Obtained post-trial ruling and Ninth Circuit order affirming in full a $7.2 million jury verdict in favor of two in-house public utility attorneys who alleged that EBMUD and its general counsel engaged in race-based retaliation in violation of §1983 and FEHA.

Successful representation of a student and lecturer in an original petition for writ of mandamus in the California Court of Appeal challenging the University of California’s policy of refusing to hire undocumented students for on-campus jobs, resulting in issuance of a writ concluding that the University’s policy was not supported by any legitimate basis, and directing the University to either revise its policy or provide a new, lawful justification for it.

Obtained recognition and equal access for a student club at Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama after filing a lawsuit alleging the school had revoked approval based on the club’s views.

Obtained a writ of mandate invalidating the reassignment of a high school journalism teacher and advisor for permitting his students to exercise their free press and free speech rights.

Obtained $1.5 million settlement in certified class action on behalf of more than 100 women alleging sexual harassment at McDonald’s restaurant in Michigan.

Class Action against Google under the California Equal Pay Act for paying women employees less than it paid men with similar qualifications performing substantially similar work. Obtained class action settlement in 2022, including $118 million in monetary relief and comprehensive injunctive relief. The programmatic relief, which covers a four-year period, includes requiring Google to hire an industrial organizational psychologist to improve Google’s policies and practices for assigning salary level at hire.

Obtained a $22.7 million settlement in a federal district court class action on behalf of low-wage immigrant warehouse workers who alleged that Walmart, its warehouse operator, and their labor services contractors were joint employers liable for a series of state and federal wage-and-hour violations, including for imposing an unlawful group piece rate scheme, wage fraud, and a wrongful mass retaliatory termination.

Obtained an appellate decision upholding the largest overtime pay jury verdict in history, in class action on behalf of insurance company claims representatives who were misclassified as exempt under California’s wage and hour law, and subsequently negotiated a settlement in excess of $200 million for class members.

Obtained a unanimous California Supreme Court decision, which ultimately resulted in a $56 million settlement, establishing standards governing meal period and rest break claims, and affirming in part and reversing in part trial court’s certification of class of low‑wage restaurant workers.

Compelled the Department of Labor to restore $200 million in wrongfully withheld Trade Act benefits to thousands of unemployed autoworkers and steelworkers.

Obtained an arbitration decision holding that an employer violated Title VII’s prohibition against sex discrimination when it constructively discharged a transgender male employee by requiring that he act and dress in conformity with traditional female gender stereotypes, and awarding economic and non-economic damages. In subsequent proceedings, the EEOC relied upon the arbitration decision to procure a consent decree requiring substantial changes in the defendant’s treatment of transgender employees.

Successfully defended on appeal to the Ninth Circuit a $54 million jury verdict in favor of truck drivers who were not paid the minimum wage for layovers, rest breaks, and pre- and post-trip truck inspections.

Prohibited employers from adopting “fetal protection” policies that discriminate against female workers in violation of Title VII.

Two successful Ninth Circuit appeals in a “suitable seating” case brought on behalf of bank tellers, overturning District Court rulings that had construed the California law to require each employee to specifically request seating, had held the law preempted by the National Banking Act, and had imposed excessive exhaustion requirements on employees seeking statutory relief.

Obtained Washington Supreme Court reversal of state trial court’s rejection of motion to dismiss certain constitutional challenges to Seattle ordinance requiring food delivery network companies like Instacart and DoorDash to provide their drivers with premium pay for work performed during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.

Successful defense on appeal of a nearly $100 million California class action settlement on behalf of bank employees who challenged bank’s methodology for calculating one-hour wage premiums for violations of California rest-break law.

Obtained a writ of mandate invalidating as unconstitutional California’s Proposition 22, an initiative that gig economy companies spent $225 million to pass, which had exempted drivers for transportation and delivery network companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash from California’s employment law protections.

Obtained a unanimous California Supreme Court ruling establishing a new legal standard for distinguishing between employees and independent contractors under California Wage Orders.

Obtained a Ninth Circuit ruling upholding, against an ERISA preemption challenge, a San Francisco ordinance that requires employers either to provide health benefits to their employees or to pay into a City fund for the same purpose.

Obtained a California Supreme Court ruling that employers cannot require their employees, as a condition of employment, to resolve employment claims through arbitration, where the arbitration agreement does not provide for specific procedural protections.

Negotiated a $20 million settlement and innovative workplace monitoring program in anti‑sweatshop class action on behalf of 30,000 Chinese and other foreign workers against Saipan garment factories and retailers for alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the Alien Tort Claims Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and federal common law.

