A South Carolina certified specialist in employment and labor law, David E. Rothstein has spent a career fighting for the underdog. For decades, workers have counted on him to protect their rights and their livelihoods in legal battles with businesses large and small, as well as with public employers including those working at federal, state, and local governmental agencies and departments.
With more than 30 years’ experience in state and federal courts in South Carolina and North Carolina, David represents clients in a full range of employment law issues. This includes wage and overtime pay issues, harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. He’s fought for workers, including first responders, in class-action litigation against their employees for unpaid overtime and unpaid sleep or break time.
David’s lengthy experience and deep legal knowledge allow him to offer clients solutions to a variety of problems, whether that solution involves negotiation or litigation.
His focus is on representing employees, including hourly workers, professionals, executives, and managers. If a business retaliates against a worker who makes a complaint or files a lawsuit or worker’s compensation claim, David also helps workers fight this unjust and illegal treatment.
He also stands ready to assist employees in contract disputes, including non-compete agreements, non-solicitation agreements, and severance agreements. He assists executives in making sure any contract they negotiate is in their best interests and not just those of the company.
He works to protect the careers of professionals who are facing disciplinary or licensing issues before the various professional boards and commissions of the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation. David also represents medical professionals, including doctors, in contract issues, partnership or shareholder disputes, and separation agreements.
In addition to his employment law practice, he supports employees who hold the government accountable through qui tam whistleblower actions under the federal False Claims Act aimed at exposing government corruption and fraud.
An Irmo native, David is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he served as editor in chief of South Carolina Law Review. After graduating from law school, David served as judicial law clerk to the Hon. Joseph F. Anderson, Jr. United States District Judge for the District of South Carolina and to the late Hon. Robert F. Chapman, then senior judge with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, before beginning his career in private practice. He also served as an adjunct legal writing professor at his alma mater and as an adjunct legal instructor for the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He worked at both large and small firms before co-founding Burnette & Rothstein, P.A. in 2005 with Burnette Shutt McDaniel co-founder M. Malissa Burnette. He formed Rothstein Law Firm, P.A. in July 2010, when he moved from Columbia to Greenville with his wife and family. David also served as an associate bar examiner for the South Carolina Supreme Court for nine years.
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, District of South Carolina
- U.S. District Court, Western District of North Carolina
- U.S. District Court, Middle District of North Carolina
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of North Carolina
- South Carolina
- North Carolina
- South Carolina Supreme Court Certified Specialist in Labor and Employment Law, 2006 to present
- South Carolina Certified Circuit Court Mediator, 2008 to present
- University of South Carolina School of Law, Juris Doctor, cum laude
- Order of the Coif
- Order of the Wig and Robe
- John Belton O’Neal Inn of Court, student member
- Editor in Chief, South Carolina Law Review
- National Institute of Trial Advocacy
- Intensive Trial Advocacy course, student, 2000
- Intensive Trial Advocacy course, faculty, 2008
- University of Virginia, bachelors of science in finance, with distinction
- Beta Gamma Sigman National Honors Society for Business
- South Carolina Bar
- Employment and Labor Law Section (Chair, 2011)
- South Carolina Supreme Court Employment and Labor Law Specialization Advisory Committee Member, 2012-16
- South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association
- Greenville County Bar Association
- Haynsworth Perry Inn of Court member, 2014 to present
- Best Lawyers, South Carolina Super Lawyers, Employment Law – Individuals, 2009 to present
- South Carolina Super Lawyers Top 10 list, 2012
- South Carolina Super Lawyers Top 25 list, 2013
- McMillan Pazdan Smith, LLC v. Mattison, 444 S.C. 316, 906 S.E.2d 612 (Ct. App. 2024)
- McMillan Pazdan Smith, LLC v. Mattison, 445 S.C. 35, 911 S.E.2d 412 (Ct. App. 2024)
- Gause v. Smithers, 403 S.C. 140, 742 S.E.2d 644 (2012)
- Foreign Academic & Cultural Exchange Services, Inc. v. Tripon, 394 S.C. 197, 715 S.E.2d 331 (2011)
- Bryant v. Aiken Regional Medical Centers, Inc., 333 F.3d 536 (4th 2003)
- Faile et al. v. Lancaster Co., SC, C/A No. 0:10-cv-2809-CMC (D.S.C.) (collective action under FLSA for unpaid overtime compensation for county EMS workers; settled for $1.5 million for 58 opt-in plaintiffs, March 2012)
- Dewitt et al. v. Darlington Co., SC, C/A/ No. 4:11-cv-00740-RBH (D.S.C.) (collective action under FLSA for unpaid overtime compensation for county EMS workers; settled for $225,000 for 23 opt-in plaintiffs, December 2013)
- Mullinax et al. v. Parker Sewer & Fire Subdistrict, C/A No. 6:12-cv-01405-TMC (D.S.C.) (collective action under FLSA and class action under SC Payment of Wages Act for fire fighters employed by special-purpose district in Greenville County, SC, for various overtime violations and required off-the-clock work; settled for $300,000 for 79 plaintiffs in March 2014)
- Dittus et al. v. K.E.G., Inc., d/b/a Heartbreakers Gentlemen’s Club, C/A No. 3:14;cv;00300-JFA (D.S.C.) (collective action under FLSA for misclassification of exotic dancers as independent contractors rather than employees; settled as to 61 opt-in plaintiffs for $775,000 in July 2015)
- South Carolina DHEC v. Davenport, Dkt. No. 17-ALJ-07-003-CC (S.C. A.L.C.) (successfully represented paramedic in contested case hearing challenging revocation of EMT-paramedic certification, week-long bench trial before administrative law judge, July 2017)
- Lacher et al. v. Aramark Corp., C/A No. 2:19-cv-00687-JP (E.D. Pa.) (nation-wide class action for almost 4,500 managers whose bonuses were eliminated retroactively by company, settled for $21 million, June 2020)
- United States ex rel. Rauch v. Oaktree Medical Centre, P.C. et al., C/A No. 6:15-cv-01589-JD (represented three relators as co-counsel in Qui Tam actions under federal False Claims Act for various schemes of Medicare fraud committed by pain-management medical group and related lab, leading to judgment of over $144 million on behalf of federal government)
- Hess v. Morphis Pediatric Group of Lancaster, P.A. et al., Case No. 2018-CP-001127 (Lancaster Co. Ct. Common Pleas) (judgment for treble damages, prejudgment interest, and attorney’s fees and costs under S.C. Payment of Wages Act, totaling over $2.2 million following week-long jury trial, November 2022)
- Propel PEO, Inc. et al. v. Roach, C/A No. 6:19-cv-03546-KFM (D.S.C.) (successfully defended former employee of PEO company accused of violating confidentiality and non-solicitation agreement, and obtained verdict on counterclaims, following seven-day jury trial, October 2021)
- Gordian Medical, Inc., d/b/a American Medical Technoligies et al. v. Vaughn, C/A No. 1:22-cv-00319-MN (D. Del.) (successfully defended former executive of medical services company accused of violating restrictive covenants in employment agreements; judgment for Defendant following two-day bench trial, March 2024)
