regulatory matters, judicial proceedings, Equal Employment Opportunity requirements, federal contractor's affirmative action and non-discrimination obligations, collective bargaining and union organizing, and workplace health and safety. Mr. Fortney is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers; he holds leadership positions in the American Bar Association's EEO and Federal Legislative Development Committees; and, he is a frequent lecturer at professional conferences. Fortney & Scott, LLC has been recognized as a leading management employment law firm, Tier 2, in the highly prestigious "Best Law Firms" survey for 2011 - 2012 by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers for Washington, DC
Mr. Fortney's wage and hour practice includes counseling clients with respect to policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the minimum wage and overtime obligations under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage and hour laws, including the proper classification of positions as exempt or non-exempt, overtime practices for non-exempt employees, compensation practices for exempt employees, and time and record keeping procedures; conducting preventive compliance audits; and advising and representing clients facing audits by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. Additionally, Mr. Fortney established and co-chairs the Practicing Law Institute's nationally acclaimed annual wage and hour seminar in New York in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Before co-founding the firm, Mr. Fortney previously served as the chief legal officer of the U. S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. during President George H. W. Bush Administration. As Acting Solicitor of Labor, he was responsible for enforcing over 140 laws regulating the nation's workplaces and managing an agency with 800 attorneys and support staff. He advised Secretaries of Labor Elizabeth Dole and Lynn Martin and the Department of Labor agencies on a broad range of legal, policy, legislative, regulatory, and enforcement issues. The major Department of Labor agencies Mr. Fortney represented included the Wage and Hour Division, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), among others.
Mr. Fortney has testified on several occasions before the U.S. Congress. He most recently testified before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections at a hearing entitled, "Examining Regulatory and Enforcement Actions Under the Fair Labor Standards Act" and has previously testified on behalf of the national employers' O.T. Coalition in support of the Department of Labor's issuance of revised FLSA white-collar exemption regulations. He has also testified before a state legislative committee on wage and hour matters.
Mr. Fortney has been widely recognized for his professional accomplishments, including being named one of the leading employment lawyers in Washington, D.C. by the CHAMBERS USA survey of America's Leading Lawyers for Business in all years from 2005 through 2011. He was selected for inclusion in the 2011, 2010 and 2009 editions of The Best Lawyers in America, Washington D.C.'s and was listed in the 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009 editions of Super Lawyers and the Washington D.C.'s Best Lawyers. Mr. Fortney was also awarded an AV rating (the highest level) by Martindale-Hubbell.
Mr. Fortney also is a frequent lecturer and writer on employment-related topics, including appearances on CNN, CBS, and Fox News. Mr. Fortney is the co-editor of a monthly newsletter, the Federal Employment Law Insider, Chapter Editor of The Family and Medical Leave Act (2006) published by BNA Books, co-author of the Military Leave Compliance Kit (2001), published by M. Lee Smith Publishers, and lead author of the Guide to Employee Leave (1997), published by Warren, Gorham & Lamont.