Labor & Employment

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

As a litigation-centric firm, our employment trial experience is extensive. Our employment team litigates all areas of discrimination, accommodation and retaliation issues. We also represent numerous clients before the EEOC, various state and Civil Rights Divisions, and other state equal employment agencies ranging from small employers such as an individually owned ethnic restaurant to large national corporations.

We have drafted hundreds of position statements and responses to requests for information, virtually all of which have resulted in findings of no probable cause. In addition, we regularly represent employers in EEOC mediation and have obtained numerous favorable settlements with every low cost of defense. For example, we recently represented a large corporation before the EEOC in a $5 million class action consent decree applying to hundreds of employees. In addition to the typical EEOC representation, we have also successfully worked with the EEOC's regional legal counsel to negotiate appropriate limits to investigations and resolutions to charges prior to litigation.

Pre-Litigation & Employment Advice

Our employment team advises and defends businesses in all areas of employment law, including hiring, workplace safety, discipline, leave, benefits, discrimination, termination, and wage and hour. The team has extensive experience with non-compete agreements, trade secrets violations, and employment contracts. We maintain a strong focus on litigation practice that includes proceedings with state and federal agencies on a wide range of issues.

We provide ongoing employment advice to numerous clients regarding wage and hour issues; WARN Act, FMLA, Title VII, ADA, ADEA and terminations. In addition we teach and present in-house or specialized seminars to our clients. In wage and hour litigation, we recently won a two-week long class action trial on behalf of one of our clients in California state court involving payment of commissions, the defense verdict was upheld by the California Court of Appeal, and review was denied by the California Supreme Court. We also recently represented a large insurance company in a class action involving overtime pay and won summary judgment on behalf of employer.