Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Labor & Employment; Wage & Hour Compliance Reviews and Assessments; Hospitality; Wage & Hour Litigation; Retail; Financial Services; Government Relations and Policy;Wage & Hour Class and Collective Actions.

Mr. Passantino is Vice Chair of the firm’s Government Relations Practice Group and a Co-Chair of the firm’s Wage and Hour Litigation Practice Group. Mr. Passantino, the former Acting Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, focuses his practice on all aspects of wage and hour law, including advising employers on federal and state wage and hour compliance issues, auditing payroll and employee classification practices, representing employers before the U.S. Department of Labor, and defending class and collective action litigation.

In his national practice, Mr. Passantino provides day-to-day advice and assistance to employers in their efforts to comply with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the state laws that require employers to pay overtime and minimum wages to their employees.  In addition, Mr. Passantino provides guidance and counseling to government contractors who are subject to the Service Contract Act and the Davis-Bacon Act.  He advises clients on implementing compliance programs, auditing and correcting wage and hour issues, and responding to the ever-changing wage and hour legal landscape.  Mr. Passantino has also defended numerous wage and hour lawsuits, including both individual claims and class and collective actions.

Mr. Passantino is active in the hospitality, construction, retail, financial services, and energy industries, and regularly assists trade associations and individual employers in those industries with public policy, legislative, regulatory, and administrative issues.  He has testified before a number of congressional committees, including the House Committee on Education and Workforce and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.  He is a frequent speaker on wage and hour issues, at conferences, webinars, and client-specific training sessions.

Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Passantino served as the Deputy and Acting Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division (WHD) from 2006 until 2009.  In this role, he led the WHD in its interpretation and enforcement of the FLSA, the FMLA, the Davis-Bacon Act, the Service Contract Act, and numerous other federal statutes.  Nominated by the President, Mr. Passantino was responsible for enforcement policy, field operations, strategic planning, budgeting, media relations, legislation, regulations, opinion letters, compliance assistance, and personnel matters. 

Mr. Passantino joined the Department of Labor in 2005 as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Honorable Victoria A. Lipnic, former Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment Standards. In that capacity, Mr. Passantino was a member of the WHD’s Executive Team and provided legal and policy advice on a range of wage and hour matters, with emphasis on the FLSA and the FMLA.

Before his work at the Department of Labor, Mr. Passantino served as a law clerk to the Honorable John F. Nangle in the Southern District of Georgia, after which he practiced law for eight years in Atlanta and Nashville, focusing on FLSA, employment discrimination, First Amendment, and consumer and financial services litigation.

Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP.

The Federalist Society; Republican National Lawyers Association; The Knights of Columbus; American Bar Association, Section of Labor & Employment Law, Federal Labor Standards Committee; American Bar Association, Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice.

J.D., University of Georgia Law School, cum laude (1996); B.A., Emory University (1993).