Jacqueline R. Scott

JACQUELINE R. SCOTT

CO-FOUNDER

1909 K Street, NW, Suite 330, Washington, DC 20006

Tele: (202) 689-1200 | Fax: (202) 689-1209

Ms. Scott is a co-founder of FortneyScott, where her diverse practice focuses on business, international, and workplace matters.

She counsels U.S. and foreign-based clients on complying with U.S. workplace and tax laws and assists U.S. employers in expanding outside the U.S. She regularly advises clients, many of which are federal government contractors, on workplace investigations; government procurement and related employment issues; prevailing wages under the Service Contract and Davis Bacon Acts and related matters; worker classification issues; and compliance with the wage and hour requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act and related state laws. Ms. Scott also advises U.S. and global employers on pay transparency and pay equity laws including developing compliance strategies across the patchwork of requirements, modeling legally compliant compensation analyses, developing remediation strategies, and confirming accuracy of mandatory reporting.

Ms. Scott is a frequent lecturer on issues of international labor and employment law, including expatriate and secondment agreements, overtime, minimum wage, data privacy, worker classification status, international tax, and human rights. She holds key leadership positions in international professional organizations, including, having served as President of the Union Internationale des Avocats (International Association of Lawyers or UIA) from 2023-2024 and now serving as the UIA’s Immediate Past President. UIA is an international association of lawyers committed to the protection of human rights, including worker’s rights and the defense of their universal nature, including, specifically, the defense of lawyers’ human rights in protecting the human rights of others. Ms. Scott formerly served as Director General of the UIA’s Institute for the Rule of Law (UIA-IROL) and has also served as a member of the ITC Pro-Bono Committee on International Model Contracts for Exporting SME’s.

Ms. Scott has significant experience and expertise in adjudicating both U.S. and international commercial and employment disputes. She served for many years as the United States’ Member and First Vice President of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal, the seven-member, independent appellate forum of last resort that adjudicated claims made by United Nations employees worldwide. Drawing on years of experience in the securities industry as an attorney for an international financial institution, Ms. Scott has served in the United States as an arbitrator for the securities industry with the National Association of Securities Dealers.

Ms. Scott’s workplace investigations practice includes conducting workplace investigations for employers in the private, not-for-profit, and public sectors. She has investigated sensitive matters involving fraud and mismanagement; harassment and discrimination; and matters arising under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Ms. Scott’s wage and hour practice includes advising and representing clients, including not-for-profit organizations, on matters involving federal and state prevailing wage issues; and the FLSA, including minimum wage and overtime obligations and exemptions, classification of positions as exempt or non-exempt, overtime requirements for non-exempt employees and compensation strategies and policies for exempt employees. She also advises clients on matters involving the classification of workers as employees or independent contractors.

Formerly, Ms. Scott was in-house counsel to Merrill Lynch, an international brokerage firm, advising and litigating on matters involving securities and commodities compliance, various broker-dealer issues, and related employment matters. She also has extensive experience in the practice of corporate and international tax law, including project and tax-exempt bond finance, as well as ERISA, with Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander & Ferdon, in New York, NY and Chadbourne & Parke, in Washington, D.C. Ms. Scott has trial and appellate litigation experience in state and federal courts. She formerly served as the General Counsel to the Junior League of Philadelphia.

Firm Practices

Professional Activities

Immediate Past President, Union Internationale des Avocats (International Association of Lawyers or UIA) - 2024-2025
President, Union Internationale des Avocats (International Association of Lawyers or UIA) - 2023-2024
Director-General, Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA)’s Institute for the Rule of Law (UIA-IROL) – 2016-2022
Member, American Employment Law Conference (AELC)
Member, First Vice-President, United Nations Administrative Tribunal, 2003-2009
Former Arbitrator (Public), National Association of Securities Dealers

Admitted to Practice

District of Columbia
Connecticut
New York
Pennsylvania
Virginia
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Supreme Court of the United States

Education

Georgetown University Law Center
(LL.M in International Law/Arbitration/Tax)
New York University School of Law (LL.M. in Taxation)
Vanderbilt University School of Law (J.D.)
Vanderbilt University (B.A., cum laude)

