Novel labor statutes and rules: Conceiving, and drafting significant parts of, Colorado’s nationally innovative new statutes and rules creating the state's first rights to paid sick leave, health/safety whistleblowing, farmworker overtime and heat safety, pay transparency, and union-related and other speech rights for public employees

Stronger wage & hour enforcement: Through a mix of statutory, rule, and internal process reforms, and enforcement innovations, that more than doubled the thousands of complaints and investigations the Division adjudicates, and that improved compliance statewide

Expanded union election rights: Creating new programs to run union elections, and rule on unfair labor practices, in the public sector and in agriculture

Quintupling labor standards staffing while preserving efficiency: Growing DLSS to over 130 staff, and managing multiple organizational restructurings for this workload and staff growth, while increasing the efficiency of DLSS's investigation of 5000 labor complaints annually, and experiencing low turnover despite the pressures of these changes  

Labor economics: Briefing the Governor monthly on the labor market, and supervising the state's production and analysis of labor data (jobs, wages, & unemployment by occupation, sector, & geography) -- not a new DLSS area, but one with significant challenges from external federal and state pressures, the pandemic, and technology changes

Impact litigation on civil rights, wage theft, and immigrant rights:

• Protecting voter and free speech rights by winning an order striking Colorado's criminal law against displaying your ballot, leading Colorado to repeal the law

• Multi-million-dollar recoveries forcing supermarkets and pharmacies to pay delivery workers minimum wage (one of the first “hybrid” class/collective actions)

• After a Supreme Court ruling limiting undocumented immgrants' labor rights, winning the first reported decision letting immigrants recover wages wthout disclosing their status; years later, winning Colorado’s first reported decision that held the same and disallowed employer recovery of a wage theft victim's immigration expenses

Serving victims of workplace and other abuses:

• Obtaining novel rulings broadly defining family/medical leave rights, for a woman denied rights to breastfeeding and full job restoration after leave

• Defending a woman sued for defamation by the ex she needed a restraining order against, and winning an abuse of process counterclaim against him

Appellate litigation:

• Expanding civil racketeering claims against business corruption by reviving a claim against a competitor funded by tax fraud

• Successfully defending an $11 million investment fraud verdict

• An early gay rights victory against the state in the court of appeals that won reinstatement of a State Patrol Officer "outed" by a polygraph

• A court of appeals victory setting a precedent defining racial harassment and intentional inflection of distress rights broadly

Combating consumer and business fraud:

• Exposing a rare coin fraud scheme with a securities fraud, consumer fraud, and fiduciary breach, verdict, and defeating a retaliatory qui tam suit

• Multi-prong litigation efforts that shut down a corrupt business by generating one of New York’s largest felony tax fraud convictions

Adjudication roles:

• Appointed a Boulder County hearing officer, presiding over evidentiary submissions and testimony, and issuing a written decision reviewing employment decisions

• Repeatedly appointed by state agencies to review, and issue binding decisions on, state employee challenges to salary and other employment decisions

Counseling & advising of employers:

• Drafting and reviewing employers' handbooks, contracts, and noncompetition provisions

• Advising businesses on personnel decisions and employment law compliance

• Negotiating severance and settlement agreements