Julie Pace
- Partner
- (602) 397-9871
- (602) 851-8799
- jpace@psgmlaw.com
Julie Pace has significant experience counseling and representing businesses in a broad range of employment, litigation, construction, corporate, and government investigations, regulatory, and administrative matters. She prepares employment handbooks and policies, guides employers through difficult HR issues, she has handled more than 1,000 I-9 and E-Verify compliance investigations, and has defended employers in more than 1,000 OSHA, investigations, including more than 350 fatality cases. She has experience with independent contractors and alleged misclassification issues and defends claims of sexual harassment, employment discrimination, retaliation, whistleblower, and wrongful discharge, and matters involving the EEOC, ACRD. OSHA, ICE, OFCCP, DOL, NLRB, ADA, FMLA, ERISA, WARN, PPA, CARES Act, SIGPR Audits, COVID-19, ACA, Davis-Bacon, wage and hour laws, FAR, SCA, and government contracts. She regularly provides training to companies and conducts investigations. Her corporate experience includes guiding businesses with corporate formalities, governance, and acquisitions, ranging from family businesses to nine-figure transactions. She has received numerous awards and recognitions, including being named one of Arizona’s 10 most influential lawyers by Arizona Business Magazine.
Representative Experience
Julie Pace has broad experience in a wide range of legal issues, as her large client base requests and relies on her skillful and tireless representation for employment, litigation, construction, corporate, government compliance, investigations, training, HR counseling and problem-solving, and much more.
Julie is a valuable resource for HR professionals who team with Julie to guide them through challenging employment and business issues, including performance management and discipline; anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training; policies; investigations; employee theft, fraud, disloyalty, or conflicts of interest; defense of wrongful termination and whistleblower claims; wage and hour claims; class actions; etc.
Julie has a legal practice that is national in scope in OSHA compliance, having handled more than 1,000 OSHA investigations in all regions of the country, including serious matters involving more than 350 fatalities. She proactively works with employers to draft and implement safety programs and policies, conduct training, and adopt best practices to reduce the risk of workplace injuries and to reduce the likelihood of OSHA citations. She is on call 24/7/365 to respond to workplace emergencies and accidents and to handle OSHA investigations whenever they arise. When citations are issued, she represents employers in resolving them, either through favorable negotiated terms or by defending against the citations during administrative proceedings and judicial appeals, if necessary. She has been working on fall protection issues since the fall protection standard went into effect in 1995 and has been tapped by OSHA to speak at national conferences on protecting Spanish-speaking workers.
Similarly, Julie has a multi-faceted approach to employer immigration compliance, including training HR personnel and supervisors in best practices, conducting audits of I-9s and E-Verify compliance, handling ICE investigations and audits, guiding employers through visa and work eligibility issues and proceedings, and defending against administrative and litigated employer immigration compliance disputes under federal and state laws. She coordinated the coalition of employer groups and led the litigation that challenged the constitutionality of the Arizona employer sanctions law in litigation that was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. She was described by Arizona Business Magazine as the “go-to” lawyer for employer immigration compliance in Arizona.
Her experience includes handling matters involving the EEOC, ACRD, OSHA, ICE, OFCCP, DOL, NLRB, Davis-Bacon, FAR, ADA, FMLA, ERISA, ACA, WARN, wage and hour audits and issues, health care and benefits questions, employee grievances, arbitration, contract negotiations, elections, administrative hearings, and litigation in both union and non-union settings.
Her Davis-Bacon and prevailing wage practice includes counseling and training on state and federal prevailing wages and benefits requirements, coverage and applicability of prevailing wage laws, coverage exemptions, worker classification and pay issues, addressing wage determinations, wage surveys, and representation of employers before the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division and similar state agencies.
Julie is the presenter and narrator of an award-winning video called ”Respect at Work” that won a Telly award. She is the co-editor or primary author of three books on employment law. She has conducted national training programs for clients and industry groups.
She counsels employers on non-compete contracts, confidentiality agreements, employee discipline, drug testing, accommodation of disabled individuals, leaves of absence, workplace violence, safety policies, and other human resource policies and procedures. She also handles contract disputes, business torts, trade practices, and construction matters. She regularly prepares and reviews employee handbooks and safety manuals.
