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Patrick M. Madden

Patrick Madden is a partner in the firm's Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety practice. He has dedicated the last 25 years to counseling employers on wage and hour and employment issues and successfully defending employers against wage and hour class actions and other employment lawsuits. Patrick has worked on hundreds of class actions with putative classes ranging up to hundreds of thousands of employees and potential damages at times over a billion dollars. These class actions have involved wage calculation and payment, compensation design, entitlement to overtime and benefits, off-the-clock claims, rest and meal period claims, challenges to exempt status, claims to employee status by independent contractors and gig economy workers, unfair business practices, discrimination, and retaliation.

  • Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® for work in Employment Law - Management and Litigation - Labor and Employment in Seattle since 2005
  • Recognized by Chambers USA for Labor & Employment in Washington, 2005-2023
  • Awarded the Association of Washington Business’s “Heavy Lifter Award” in 2008 for “going above and beyond the call for the business community.”
  • Recognized by Seattle Metropolitan and Seattle Business magazines
  • Named to Washington Super Lawyers list, 2005-2022
  • Named to Washington Super Lawyers Rising Stars list, 2000-2001
  • A Washington Litigation Star and Western US Employment Star in Benchmark Litigation

In addition to training programs for clients, Patrick has done hundreds of presentations on wage and hour, employment law, and class action topics at continuing legal education, human resources, and payroll seminars. He has also spoken on wage and hour issues at national and regional business conferences, including the annual meeting of the National Association of Securities Companies, the national Gamer Technology Conference, the Council of School Attorney’s meeting, and the National Council of State Housing Agencies National Conference.

  • Time Off: State and Federal Laws on Employee Leave, Vacations and Holidays in Washington, Labor and Employment Presentation, 15 January 2008
  • Law Clerk, Hon. Joseph F. Weis, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1991-1993
Additional Thought Leadership Pages

Patrick has been quoted on wage and hour matters in Washington papers as well as the Wall Street Journal and Corporate Legal Times. Beyond the materials for his hundreds of CLEs and seminars, his formal publications on law-related subjects include:

  • Platforms Like Uber and the Blurred Line Between Independent Contractors and Employees,” Computer Law Review International, December 2015.
  • “Wage Issues on the Edge: Work Time Claims at the Start and End of the Work Day,” Corporate Counsel Review, May 2011.
  • “Collective Claims: Learning From the U.S. Experience,” PLC Magazine, Jan./Feb. 2008.
  • “Goodbye, Rambo -- Hello, Mr. Rogers?” For the Defense, Dec. 1995.
  • “Don’t Answer That Question,” For the Defense, March 1995.
  • “Federal Labor Law Preemption of State Anti-Takeover Law: A Case of First Impression,” 65 Wash. L. Rev. 457 (1990).
Additional News & Event Pages
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