Jane M. McFetridge

Jane M. McFetridge is the Managing Shareholder of the Chicago, Illinois office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She has been based in Chicago her entire career and has extensive experience litigating all forms of labor and employment matters throughout the Midwest.

Her practice covers the spectrum of employment litigation, including both state and federal claims, and individual and class action suits. Her class action, collective action, and multi-plaintiff experience includes both suits by private parties and by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). She has handled cases involving claims of race, age, disability, and sex discrimination, as well as sexual harassment, retaliatory discharge, wage and hour, and non-compete/ restrictive covenant issues. She has broad experience dealing with the EEOC and the U.S. Department of Labor, as well as state and local labor and employment agencies throughout the United States. She has an extensive appellate practice, including oral arguments before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Illinois Supreme Court, the Illinois Appellate Courts, and the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Ms. McFetridge also routinely counsels clients on a variety of employment practices including employment contracts and employee handbooks and policies. She conducts employee training seminars, harassment investigations, and frequently speaks on employment-related topics.

Ms. McFetridge testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions regarding the pending Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 182). In her testimony, she stressed that our existing laws, including the EPA and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, provide robust protection against gender-based pay discrimination. She also emphasized that the employer community is already committed to ensuring gender pay parity.

Ms. McFetridge is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and has been consistently identified as an Illinois Super Lawyer and AV-Rated by Martindale Hubbell. She was also nominated by clients as a BTI Client Service All-Star for 2011. Ms. McFetridge has also been named a “Leader in her Field” in the Chambers USA Legal Guide since 2008. She was the 2004 Program Chair for the Defense Research Institute’s (DRI) Annual Employment Law Seminar, and is a frequent speaker at DRI conferences and seminars. She has also served as faculty for the American Bar Association’s National Institute on Sexual Harassment.

She is frequently published, including, "Employment Law Implications of Mental Health Issues in Law Firms and Legal Departments" The Practical Lawyer (April 2010); “Pending Pay Equity Legislation Would Do More Harm than Good,” The Job Description (DRI, November 15, 2010); “Jury Instructions for Employment Defense Litigators,” Editor, Defense Library Series (DRI, May, 2007); “Federal Court Rejects Overtime Claims of Table Games Supervisors,” Gaming Law Review, Vol. 11, No. 2 (International Masters of Gaming Law, April, 2007); “When are Superiors Personally Liable for Employment Law Violations?” Illinois Bar Journal (Illinois State Bar Association, 2004); “After September 11th: Religious Discrimination in the Workplace,” For the Defense, (DRI, October 2002); “Avoiding and Attacking ‘Junk Science’ in Employment Litigation,” in the treatise, Mental and Emotion Injuries in Employment Litigation, Second Edition, published by the Bureau of National Affairs in 2001; and “Employment Litigation: Psychological ‘Junk Science,’” For the Defense, (DRI, October 2001). She has also given frequent presentations for a variety of other organizations, including the Labor and Employment Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association.

Ms. McFetridge is admitted to practice in Illinois, as well as before the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Central and Southern Districts of Illinois; the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana; the Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin; the United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; the United States Courts of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.

Ms. McFetridge attended the Northwestern University School of Law (J.D., 1989) and graduated in the top 20% of her class. Her undergraduate degree in accounting is from the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois (B.S. 1980), where she graduated with honors. Ms. McFetridge is also a Certified Public Accountant. Prior to attending law school, she worked for six years as an accountant and financial analyst with a major accounting firm and with a multinational pharmaceutical corporation.