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Kristy L. Albrecht

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Kristy L. Albrecht

Shareholder

Email: kalbrecht@fredlaw.com
Office: 701.237.8201

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PRIMARY SERVICES

Employment & Labor
Employment & Labor Litigation
Litigation
Appellate

“I believe the best legal representation involves active listening, thoughtful and strategic analysis, and practical problem solving. My goal is to provide that excellent service to clients.”

Overview

Kristy is a shareholder in Fargo, ND and a member of the Employment & Labor, Litigation, Transportation and Appellate Groups. She advises employers on a variety of employment law issues, including hiring, firing, discipline, employee leave laws, employee handbooks, drug and alcohol policies and separation agreements.

Additionally, Kristy advises and defends motor carriers on DOT issues, particularly focusing on compliance and audit work under the regulations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. An experienced litigator, she represents clients before state and federal agencies and in state and federal court on various types of claims, such as workers’ compensation (WSI), unemployment insurance, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination and trade secrets violations.

Experience

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

EMPLOYMENT RELATED LITIGATION

Successfully represented client before district court in overturning grant of workers’ compensation benefits by the Workforce Safety & Insurance
Successfully represented clients in defending against claims for workers’ compensation benefits
Successfully represented clients before the EEOC and the North Dakota Department of Labor on various charges of discrimination and/or retaliation
Successfully represented clients before the United States District Court on discrimination and retaliation claims, as well as claims alleging violation of the FMLA
Successfully represented client in a FINRA arbitration, defending against a multimillion claims under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII, as well as various state contract and common-law theories; all claims were denied

TRAINING AND COUNSELING

Advised clients on employment discipline and termination issues, including policy development, documentation, and termination procedures
Counseled clients on social media issues
Prepared severance and separation agreements
Prepared policies and employee handbooks, and counseled clients regarding the same
Prepared employment agreements
Advised clients on enforceability of non-compete agreements, non-solicitation agreements, and trade secrets issues, providing guidance on entering into, complying with, and enforcing such agreements
Advised clients on various wage and hour issues, including employee classification and overtime issues
Defended clients during wage and hour audits
Advised clients on injury, leave, and disability accommodation issues under the ADA, the FMLA, and state workers’ compensation statutes

OTHER LITIGATION

Secured and successfully defended before the Minnesota Court of Appeals an order dismissing claims brought under the Open Records Law and the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, as well as a claim seeking declaratory judgment regarding authority to purchase land; Vik v. Wild Rice Watershed District, No. 54-CV-08-454 (Minn. Ct. App. Aug. 10, 2010) (unpublished)
Successfully represented more than 100 individual plaintiffs suffering personal injuries in railroad litigation
Secured order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on behalf of injured plaintiffs, rejecting the defendant’s arguments of preemption under the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970, as amended in 2007, as well as various constitutional arguments. Successfully defended against a petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States on the Eighth Circuit decision; Lundeen v. Canadian Pac. Ry. Co., 532 F.3d 682 (8th Cir. 2008), cert. denied 129 S. Ct. 2379 (2009)

Articles & Presentations

Employment Question of the Day: April 28, 2020

April 28, 2020

By Kristy L. Albrecht, Joseph M. Sokolowski and Mary M. Krakow

Please explain the intersection of FFCRA and the FLSA, which sets the federal wage and hour rules for employers. Specifically, does reducing an eligible exempt employee’s salary to two-thirds their daily rate of pay, capped at $200, as allowed under FFCRA, put the employee’s exempt status at risk under the FLSA?

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Employment Question of the Day: April 14, 2020

April 14, 2020

By Kristy L. Albrecht and Beverley L. Adams

Under what circumstances do I need to include a COVID-19 case as a recordable event for purposes of OSHA’s record-keeping requirements?

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What Employers Need to Know About the New DOL Temporary Rule Implementing the Families First Coronavirus Response Act

April 3, 2020

By Anne M. Radolinski, Kristy L. Albrecht and Erin M. Edgerton

On April 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor issued temporary regulations implementing the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The temporary regulations – expiring on December 31, 2020 – clarify some of the statute’s ambiguities and formalize certain DOL commentary set forth in the Q&As issued to date concerning the FFCRA, but the puzzle of this statute is far from solved. Here, we focus on some of the key areas addressed in the regulations and also on a number of open questions employers still face.