Representing an intervening Indonesian labor union, obtained a settlement in a Wisconsin state court action brought to hold Adidas responsible under a University licensing agreement for unpaid wages and benefits owed to 2,700 Indonesian garment workers employed by a bankrupt factory that manufactured Adidas apparel.

Protected paid union organizers from discriminatory discharge or refusal to hire under the National Labor Relations Act.

Established the right of workers to sue under fictitious names and withhold their identities from their employers, where they reasonably fear that disclosure of their identities will result in severe retaliation.

Obtained class action settlement on behalf of California consumers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing requiring Nike to accommodate their disabilities during COVID-19 pandemic by making clear-plastic insert facemasks available to sales personnel to use in communicating with class members.

Obtained a consent decree providing $55 million in monetary relief to two classes of African-American and Latino employees of FedEx Express, as well as comprehensive injunctive relief against discriminatory employment practices, including reducing managerial discretion in promotions, compensation and discipline, and prohibiting the use of a promotion test that had an adverse impact on minority employees.

Successfully defended the nation’s first safety standard on ergonomics against an industry challenge, and invalidated exemptions that would have prevented that standard from applying to most California workplaces.

Obtained a unanimous California Supreme Court ruling, after briefing and oral argument on behalf of a coalition of amicus groups, allowing California employees to prove class-wide claims through surveys, and statistical and representative evidence, as long as trial plan provides their employer an adequate opportunity to prove individualized affirmative defenses.

Won a $1.6 million summary judgment in a class action challenging a nationwide laundry company’s systematic underpayment of its workers, defeating state law preemption and federal due process challenges to a local living wage ordinance.

Obtained an $8 million settlement on behalf of a class of women employees who alleged gender discrimination in promotions in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as well as wide-ranging programmatic relief modifying corporate policies to allow women a greater chance of promotions in the future.

Successful defense of a constitutional challenge to a state law that restricts disclosure of the time and place of new employee orientations for public employees.

Briefed and argued a California Supreme Court case prohibiting employers from requiring arbitration of representative action claims brought against California’s Private Attorney General Act.

Obtained Ninth Circuit rulings that (1) an employer’s imposition of a mandatory company-wide arbitration agreement that limited rights protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, after the plaintiff-employee had already filed an administrative complaint with the EEOC, unlawfully interfered with the employee’s ability to pursue his ADA rights; and (2) that nominal damages are available for such interference, even though the ADA precludes compensatory damages.

Successful defense on appeal of judgment rejecting trucking companies’ constitutional and statutory challenges to California’s use of the “ABC test” under AB 5 to prevent misclassification of truck driver employees as contractors.

Obtained substantial settlements, including tens of millions of dollars in penalties and injunctive relief, in Private Attorneys General Act cases involving claims based on employers’ failure to provide cashiers and other employees suitable seating.

Class action under the California Equal Pay Act alleging that women employed in technology and technology support positions were paid less than men with similar qualifications performing substantially similar work. Obtained a Class Action settlement in 2024 that included $25 million in monetary relief and required Oracle to hire an industrial organizational psychologist to improve Oracle’s compensation policies and practices to make them more equitable and job related.

Obtained a consent decree that included $16 million in monetary relief and injunctive relief for African‑American and Latino financial advisors and financial advisor trainees. The injunctive relief required Morgan Stanley to change its account distribution procedures to de‑emphasize historical factors that have an adverse impact on minorities, to engage in active recruitment of minority financial advisors, to tie manager compensation to diversification efforts, and to provide other non-monetary relief.

Co-lead counsel in U.S. Supreme Court and, on remand, in lower court proceedings in case involving enforceability of mandatory pre-dispute employment arbitration provision purporting to prohibit aggrieved employees from pursuing statutory rights under California’s Private Attorney General Act (PAGA).

Obtained a $65 million settlement in a class action brought on behalf of IBM information technology specialists for failure to pay overtime compensation.

Successful defense on post-trial motions, followed by a new compensatory and punitive damages trial, of a $137 million jury verdict, pre-remittitur, in an individual employee’s lawsuit against Tesla for subjecting him to a racially hostile work environment in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and for negligent supervision and retention of a harassing co-worker.

Obtained a preliminary injunction on behalf of McDonald’s employees compelling their employer to comply with COVID-19 health and safety measures, including not requiring workers to work while sick, and ensuring sufficient cleaning, personal protective equipment, and social distancing.

Obtained an $11 million settlement in a human trafficking case on behalf of young Indian women who were unlawfully brought into the United States and forced to provide sex and free labor.

Obtained an $11 million recovery in a Contracts Clause class action challenging the University of California’s refusal to fund thousands of university professors’ merit salary increases.

