David Blanchard
Attorney David Blanchard has built a legal career on helping people stay at work despite illegal practices or get back to work after facing illegal wrongful termination, recovering millions for wage theft violations, and fighting workplace retaliation and wrongful termination. He has dedicated his professional career to legal representation for workers, confronting illegal workplace practices and wrongful termination with a focus on public impact litigation and class actions aimed at reforming workplaces and entire industries. Blanchard represents executives and health care professionals in professional separation negotiations, whistleblowers seeking to shine a light on workplace criminality and other government fraud, and all workers denied legal rights to overtime pay and minimum wages.
David Blanchard Representative Verdicts and Settlements:
• $21 Million Recovered in Settlement for Michigan unemployed wrongly accused of unemployment fraud.
• $84.5 Million Recovered in Medicare fraud scheme violating the False Claims Act
• $300,000 Recovered for individual doctor/anesthesiologist wrongful discharge and breach of medical professional services contract
• $4.9 Million Recovered in Court Approved FLSA Settlement for Healthcare IT consultants on “Go-live” projects throughout the United States.
• $6.1 Million Recovered for overtime pay FLSA Litigation for Healthcare IT consultants on “Go-live” projects throughout the United States.
• $300,000 Recovered for individual victim in police brutality/excessive force case against Michigan’s Allegan County Sheriff Department.
• $650,000 Recovered for over 400 drivers in settlement for Hungry Howie’s franchise pizza delivery drivers.
David Blanchard specializes in the areas of employment rights advice, litigation, and business disputes. Blanchard handles all employment related matters advising employees, employers, and non-profits on safe and compliant workplace policies: from harassment, discrimination or retaliation lawsuits to medical leave, non-compete lawsuits and severance negotiations. He has represented workers and small businesses in state and federal court litigation, including the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Federal Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
David Blanchard Representative Cases and Opinions:
Fair Labor Standards/Misclassification:
• Plaintiffs win summary judgment ruling allowing trial on overtime claims for insurance review nurses who sued for overtime pay
• Workers win summary judgment for “independent contractor” cable installers finding them to be employees entitled to overtime pay
• Conditional certification granted providing notice of opt-in rights for a class of healthcare technology “independent contractors” providing “at-the elbow” ATE support for healthcare technology upgrades.
Overtime Pay:
• Cable installers win summary judgment on misclassification case; cable installers are “employees” under FLSA, entitled to overtime under Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Insurance Appeals Analysts Claims go to trial after summary judgment win
Minimum Wages:
• Hungry Howie’s Franchises: Class certified for pizza Delivery drivers seeking compensation for minimum wage violations after being under-reimbursed for car maintenance expenses
• Domino’s Pizza franchises: FLSA Collective Action approved for pizza delivery drivers
Whistleblower Protection:
• Medical Doctor may state retaliation claim after being fired for raising Stark Act violations.
• Rehab Nurse wins summary judgment for retaliation claim after opposing illegal practices at nursing facility
Due Process Rights:
• Zynda – State of Michigan not immune from constitutional claims related to unemployment robo-fraud violations
• Frazier – UAW entitled to enforce unemployment settlement for victims of early collections. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
David Blanchard has served as president of the Michigan Employment Lawyers Association and of the Washtenaw Association for Justice. He currently serves on the executive board of the Michigan Association for Justice. He has presented as faculty to the State Bar of Michigan Labor and Employment Section and the National Employment Lawyers Association.
David Blanchard received his B.A. in political science in 1996 and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 2003. Before law, Blanchard worked as a broadcast journalist, covering local politics and environmental issues in Michigan. Blanchard grew up in Ann Arbor, graduated Community High School in 1992, and has been practicing law in Ann Arbor since 2004.
From the beginning, David Blanchard’s employment law advocacy has focused on representing medical professionals, whistleblowers, negotiating professional compensation agreements, representing all workers cheated out of overtime pay or sales commissions, and defending employees in non-compete/trade secret disputes.
David Blanchard Advocacy:
Legislative Testimony regarding curbing non-compete litigation abuses
Legislative Testimony of Robo-Fraud Abuses in the Michigan Unemployment Benefits System
David Blanchard Pending Cases:
Domino’s Pizza Delivery Drivers claiming under-reimbursed for delivery driving expenses
Belle Tire Service Technicians denied overtime pay
Coliseum: Exotic Dancers unpaid and cheated out of a minimum wage
Maxi-Auto/SCI: Delivery Driver Claims denied overtime pay
Prudential Security: security guards denied overtime pay for hours over 40 in a week.
Angela Walker
Walker is active in the disability community, and she is passionate about helping employees with disabilities enforce their rights with regard to ADA accommodations, FMLA leave, and employee benefits matters. She represents clients who have chronic or progressive conditions, such as cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease. She helps clients understand their options, take strategic action to protect their careers, and enforce their rights under the FMLA, ADA, and other disability discrimination laws.
Walker also provides advice to executives making job transitions, and handles complex severance negotiations for highly-compensated employees. Specialties include federal employee representation and representation of professionals in licensing disputes. She also drafts employment policies and handbooks for small business clients.
Walker was selected for the 2013 and 2014 Michigan “Super Lawyers” list in the category of labor and employment law. She has presented at the Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) on drafting employee handbooks. She is also a co-author of ICLE’S How-to-Kit on “Appealing a Denial of Unemployment Insurance Benefits.” She often speaks on employment law topics to business owners and community groups.
Throughout her career, Walker has been active in the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, including serving on the board of the WLAM Washtenaw Region from 2006 to 2011. She is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association, the Michigan Employment Lawyers Association, and the Washtenaw County Bar Association’s Employment Law Section. She is also active member of the Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw.
Walker received her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2004 and has worked representing employees throughout Michigan since then. Prior to attending law school, Walker worked for the State Bar of Michigan’s Open Justice Commission, where she assisted in coordinating Michigan’s first pro-bono project for domestic violence victims. While in law school, she interned at the Maya Angelou Public Charter School, the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, and Legal Services of South Central Michigan.
Angela Walker’s primary practice areas include: Disability Discrimination, Employment Contracts, Employment Litigation and Counseling, Family and Medical Leave Act, Federal Employee Representation, Licensing Actions, Sex Discrimination, and Sexual Harassment.
Frances Hollander
Frances Hollander joined Blanchard & Walker in 2018 after working at the Michigan Court of Appeals. Frances received her B.A. in linguistics from the University of Michigan in 2013 and her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 2017. While in law school, she worked for Family Law Project, a non-profit serving low income survivors of domestic violence in Washtenaw County, as a student attorney and project coordinator. Frances interned for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office in the Domestic Violence Unit and externed for the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office in the Criminal Sexual Conduct Unit. Frances also worked in the law school’s human trafficking clinic, volunteered for the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, and was a member of the Michigan Journal of Law Reform. Following law school, Frances returned to Family Law Project for a short-term position before going to work for the Michigan Court of Appeals in the Research Division.
Frances is a member of the Washtenaw County Bar Association, the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, the Michigan Association for Justice, and the National Employment Lawyers Association.