Julie serves in the role of an outside general counsel for numerous clients. She guides them through corporate governance and compliance, resolves internal and external challenges and disputes, and corporate sales and acquisitions ranging from small family businesses and generational transfers to large transactions.
She has represented companies in government contracting disputes and numerous commercial litigation matters involving contracts, construction, trade practices, financing, acquisitions, and other matters. She is known for creative, practical solutions to businesses’ legal challenges.
Julie regularly coordinates crisis response plans for clients to deal with workplace accidents, government investigations and other matters. She has been interviewed and quoted in news media across the nation, including ABA Journal, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, The New York Times, CNN, NPR, Associated Press, USA Today, L.A. Times, CBS News, FOX News, Arizona Republic, East Valley Tribune, Arizona television stations, Arizona Daily Star, The Tucson Citizen, HR Magazine, and many more.
Julie serves as an elected Council Member of the Town of Paradise Valley. She is a recipient of Arizona Business Magazine’s 2008 Centers of Influence Award, which recognized 10 leading attorneys in Arizona. Julie is also a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America. She was a sustaining member of Arizona’s Finest Lawyers and is listed in Best Lawyers in America. She has served as Judge Pro Tem for the Arizona Court of Appeals and is a former judicial law clerk to the Honorable Joe W. Contreras of the Arizona State Court of Appeals. Julie is a fourth-generation Arizonan.
Court Admissions
- Arizona, 1992
- Supreme Court of Arizona, 1992
- U.S. District Court, District of Arizona, 1992
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 1995
- U.S. Supreme Court, 1997
- U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, 2012
Education & Honors
- Arizona State University (J.D., cum laude, 1992)
- Arizona State Law Journal, Symposium and Articles Editor
- Best Comment Award, Arizona State Law Journal
- Arizona State University (B.S. magna cum laude, 1983)
- Hon. Joe W. Contreras, Arizona Court of Appeals, 1992-93
- Legal extern, Hon. Robert C. Broomfield, U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, 1990
- Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Labor and Employment Law
- AV Peer Review Rating, Martindale-Hubbell
- “Centers of Influence Award” as one of the 10 most influential lawyers in Arizona, by Arizona Business Magazine, 2008
- American Institute of Architects, Rio Salado Community Vision Award, 1994
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Spirit of Unity Award, 1994
- Mesa’s Outstanding Young Woman of the Year Award, 1993
- Arizona’s Finest Lawyers
- Senior Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America.
Publications
What Employers Need to Know About Immigration Law, I-9s, and E-Verify
Update on New and Proposed State and Federal Laws and Interpretations
Million Dollar Mistakes: Top DOL Wage and Hour Cases and What You Can Learn from Them
DOL’s New Guidance on Independent Contractors
Interplay of ADA, FMLA, Workers’ Compensation and Paid Leave Laws
Conducting Compliance Audits: Wage and Hour, I-9s, OSHA Safety, and COVID-19
Drug and Alcohol Free Workplace Policies in the Age of Medical and Recreational Marijuana
Responding to an EEO Charge
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), Wage & Hour, and New Federal Legislation
Co-editor-in-chief, Arizona Human Resources Manual Federal Employment Law: An Employer’s Guide, third through 18th editions, a 600+ page book published by American Chamber of Commerce Publishers, Chicago.
Co-editor-in-chief, Model Policies and Forms for Arizona Employers, a book published by American Chamber of Commerce Publishers, Chicago.
Co-editor-in-chief, I-9s, E-Verify and Immigration Compliance, a book published by American Chamber of Commerce Publishers, Chicago.
Editor and contributor, Arizona Employment Law, published by the State Bar of Arizona.
Co-Author, Placing SB 1070 and Racial Profiling into Context, and What S.B. 1070 Reveals about the Legislative Process in Arizona, Arizona State Law Journal, Summer 2011, Vol. 43, Issue 2.
Co-Contributor, Legal Briefs on Immigration Reform from 25 of the Top Legal Minds in the Country, 2010.
