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Law360 (November 2, 2020, 8:45 PM EST ) Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP will lay off a "limited number" of attorneys and already furloughed business professionals as the firm also restores salary cuts implemented this spring as the coronavirus pandemic began to rage, the firm said Monday.
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is laying off some employees furloughed because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it is also restoring pandemic-related pay cuts. (iStock.com)
The business professionals who are to be laid off by the end of November will be in addition to a previous round of job cuts announced in June.
"We do not take lightly the difficult decisions we have made," the firm said. "We will be parting ways with wonderful colleagues whom we will miss. To position Katten for continued success, however, we must be vigilant to align our business with the challenges and opportunities presented by the current and future environments."
In April, the firm announced furloughs that would primarily affect business professionals who could not work remotely or whose work had slowed significantly. It established a fund to supplement their incomes.
Two months later, Katten confirmed that it would be parting with some of those furloughed employees. Laid-off workers at the time were offered at least eight weeks of severance pay; a week's pay for each year they had been with the firm; and free health care coverage through the end of the year, a Katten spokesperson said at the time.
The business professionals to be laid off by the end of November will receive similar financial benefits based on their years of service, along with health care coverage at no additional cost to them through the end of April, a spokesperson for the firm said Monday. Business professionals who were furloughed and were not laid off will return to work full time by the end of this month, the spokesperson said.
Katten also announced Monday that employees who had experienced COVID-19 austerity pay cuts this year will be made whole for the money they had not received.
In April, Katten reduced salaries by up to 20% for attorneys and business professionals who made more than $100,000. It set a floor of $100,000 for the salary cuts, meaning that while those who earn larger salaries saw a full 20% cut in their paychecks, those who earn $110,000, for example, would see their salary drop by $10,000, according to the firm. The salaries of employees who earn less than $100,000 were not affected, according to Katten.
By August, the firm confirmed that it had reduced its salary cut from 20% to 10% for all attorneys and business professionals making $100,000 or more per year.
Katten joins Fisher Phillips, Perkins Coie LLP and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP among the major U.S. law firms offering full restoration payments this year.
It also joins firms such as Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Baker McKenzie, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and Nixon Peabody LLP that have rolled back previous financial cuts but simultaneously confirmed layoffs.
--Additional reporting by Xiumei Dong, Dave Simpson and Justin Wise. Editing by Orlando Lorenzo.
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