J. “SCOTT” FALLS

scott@falls-legal.com

Scott Falls is the Founding Partner of Falls Legal and his practice focuses on representation of employees in employment law matters before state and federal courts. He regularly represents employees in class and collective action wage and hour lawsuits brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the South Carolina Payment of Wages Act.  Scott has helped workers recover millions of dollars in unpaid wages when employers have failed to pay overtime or minimum wages. He also regularly represents individual employees in retaliation, discrimination, harassment, and FMLA cases.

Scott has successfully argued appellate level cases at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. He has served as lead trial counsel in federal retaliation, discrimination, and harassment cases that have resulted in substantial employee verdicts, including a verdict of $650,000.00 for an employee of one of South Carolina’s largest hospitals. He has served as lead plaintiffs’ counsel in many complex class and collective actions, including serving as lead counsel in one of South Carolina’s largest restaurant related FLSA tip credit cases that resulted in a cash recovery of $2.7 million dollars for more than 3,500 servers and bartenders across the country.

Scott is a regular speaker on employment law issues at state and national employment law conferences and regularly contributes to various online and print legal publications on issues relating to employment law. Scott is a contributing author to the Fifth Edition of South Carolina Labor and Employment Law, the leading treatise on employment law for South Carolina practitioners.  In this treatise, which is published by the South Carolina Bar, he authored the chapter on the South Carolina Payment of Wages Act for the Fifth Edition in 2019 and the 2024 Supplement.  Additionally, he authored the South Carolina chapter of Wage and Hour Laws: A State-by-State Survey, which is the leading treatise on state-based wage and hour laws, published by the American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law and Bloomberg BNA Books. He has also written various articles for South Carolina Lawyer Magazine and the South Carolina Bar Employment and Labor Law Section Newsletter.

Scott is an active member of the National Employment Lawyers Association (“NELA”), the nation’s largest organization of attorneys dedicated to protecting the rights of employees.  He regularly attends and speaks at conferences sponsored by labor and employment law organizations across the country to stay current on trends impacting employees.  He is also a member of the South Carolina Bar Labor & Employment Law Division.

Scott has been selected to either the Super Lawyers top lawyers list or the “Rising Star” list by Thompson Reuters each year since 2018. Scott has also been selected to the U.S. News & World Report “Best Lawyers in America” rankings for his work representing individuals in employment law and labor and employment litigation each year since 2021. Scott was named “Lawyer of the Year” for his work in representing individuals in employment law in 2024, which is an accolade awarded to a single lawyer in each practice area and community each year.

SELECT PUBLICATIONS & SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Wage and Hour Laws:  A State-by-State Survey, Third Edition 2018 Supplement, Third Edition 2019 Supplement, 2020 Fourth Edition, Fourth Edition 2021 Supplement, Fourth Edition 2022 Supplement, and the 2024 Fifth Edition, ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, Bloomberg BNA Books – South Carolina Chapter

South Carolina Labor and Employment Law, 2019 Fifth Edition, 2024 Supplement – South Carolina Payment of Wages Act Chapter

“Navigating the FMLA Minefield:  Seven Common Mistakes Employers Make,” South Carolina Lawyer Magazine (January 2014)

2018 South Carolina Bar Annual Convention – Kiawah Island, South Carolina: “Perspectives in Litigating FLSA Collective Actions”

RESULTS

$2.7 million dollar settlement of class and collective action lawsuit on behalf of tipped employees against a national restaurant chain

$900,000 settlement for overtime violations

$750,000 settlement for tip credit violations

$650,000 federal jury verdict awarding compensatory and punitive damages for retaliation under Title VII

$600,000 settlement on behalf of cable installation technicians alleging unpaid overtime claims

$455,000 settlement of collective action lawsuit on behalf of tipped employees alleging that they were required to perform excessive “side work”  while being paid at a sub-minimum tip credit wage

$450,000 settlement of class action lawsuit on behalf of employees alleging Title VII disparate impact claims in hiring process

REPRESENTATIVE CASES

Client v. S. Carolina Waste LLC, 633 F. Supp. 3d 769 (D.S.C. 2022) (grant of summary judgment to employees in overtime action for waste disposal drivers who were not paid overtime wages and who were not subject to Motor Carrier Act exemption)

Client v. Knight Enters. S.E., LLC, 391 F. Supp. 3d 529 (D.S.C. 2019) (granting final FLSA certification of overtime claim for cable installation workers classified as independent contractors)

Client v. Carolina First Bank NA, No. 7:18-cv-02927-JDA, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103831, at *44 (D.S.C. June 21, 2019) (granting final certification and approving settlement of class action involving disparate impact claims relating to credit and background checks; “The attorneys at Falls Legal, LLC who prosecuted this case are experienced class action and employment lawyers with good reputations among the class action and employment bars.”)

Client v. Barbeque Integrated, Inc., 299 F. Supp. 3d 762 (D.S.C. 2017) (denying motion to dismiss and granting conditional certification of hybrid collective and class action asserting claims under FLSA and various state wage laws for tip credit violations on behalf of thousands of tipped workers at nationwide restaurant chain)

Client v. Republic Services, 268 F. Supp. 3d 831 (D.S.C. 2017) (denying employer’s summary judgment motion and granting conditional certification of collective and class action brought on behalf of waste disposal drivers paid a purported day rate alleging regular rate overtime violations)

Client v. Destination Wild Dunes Mgmt., 106 F. Supp. 3d 729 (D.S.C. May 26, 2015) (denying employer’s motion to dismiss dual jobs regulation and 80/20 violation claims, which were issues of first impression in the Fourth Circuit)

Client v. Abacus Tech Corp., 273 F. Supp. 3d 596 (D.S.C. 2017) (denying employer motion to dismiss claims in Title VII harassment case)

Client v. Knight Enters. S.E., LLC, 735 F. App’x 816 (4th Cir. 2018) (Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirming district court’s order denying employer’s motion to compel arbitration of class and collective action brought under FLSA and SCPWA following appeal and oral argument)