Through a series of cases, established the eligibility of undocumented immigrant workers for the full remedial protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Established the right of public school teachers to use games, role‑playing, and other methods considered to be best pedagogical practices to teach about the history, culture and religion of Islam as part of a secular program of education in a world history class.

Obtained an injunction to block the implementation of a California statute that would have severely reduced the eligibility of elderly and disabled Californians for in‑home support services that enable them to remain in their own homes.

Obtained, and successfully defended on appeal, a preliminary injunction against the implementation of a state statute that would have reduced the wages of providers of in‑home support services to elderly and disabled Californians, and blocked Fresno County from reducing the wages of its providers to the minimum wage.

Obtained a Ninth Circuit ruling that plaintiffs challenging a ten percent reduction in hours of Medicaid homecare services are entitled to a preliminary injunction under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Obtained a substantial settlement on behalf of a law enforcement officer injured as a result of his employer’s mock hostage training exercise in which he was seized and threatened at gunpoint.

Obtained a unanimous California Supreme Court decision holding that prevailing plaintiffs who seek private attorney general fees are not required, as a condition of eligibility for a fee award, to demonstrate that they made efforts to settle their dispute before filing their civil complaint.

Obtained a unanimous California Supreme Court decision approving the use of percentage-based common fund attorneys’ fees in public interest litigation.

Obtained Ninth Circuit ruling applying Federal Arbitration Act’s transportation worker exemption to airport fuel loader whose work was integral to interstate commerce but who did not travel or transport goods in interstate commerce.

Representation of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as amicus in the California Supreme Court in support of California’s use of the “ABC test” under AB 5 to prevent misclassification of truck driver employees as contractors, against the trucking company’s position that that test is preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act.

Successful defense on appeal of district court judgment striking down Trump administration rule interpreting a provision of the Medicaid Act to prohibit the deduction of union dues and benefits payments from homecare workers’ paychecks.

Successful defense against post-judgment motions challenging multi-million-dollar judgment on behalf of terminated employee who alleged disability discrimination and failure to accommodate.

Representing intervening union, obtained and successfully defended on appeal summary judgment rejecting NLRA preemption challenge to California statute requiring the government to disclose contact information for private home care workers to a union that seeks to organize the workers, so long as the worker does not object to disclosure.

Obtained a preliminary injunction against Bank of America, in MDL class action on behalf of hundreds of thousands of unemployment insurance benefits claimants in California who allege that their access to benefits was wrongfully frozen due to the bank’s lax security measures and failure to comply with statutory, contractual, and constitutional obligations, preventing the bank from continuing to deny unauthorized transaction claims or to freeze cardholder accounts based on the results of the bank’s “claim fraud filter,” and further requiring the bank to reopen all claims that it previously denied based on the results of the filter, to give those individuals a prompt opportunity to authenticate their identities, and to issue provisional credit pending investigation to anyone who authenticates their identity if the bank does not complete its investigation within 10 business days.

Negotiated partial settlement of California class action (while continuing to litigate the remainder of the case) on behalf of unemployment insurance claimants whose access to benefits during COVID-19 pandemic was wrongfully denied by state agency’s policies and practices, which will require the agency to stop freezing benefits for people whose existing claims have eligibility questions, and instead to implement a “pay now” policy to issue conditional payments while the agency investigates those questions.

Restored, after a six‑week jury trial, tens of millions of dollars of retiree health insurance benefits that had been terminated following the shutdown of Idaho’s largest private employer.

Successfully helped defend, on behalf of a labor organization as amicus curiae, state law that required construction workers’ consent to divert their wages to industry advancement programs on public works projects.

Representing the City of Seattle, defeated constitutional, statutory, and administrative law challenges to rules implementing Seattle ordinance authorizing collective organization and negotiation by independent contractor drivers who work for for-hire transportation companies, such as Uber and Lyft.

Required California to resume paying unemployment compensation to almost 400,000 unemployed workers following a budgetary impasse between the Legislature and the Governor.

Established a longer statute of limitations for suits against employers who withdraw from multi‑employer pension plans.

Obtained a unanimous en banc Court of Appeals decision overturning decisions that had severely weakened the protection afforded by the Norris‑LaGuardia Act to union economic action.

Established union standing to sue employers that violate the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act’s statutory notice requirements.

Obtained declaratory and injunctive relief on behalf of United Airlines pilots requiring the airline to comply with California’s Kin Care law, which requires employers that offer paid sick leave to allow employees to use up to half of that leave to care for ill relatives.

Obtained rulings from the National Labor Relations Board and the Central District of California striking down mandatory employment arbitration agreements that prohibit class collective actions and representative actions as violations of the right to engage in concerted protected activity guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act.

