Practices
Industries
Education
- J.D., University of California, Hastings, 2010
- B.A., Northwestern University, 2007
Clerkships
- Extern to the Honorable Charles R. Breyer, U.S. District Court for the Northern District
- Extern to the National Labor Relations Board Division of Judges – San Francisco
Admissions
- California
- U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Eastern, and Central Districts of California
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Overview
Keahn Morris is an associate in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in the firm's San Francisco office.
Areas of Practice
Keahn represents employers in employment and traditional labor disputes. He has experience in many industries, including healthcare, aerospace and defense, hospitality, retail, food and beverage, sporting and performing art venues, wine, manufacturing, transportation, construction, emerging growth, media and games, and the “gig” economy.
Keahn advises companies, including those in the Fortune 500, on strategic matters involving labor unions, including responding to union organizing drives and decertifications, strikes, lockouts, and compliance with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the Railway Labor Act (RLA).
Keahn handles large, nationwide corporate organizing campaigns and guides employers of all sizes through difficult labor situations involving collective actions, boycotts, picketing, and/or public relations battles by nearly all of the major unions in the United States. He has extensive experience handling labor arbitrations, unfair labor practice and representation cases before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the United States Courts of Appeals, and other federal court litigation involving labor issues, including seeking and defending injunctions. He is an expert on secondary boycotts and has successfully sued unions on behalf of employers, including recently obtaining a decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is now one of the leading cases concerning illegal secondary boycotts and hot cargo agreements under the NLRA.
Keahn has represented employers in over 50 trials before the NLRB and arbitrators involving complex labor matters, including alleged unlawful discharges/disciplines, unilateral changes, bad faith bargaining, plant closures and transfers of work, outsourcing, management rights, successorship issues, drug testing, surveillance, interrogations, threats, solicitation of grievances, and promises of benefits. For unionized clients, he has served as lead negotiator in many collective bargaining negotiations – in situations ranging from “hard bargaining” to recapture management rights to more collaborative negotiations – in all cases designed to assist clients in achieving their primary labor goals.
In addition, Keahn supports corporate transactions, including M&A deals and has worked closely with clients in restructuring deals to minimize labor-related risks and to maximize the value of the transaction from a labor perspective.
Keahn also represents employers in employment actions in state and federal court and before governmental agencies, including disputes involving wage and hour class and PAGA actions, whistleblowing, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, breach of contract, trade secrets, and unfair competition. He regularly lectures on labor and employment-related topics, conducts management training, and counsels clients regarding compliance, workplace investigations, legislative and regulatory initiatives, reorganizations and reductions-in-force, preservation of management prerogatives, and social media issues.
Keahn has drafted hundreds of collective bargaining agreements, project labor agreements, labor peace agreements, employment contracts, and settlement agreements.
Prior to entering private practice, Keahn was a law clerk at the NLRB’s Division of Judges in San Francisco where he assisted judges with litigation related to the NLRA.
Keahn is a trial-ready litigator who knows how to resolve all forms of labor and employment-related disputes efficiently and effectively.
Honors
- Northern California Rising Star, Super Lawyers, 2014-2019
Thought Leadership
Articles
- Daily Journal, October 14, 2019
- Law360, September 19, 2019
- Law360, August 26, 2019
Labor & Employment Law Blog Posts
- "An Employer’s Bargaining Table Complaints as to Poor Business Conditions Is Not a Claim of Poverty Entitling a Union to Business Sensitive Information," September 16, 2019
- "More Good News From The Board: NLRB Scraps The Clear And Unmistakable Waiver Standard For The Contract Coverage Test When Deciding Unilateral Change Cases," September 11, 2019
- "Employers May Not Have To Retain Racists, Sexists And Belligerently Disobedient Employees After All-The NLRB Appears Ready To Rethink Its Positions On Controversial Discipline-Related Doctrines," September 11, 2019
- "The NLRB Nixes Union Gerrymandering And Establishes A Three Step Test For Voting Unit Determinations," September 11, 2019
- "The NLRB Rules That Employers May Bar Union Representatives From Their Property Even Though They Have Allowed Other Third Parties To Engage In Civic, Charitable Or Commercial Solicitations There," September 10, 2019