Languages

French
Spanish

EEOC Proposes Rescission of EEO-1 Report

July 21, 2026

The EEOC voted 2 to 1 on Tuesday, July 21st to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to rescind the requirement for employers and other covered entities to file an annual report with the EEOC summarizing aggregate data on their employees’ race and sex (reports known respectively as the EEO-1, EEO-2, EEO-3, EEO-4, EEO-5, and EEO-6 reports or EEO Data Reports). This includes the rescission of recordkeeping requirements related to these reports. The proposal states that the Commission has determined the EEO Reports are inconsistent with equal employment opportunity law, may raise constitutional concerns, and that the collection of data is not narrowly tailored or necessary to enforce anti-discrimination statutes. EEOC determined that the reports, which had been collected since, 1966, have limited value, which was outweighed by the significant burdens they impose on employers and on the Commission. Once the NPRM is published in the Federal Register, individuals will have only 30 days to submit comments on the 60-page proposal. The Institute for Workforce Equality is planning to submit comments. Please contact your FortneyScott attorney or email us at info@fortneyscott.com with any thoughts you have on the proposed rescission, or on employer record-keeping obligations generally.

Approval of EEOC Information Collection under UGESP

June 25, 2026

On Wednesday, June 24, 2026, the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) extended EEOC’s information collection under the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP) through June 29, 2029. UGESP requires employers covered by Title VII to collect and maintain records on the race, sex and ethnicity of those impacted by their employment selection procedures but does not require employers to report the data. EEOC and other enforcing agencies can then demand to see such data in connection with any investigation of employment discrimination. Please contact your FortneyScott attorney or email us at info@fortneyscott.com for additional information.

The New EU Pay Transparency Directive

June 11, 2026

The Directive is driving a significant shift in compensation reporting and transparency across the EU, and requires employers to disclose salary ranges to applicants, share internal pay-setting criteria, and conduct gender pay reporting. With the June 7, 2026, deadline for Member States to transpose the Directive into national law, employers need to understand their compliance obligations and prepare for unresolved implementation questions. In this webinar, FortneyScott attorneys will help U.S. companies with operations in the EU understand the Directive’s requirements, including how they differ from U.S. compliance frameworks. We will discuss best practice lessons that can be adopted from U.S. pay transparency and reporting laws and, importantly, provide key contrasts of the U.S. practices that are not applicable in the EU. Key topics include: The Directive’s scope and coverage Reporting obligations under the Directive Status of Member State transposition Practical compliance steps employers can take now Who should attend. This webinar is designed for in-house counsel, HR leaders, and senior professionals at multi-national organizations responsible for compensation, benefits, and employment law compliance.

Register for FortneyScott's Next Webinar on The New EU Pay Transparency Directive

May 21, 2026

Join FortneyScott attorneys on Thursday, June 11, 2026, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. EDT for a complimentary webinar on the European Union (“EU”) Pay Transparency Directive (the “Directive”). To register, please click here . The Directive is driving a significant shift in compensation reporting and transparency across the EU, and requires employers to disclose salary ranges to applicants, share internal pay-setting criteria, and conduct gender pay reporting. With the June 7, 2026, deadline for Member States to transpose the Directive into national law, employers need to understand their compliance obligations and prepare for unresolved implementation questions. In this webinar, FortneyScott attorneys will help U.S. companies with operations in the EU understand the Directive’s requirements, including how they differ from U.S. compliance frameworks. We will discuss best practice lessons that can be adopted from U.S. pay transparency and reporting laws and, importantly, provide key contrasts of the U.S. practices that are not applicable in the EU. Key topics include: · The Directive’s scope and coverage · Reporting obligations under the Directive · Status of Member State transposition · Practical compliance steps employers can take now Who should attend. This webinar is designed for in-house counsel, HR leaders, and senior professionals at multi-national organizations responsible for compensation, benefits, and employment law compliance. Register to attend. To register, please click here .

Department of Labor Eliminates Biden Increased FLSA Salary Thresholds

May 14, 2026

On Thursday, May 14, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued a technical amendment removing the salary threshold increases under 29 C.F.R. Part 541, adopted in April 2024. DOL stated that it was following the decisions made by federal courts in November, and that the amendment reinstated the 2019 salary levels applicable to the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The current salary levels are $684 per week for exempt employees and $107,432 annually for highly compensated employees. This change codifies the enforcement posture DOL has maintained since the 2024 rule was invalidated. While this does not alter current compliance obligations, it resolves regulatory inconsistency by restoring the 2019 framework in the regulations and eliminating the 2024 provisions. Employers should confirm that exemption classifications continue to be evaluated against the reinstated 2019 thresholds and remain attentive to any future rulemaking in this area. Stay tuned. FortneyScott will continue to monitor whether there will be further substantive revisions to the white collar regulations. If so, it is likely be in the DOL’s regulatory agenda, which we understand will be published in the near future. Should you have any questions, please reach out to your FortneyScott attorney.

Jacqueline R. Scott