Enforcement of Tribal Law in Federal Court: Affirmation of Indian Sovereignty or a Step Backwards Towards Assimilation? Arizona State Law Journal 24 (Spring 1992)
Co-editor, Native American Graves and Repatriation Act Arizona State Law Journal (24 Spring 1992)
Practice Areas
Appellate, Audits, Bid Protests, Business Formation and Joint Ventures, Business Torts, Class and Collective Actions, Commercial Litigation, Confidentiality and Restrictive Covenants, Construction, Corporate, Cyber-Hacking and Technology, Drug & Alcohol, Education, Embezzlement, Employment, Employment Agreements, ERISA and Benefits, Government Contracts, Government Debarment, Government Relations, Healthcare, Human Resources Counseling and Policies, I-9 and E-Verify, Immigration Visas, Intellectual Property, Investigations, Labor and Union Contracts, OSHA, Professional Licensing, Special Actions, TROs and Injunctions, Unemployment Hearings and Regulatory Issues, Workplace Violence.
Industries
Agriculture, Automotive, Aviation, Banking, Call Centers, Construction, Defense Contractors, Education, Energy, Financial Services, Franchise, Government, Healthcare, Homebuilding, Homeowners Associations, Hospitals, Hotels and Resorts, Insurance, Internet, Manufacturing, Media, Medical Practice Groups, Mining, Non-Profit Organizations, Professional Practices, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Technology, Telecommunications, Transportation, Tribal Business, Wholesale and Distribution
Representative Matters
- Handling more than 350 fatality cases involving OSHA investigations throughout the country.
- Defending a national collective/class action wage and hour lawsuit involving over 11,000 employees and negotiated a favorable settlement without the expense of extensive discovery proceedings or motion practice.
- Obtaining a jury verdict for a national supermarket chain in an age discrimination trial brought by a 35-year employee with a history of good performance, whose duties were redistributed largely to a woman in her 30’s.
- Obtaining a jury verdict for a national retailer rejecting claims for additional compensation by a store manager.
- Obtaining the dismissal of more than 1,900 claims in a labor union sponsored Fair Labor Standards Act collective action against a construction company.
- Successfully defending claims by the EEOC, including settlement to dismiss class action by agreeing to facilitate training for construction industry associations to educate other companies regarding respectful treatment of Latino employees.
- Successfully defending claims for accommodation for use of service and emotional support animals.
- Successfully defending numerous claims under the ADA and FMLA.
Regularly provide human resources counseling and documentation on complicated issues involving leave laws such as ADA, FMLA, Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act (FWHFA), Sick and PTO, Crime Victims Leave Act, and Workers Compensation leave. - Successfully handling return of hundreds of thousands of dollars hacked from a company that was subject to cyber-theft.
- Investigating and pursuing criminal prosecution as victims representative for companies in a number of cases, as well as obtaining restitution.
- Planning and implementing media communications strategy, communications to managers, employees and customers, liaison with law enforcement, representing employers in I-9 and E-Verify audits and defending against penalties and charges of knowingly hiring undocumented workers under federal immigration laws or the Legal Arizona Workers Act.
- Representing clients in ICE and E-Verify audits, including administrative subpoenas by the federal government, handling notices of suspect documents, notices of unauthorized aliens, notices of technical defects in I-9s, defending against allegations of knowingly employing unauthorized workers, and resolving civil penalties.
- Defending employer in NLRB trial relating to a dispute between two unions claiming jurisdiction of the same work.
- Successfully defending employers in unfair labor practice charges before the NLRB. Assisting employers preserve the rights of their workers to decide for themselves whether to be represented by a labor union.
- Drafting a procedure manual for a state agency providing instructions regarding processing labor election petitions, and drafting a procedure manual for the agency providing instructions regarding processing unfair labor practice charges made by unions, employees or employers
- Obtaining injunctions against former employees, including a former company president, a chief marketing officer, and lower-level employees.
- Investigating allegations by in-house counsel against the CEO.
Successfully defending OSHA citation against general contractor for a subcontractor’s violation of fall protection standard. - Obtaining dismissal of OSHA citations in New Mexico against highway construction subcontractor for a fatality of the general contractor’s employee that was shown at the hearing/trial to have been the responsibility of the general contractor and the state highway department.
- Successfully bringing claims to discover who was anonymously blogging or posting disparaging comments or disclosing confidential information on the Internet.
- Successfully representing doctors and medical practice groups from allegations of inappropriate touching asserted by employees and patients, including defending professional licensing proceedings.
- Representing employers in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and OFCCP audits and debarment proceedings and Federal Acquisition Regulation compliance for general contractors, subcontractors and manufacturers.
- Defending against Davis-Bacon compliance actions by Department of Labor.
