iHeart Radio: CEO’s You Should Know - Jennifer Curry, Managing Shareholder of Baker Donelson’s Baltimore Office

Jennifer Curry, managing shareholder of Baker Donelson's Baltimore office, focuses her practice on advising and defending employers on all manner of employment and compliance issues.

Ms. Curry works closely with employers of all industries and sizes to provide practical advice to clients facing challenging workforce issues involving discipline, leave issues under the ADA and FMLA, contract violations, termination, and restrictive covenants. She has spent countless hours crafting thoughtful employee policies, as well as training managers and supervisors on preventive litigation practices, focusing on how to comply with applicable laws and regulations, avoid workplace disputes, resolve employee relations problems, and satisfy legitimate employee expectations. When issues do arise, she regularly coordinates crisis management responses, negotiates restrictive covenant disputes, handles state and federal agency investigations, and leads clients through internal and government investigations involving claims of whistleblowing, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and wage and hour issues. And, if these issues turn into litigation, Ms. Curry has represented clients in complex litigation in state and federal courts throughout the country as well as before the DOL, EEOC and OSHA.

As co-chair of the Firm's Labor & Employment Health practice, Ms. Curry has a specific focus on clients in the health care industry. Through years of experience working specifically with employers in the health care space, she knows the unique issues and challenges that arise from this specialized workforce and knows how to develop policies, practices, and protocols that meet compliance needs. Beyond advising health care clients on traditional labor and employment issues, she was at the forefront nationwide in developing policies and training protocols complying with Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act and has since defended providers in countless complaints raised by employees and patients before the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, and in federal courts throughout the country. She has also developed a significant practice conducting complex compliance and risk management internal investigations for large health care practices and systems involving allegations of misconduct at every level, from physicians to administrators in the C-Suite, and has successfully litigated false claims retaliation and whistleblower cases in state and federal courts across the country brought against these providers. Along those same lines, she has represented dozens of health care entities – including nationwide practices – in breach of contract, restrictive covenant, and confidentiality litigation, as well as dissolution of physician partnerships.

Within health care employment law, Ms. Curry has further developed a niche working specifically with Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs and the various employment and academic issues that arise among students, residents, fellows, and researchers. She has worked with countless GME programs to develop ACGME-compliant academic policies and procedures and has advised program leadership through complex disciplinary and dismissal actions when enrollees are failing to meet their specialty's Core Competency expectations. Her experience further extends to creating Title IX policies and programs for standalone academic medical programs and leading clients through Title IX proceedings related to gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. Ms. Curry also has more than 10 years of experience advising and defending educational institutions at all levels throughout the country. Beyond her experience creating student and staff policies and conducting compliance training, she is an ATIXA-certified Title IX Hearing Chair, Hearing Advisor, and Investigator. With this training, she has served the offices of diversity and equity of dozens of colleges and universities in these capacities, conducting EEO and Title IX investigations and issuing written investigation reports, serving as Hearing Advisor as a guide through the Title IX process to both complainants and respondents, and presiding as Hearing Chair over and issuing findings in Title IX proceedings.

Outside of the Title IX context, Ms. Curry has also served as an internal investigator regarding academic misconduct and other issues of wrongdoing. She works with independent schools throughout the country on creating student and employee policies, including social media and technology policies, conducting internal investigations regarding student and employee complaints, and training employees on appropriate conduct. Beyond these focus industries, Ms. Curry advises and defends employers of all sizes and all industries in every aspect of the employer-employee relationship. She routinely appears before state and federal courts and agencies throughout Maryland and the District of Columbia. Ms. Curry devises practical strategies for clients navigating employment claims and disputes, and where advisable, she recommends and provides representation in alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration, mediation and settlement negotiations.

Ms. Curry is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® in Employment Law - Management and Litigation – Labor and Employment; Maryland Super Lawyers in the area of Employment Litigation (2022); and as a Rising Star by Maryland Super Lawyers in the area of Employment Litigation (2013 – 2021).