- "An Employer’s Erroneous Announcement To Employees Declaring Them Independent Contractors Does Not, Standing Alone, Violate The NLRA," September 5, 2019
- "The NLRB Holds That Employers May Implement Class Waivers in Response to Class Claims and Discipline Employees Who Refuse to Sign Them," August 15, 2019
- "Breaking with Tradition, The Current NLRB is on a Rulemaking Tear: Election Procedures, Recognition Bar, and 9(a) Collective Bargaining Relationships," August 13, 2019
- "The NLRB Confirms that Intermittent Strikes in Furtherance of the Same Goal are Unprotected," August 1, 2019
- "The NLRB Just Made It A Little Easier For Employees To Get Rid Of Their Union," July 16, 2019
- "Which Are They? Independent Contractors Or Employees? Navigating The Conflicts Between State And Federal Law," July 2, 2019
- "NLRB Limits Duty to Bargain Over Disciplinary Actions," June 28, 2019
- "NLRB Limits Union Access Rights to “Public Spaces” of Employers," June 17, 2019
- "It’s OK to Be Different- NLRB Rules That Union Represented Employees Are Not Entitled to Midterm Bargaining Over Same Paid Holiday Granted to Non-Represented Employees," June 6, 2019
- "The NLRB Continues To Chip Away At Individual Protected Concerted Activity," April 23, 2019
- "It’s Perfectly Clear Once Again— NLRB Limits “Perfectly Clear” Successor Exception," April 9, 2019
- "NLRB’s Division of Advice Gives “Advice” As to the Application of Boeing — When a Work Rule/Employment Agreement is Facially Valid Under the NLRA in Union and Union Free Workplaces," March 22, 2019
- "NLRB Issues Important Decision Regarding What Constitutes “Protected Concerted Activity” in Union and Union-Free Environments Under Federal Labor Law," January 17, 2019
- "Labor Board Back to Five Member Composition – What Obama-Era Precedent Is Next on the Chopping Block?," April 26, 2018
- "NLRB Asks D.C. Circuit to Revive Review of Joint Employer Standard Under BFI; Hy-Brand Decision Vacated Following NLRB Ethics Official’s Report," March 2, 2018
- "Considering Offering Severance Pay in Exchange for Certain Post-Employment Obligations? Think Again," February 20, 2018
- "Striking A New Balance – The NLRB Abandons the Lutheran Heritage Test and Devises a New Standard for Assessing the Facial Validity of Neutral Work Rules," December 15, 2017
- "NLRB Overrules Browning-Ferris Joint Employer Standard," December 15, 2017
- "New Labor Board May Kill “Quickie Election” Rule; Requests Public RFI," December 13, 2017
- "New Labor Board GC Signals Overturning Obama-Era Rulings, But Anticipated Vacancies and Recusals Create Uncertainty," December 8, 2017
- "House Approves Save Local Business Act – Bill To Overturn Controversial Joint Employer Ruling," November 8, 2017
- "5 New Laws: California Governor Approves Employee-Friendly Laws," October 13, 2017
- "Committee Approves Save Local Business Act – Redefining Joint Employer Liability," October 5, 2017
- "Save Local Business Act Introduced in the House," September 19, 2017
- "NLRB Orders Union To Drop Unlawful Grievance, to Dismiss Suit Seeking to Compel Neutral Employers to Arbitrate Grievance and to Pay The Employers’ Legal Fees and Defense Costs," June 5, 2017
Healthcare Law Blog Posts
Cannabis Law Blog Posts
- "AB 1291 Forces California Cannabis Companies To Sign “Labor Peace Agreements” With Unions, But Statute May be Unconstitutional," October 22, 2019
Real Estate, Land Use, & Environmental Law Blog Posts
Media Mentions
- Material Handling & Logistics, November 25, 2019
Speaking Engagements
- National Retail Federation Committee on Employment Law – Millennials and Unions, San Francisco (April 2019)
- California Association of Health Facilities – Union Relations in the Healthcare Industry, Palm Springs (November 2018)
- Labor & Employment Law Update, Fall 2017 Seminar Series, San Francisco (October 2017)
- California Labor and Employment Law Update, California Association of Health Facilities Summer Conference, Long Beach (July 2016)
- Breakfast With Your Labor Lawyer, Spring 2017 Seminar Series, Palo Alto (May 2017)
- California Labor and Employment Law Update, California Association of Health Facilities Spring Legislative Conference, Sacramento (March 2016)
- Surveying the New Labor Law Landscape: A Rocky Road Ahead, San Francisco (May 2015)
- California Labor and Employment Law Update, California Association of Health Facilities Spring Legislative Conference, Sacramento (March 2015)
- Labor Roundtable: The New Joint Employer Standard Under the NLRB, San Francisco (December 2015)
- Labor Seminar Breakfast Series, New Developments Under the NLRB, San Francisco (December 2014)
- California Breakfast Series: California Workplace Law Update, San Francisco (December 2013)
Events
- California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF) Annual ConventionNovember 12, 2019
- Fall 2019October 8, 2019
- San DiegoJuly 16, 2019
- Spring 2019 Seminar SeriesMay 9, 2019
- Spring 2019 Seminar SeriesMay 1, 2019
- CAHF & QCHF 2018 Summer ConferenceJuly 17, 2018
- Spring 2018 Seminar SeriesApril 19, 2018
- California Association of Health Facilities 2018 Spring Legislative ConferenceSacramento, March 19, 2018
- Fall 2017 Seminar SeriesOctober 18, 2017
Memberships
- American Bar Association - Committee on Practice and Procedure Under the NLRA
- Bar Association of San Francisco
- California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF)
- California Bar Association