- Successfully obtaining Department of Labor opinion letters upholding exemptions, including deferral of DOL enforcement action for three years pending obtained a DOL opinion letter that ultimately recognized FLSA exemption for nurses, mechanics and others associated with providing air ambulance services.
- Defending misclassification challenges regarding independent contractors versus employees.
- Investigating countless allegations of harassment, discrimination, employee theft, embezzlement, conflict of interest, disloyalty, misappropriation of trade secrets, violation of company policies, cyber-hacking, etc.
- Training thousands of management employees for industry-wide compliance with immigration hiring practices, diversity, anti-harassment/anti-discrimination policies, etc. in the restaurant, construction and other industries.
- Regularly providing human resources counseling employers in construction; retail; manufacturing; health services; financial services; high technology software, servicing and capital equipment manufacturing; employment/payroll services; mining and more, to comply with employment laws and reduce the risk of claims.
- Helping clients design and implement wellness programs that were compliant with the Affordable Care Act, GINA, the ADA, the tax code, as well as other laws.
- Assisting in the creation of nonqualified deferred compensation plans in order to retain and reward executives.
- Representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 10 Arizona business associations in challenging the constitutionality of the Arizona employer sanctions immigration law, the Legal Workers Act (LAWA).
- Drafting and working on various employment law legislation through enactment in Arizona.
- Successfully conducting the hearing to defeat a bid protest of a $20+ million highway construction contract.
- Representing Maricopa County in performing an audit and obtaining the waiver and return of millions of dollars in legal fees from a national law firm due to billing issues.
- Representing the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in complex litigation regarding ownership and control over extensive computer infrastructure and software used by multiple entities.
Professional & Civic
- Best Lawyers in Construction
- State Bar of Arizona
- American Bar Association
- Arizona Bar Association
- Maricopa County Bar Association
- Construction Financial Management Association, Board of Directors
- American Society of Safety Engineers , 25 year member
- Arizona Chamber of Commerce, Immigration Task Force Chair
- Arizona Contractors Association (ACA)
- Arizona Court of Appeals, Judge Pro Tem
- Arizona Landscape Contractors Association (ALCA)
- Arizona Roofing Contractors Association (ARCA)
- American Subcontractors Association of Arizona (ASA)
- Arizona Women Lawyers Association
- Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, Board of Directors
- Lorna Lockwood Inn of Court, Co-President
- National Association of Homebuilders, Fall Protection Work Group
- National Association of Women Lawyers
- Rio Salado Crossing Association, Co-Chair
- East Valley Partnership, Vice President of Economic Development
- East Valley Economic Forum, Co-Founder
- Mesa Downtown Redevelopment Commission, Member and Chair
- Soroptimists International of Mesa, Vice President
- Southwest Shakespeare Company, Co-Founder
- Rotary Professional Exchange Program, United Kingdom
- Arizona College of Law, Dean’s Award for Outstanding Service
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration in Mesa, Co-founder
- Member, Trial Law Institute
- Member, Diversity Law Institute
Speaking Engagements
Presenter at over 1,000 human resources, industry trade groups and companies.
Presenter at over 15 Employment Law and Legislative Conferences, Arizona Society for Human Resources Management.
Presenter at over 12 annual Arizona State Conferences, Society for Human Resources Management.
Presenter at about 30 nationally broadcast, full-day webcasts, recorded by the National Business Institute, on a wide range of employment law subjects.
Presenter at over 30 national Lorman seminar and webinars.
Presenter at over 20 NBI Seminars.
Presenter at over 7 Insulation Contractor Association National Conferences.
Presenter at over 24 Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) meetings and annual conferences and webinars.
Presenter at over 20 Arizona Landscape Contractors Association (ALCA) meetings and annual conferences.
Presenter at over 25 American Association of Subcontractors of Arizona (ASA) meetings and annual conferences.
Presenter at over 14 AGC-ABA construction conferences or webinars.
Presenter at over 6 Arizona Farm Bureau webinars and conferences.
Presenter at over 6 Arizona Chamber of Commerce seminars.
Presenter at over a dozen restaurant association meetings.
Presenter at over 5 Pre-Cast Concrete national association meetings.
Presenter at over 12 Home Builders Association of Central Arizona meetings.
Presenter at over 10 Arizona Roofing Contractors Association (ARCA) meetings and annual conferences.
Presenter at over 20 Accounting and CPA associations.