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Employment Question of the Day: April 3, 2020

April 3, 2020

By Kristy L. Albrecht and Bryan J. Morben

Under what circumstances may a small employer who employs fewer than 50 employees be exempt from the leave provisions under the FFCRA?

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PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS

Co-Presenter, “Considerations for the Aging Workforce,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Annual North Dakota Employment Law Seminars, November 21-22, 2019
Presenter, “New Legislation, Recent Case Developments and Trends,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Annual North Dakota Employment Law Seminars, November 21-22, 2019
“Get the Best Results for the Greatest Value from Your Employment Attorney,” Fargo INC!, August 2019
“Sexual Harassment in the #MeToo Era,” co-authored with Brandt Doerr, Fargo INC!, February 2019
“Being an Owner Doesn’t Guarantee you a Job,” co-authored with Michael Raum, Fargo INC!, January 2019
Co-Presenter, “Trends, Case Developments and Employee Handbook Updates,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Annual North Dakota Employment Law Seminars, October 18-19, 2018
Co-Presenter, “Sexual Harassment: Prevention and Response Strategies in the #MeToo Era,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Annual North Dakota Employment Law Seminars, October 18-19, 2018
Presenter, “Five Social Media Questions You Should Consider,” Greater Grand Forks Human Resources Association, June 12, 2018
“The 10 Most Costly Wage-and-Hour Mistakes,” co-authored with Elizabeth Alvine, Fargo INC! magazine, April 2018
Co-Presenter, “The Wage & Hour Dilemma: What is Work?,” Fredrikson & Byron Employment & Labor Law Seminar, April 19, 2018
Presenter, “New Legislation, Recent Case Developments and Trends,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Annual North Dakota Employment Law Seminars, October 5-6, 2017
Presenter, “Wage and Hour Issues,” ND Association of Community Providers, June 14, 2017
Presenter, “Labor/Employment Regulation Update,” Associated General Contractors of North Dakota, December 6, 2016
Presenter, “New Legislation, Recent Case Developments and Trends,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Annual North Dakota Employment Law Seminars, October 13-14, 2016
Presenter, “Who is an Employer: The Joint Employer Doctrine,” Fargo-Moorhead Human Resources Association, September 13, 2016
Featured, “The Women of Fredrikson & Byron Law Firm,”Area Woman, June 2016
Presenter, “New Legislation, Recent Case Developments and Trends,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Annual North Dakota Employment Law Seminars, October 15-16, 2015
Presenter, “New Legislation, Recent Case Developments and Trends,” Fredrikson & Byron’s Annual Employment Law Seminar, Fargo and Bismarck, ND, October 16-17, 2014
Note, “Iowa’s First Degree Felony Murder Statute: Eroding Malice and Rejecting the Merger Doctrine,” 79 Iowa L. Rev. 941 (1994) (quoted by Iowa Supreme Court in State v. Heemstra, 721 N.W.2d 549 (Iowa 2006), in which the court adopted the merger doctrine and overruled prior line of cases)

Honors & Education

EDUCATION

University of Iowa College of Law, J.D., 1995, high honors
Jamestown College, B.A., Music Education/Piano Performance, 1983, summa cum laude

BAR ADMISSIONS

North Dakota
Minnesota
U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota
U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

HONORS

The Best Lawyers in America, Employment Law – Management, 2020
Minnesota State Bar Association, North Star Lawyer, 2012, 2016-2018
Super Lawyer, Great Plains Super Lawyers magazine
Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, North Dakota – Labor & Employment 2005-2010, 2012-present
Dorsey & Whitney Scales of Justice Award, 2002 & 2009
Hancher Finkbine Award for Learning, Leadership and Loyalty, University of Iowa, 1995
Order of the Coif
Iowa Law Review, Editor in Chief, 1994-1995; Member, 1993-1995

North Star Lawyer

Professional Activities

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Adjunct Professor, University of North Dakota School of Law, 2006-2007
Member, American Bar Association
Member, Minnesota State Bar Association
Member, State Bar of North Dakota
Member, Iowa State Bar Association (inactive)
Member, Cass County Bar Association
Clerk, Hon. David R. Hansen, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 1995-1997