Jesse L. Young

Jesse Young is a Senior Shareholder at Sommers Schwartz, PC. He represents clients in serious employment disputes, including but not limited to issues of severance negotiations, discrimination, retaliation, whistleblowing activity, employment contracts, terminations, and compliance. His clients include individuals and businesses.

As a co-founder of the firm’s national wage-and-hour practice, Jesse has appeared in hundreds of wage-and-hour lawsuits and hundreds more arbitrations arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and similar state laws. In this regard, he represents clients nationwide dealing with the payment of minimum wages and/or overtime, classification of employees, “off the clock” work, meal breaks, tip pooling, donning and doffing of protective work equipment, recordkeeping, and other issues peculiar to a wide variety of industries. He is a Chapter Editor of the ABA’s leading treatise on the FLSA, entitled “The Fair Labor Standards Act,” and is a recurring speaker on wage-and-hour topics at The Institute of Continuing Legal Education (Michigan) and other national legal conferences.

Jesse has been appointed to leadership positions in dozens of complex class actions across the country. In these positions, he has secured multi-million dollar recoveries on behalf of thousands of employees. He has also defended companies in similar litigation.

Jesse also serves as a neutral arbitrator and mediator, assisting parties to resolve various employment disputes. He appears on the roster of AAA arbitrators and mediators for the employment panel.

Jesse’s dynamic practice has taken him around the country to represent his clients. He has briefed and argued cases in Michigan state courts, the Michigan Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and dozens of federal U.S. District Courts nationwide. He has also attended several arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court.