Manuel A. Quinto-Pozos

Manuel Quinto-Pozos is a partner at Deats, Durst & Owen, where he practices employee-and union-side labor and employment law. He represents individuals in enforcing rights protected by state and federal law, as well as those enshrined in the U.S. and state constitutions. He has represented employees in cases involving discrimination (including on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex/gender, sexual orientation, age and disability), retaliation (including whistleblower cases), overtime pay, FLSA misclassification, minimum wage, and unemployment compensation, among others. On behalf of managerial and executive employees, he advises and represents employees in negotiating and litigating issues including employment, compensation and bonus agreements, non-compete clauses, trade secrets disputes and severance agreements, among others. Additionally, he represents public-and private-sector labor unions in member grievances and arbitration (including in discipline and contract interpretation cases) and, where applicable, collective bargaining, unfair labor practices, representation elections and duty of fair representation cases and related matters. Quinto-Pozos has represented faculty and students at public and private educational institutions in asserting federal and state Due Process or Due Course of Law claims during, and defending against, internal conduct and integrity investigations.

He is admitted to practice in all state courts in Texas and Illinois (retired since 2010), as well as in the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas, the Northern District of Illinois and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Quinto-Pozos routinely practices before the National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Texas Workforce Commission, and other state and federal agencies. Upon graduating from law school, he was a litigation attorney at the Chicago office of Latham & Watkins, where he concentrated his work on commercial litigation. Qionto-Pozos also performed a significant amount of work in employment-related areas, including discrimination claims and internal compliance investigations. He has had a long commitment to pro bono, public interest, civil rights and civil liberties work. He was previously a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Texas, where he focused his work on religious liberties, free speech, privacy, and LGBT and women’s rights, among other areas.