Obtained substantial settlements with both franchisee and McDonald’s in California state law class action brought on behalf of restaurant crew members employed in franchisee-owned McDonald’s fast food outlets, alleging numerous violations of California employment law and seeking to establish McDonald’s corporate liability on joint employer and other theories.

Successfully defended against a federal preemption challenge a local displaced worker ordinance that requires new service contractors to retain the employees of their predecessors.

Obtained a $22.75 million settlement of class actions and individual cases pending in the Ninth Circuit, the Northern District of California, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, and AAA arbitration, each of which challenged a nationwide industrial laundry company’s policy of classifying its drivers as exempt from overtime requirements of federal and state wage‑and‑hour laws.

Obtained a substantial settlement in a federal class action alleging that defendants failed to provide notice to their employees prior to closing their facilities or conducting a mass layoff, in violation of the federal and California WARN Acts.

Enjoined the Governor of Hawaii from unilaterally implementing unpaid furloughs for all state employees of three days per month on the ground that unilateral implementation violated the state constitutional right to collective bargaining.

Defeated a state constitutional challenge to a California law that provides charter cities with a financial incentive to require contractors on municipal construction projects to pay prevailing wages to their employees and to hire apprentices.

Obtained an injunction requiring Fresno County to maintain the wage and benefit rates paid to providers of in‑home support services pending arbitration of the union’s grievance regarding the wage and benefit reduction.

On behalf of amici SEIU and Change to Win, obtained a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board (later reversed by Fifth Circuit and Supreme Court) that employers commit an unfair labor practice by including prohibitions against joint, class, and collective actions in mandatory employment arbitration agreements.

Obtained a Ninth Circuit reversal of a district court’s grant of summary judgment to an employer of delivery truck drivers, on the grounds that the district court had improperly applied Texas law to California drivers’ statutory wage and hour claims and incorrect concluded that the drivers were independent contractors rather than employees.

Obtained settlements in multiple federal court actions asserting wage and hour claims under the California Labor Code on behalf of delivery truck drivers who were allegedly misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees.

Obtained a Court of Appeal decision holding that businesses that hire contractors can be held liable under California’s Private Attorney General Act for their contractors’ misclassification of the contractors’ employees as independent contractors.

Obtained Court of Appeal rulings that California workers have private right of action under the Labor Code for civil PAGA penalties against employers who violate minimum labor conditions standards guaranteed by Industrial Wage Commission wage orders.

Successfully defended on appeal a multi‑million dollar jury award in an employment discrimination action under federal and state law.

Defeated an employee‑leasing company’s ERISA preemption challenge to California’s workers’ compensation laws.

Obtained an appellate decision holding that individual owners and their companies can be held jointly and severally liable for wage violations if they satisfy the Wage Order and common law definitions of “employer” under California law.

Settled a nationwide sex discrimination class action on behalf of women brokers, resulting in establishment of novel claims procedure and agreement by brokerage firm no longer to compel any employees to arbitrate statutory discrimination claims.

Upheld, against an employer’s ERISA preemption challenge, Hawaii’s Dislocated Workers Act, which provided supplemental unemployment compensation benefits to workers adversely affected by plant closings.

Obtained the right to unemployment compensation for workers in non‑safety‑sensitive jobs who were discharged after refusing to take, or failing, a random drug test.

Settled a nationwide sex discrimination class action on behalf of women brokerage employees, resulting in a novel claims procedure allowing for potentially tens of millions of dollars in damages.

Overcame a federal statutory challenge to a California law requiring payment of accrued vacation pay to workers upon cessation of employment.

Invalidated a state public employee wage freeze that conflicted with the state constitutional right to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining.

Defeated a federal preemption challenge to a Virgin Islands statute that protects employees from termination without cause.

Obtained a California Supreme Court ruling that requires heightened judicial review of an arbitration award, issued pursuant to a mandatory arbitration agreement, that is challenged on the ground that the arbitrator’s legal error deprived the claimant of a hearing on the merits of a fundamental statutory or common law claim.

Obtained a $7.5 million common-fund settlement in a class action brought on behalf of IBM employees for IBM’s failure to pay overtime compensation.

Obtained a Ninth Circuit decision that Tata International, India’s largest conglomerate, could not force its overseas workers to arbitrate employment disputes before Tata’s hand‑picked arbitrators in Mumbai.

Obtained a consent decree against a restaurant chain requiring it to implement a series of measures to increase the representation of African‑American employees in “front of the house,” i.e., server, bartender, and host/hostess, positions.

Obtained a $4 million settlement compensating private security guards who were required to work “off the clock” without pay and requiring the company to pay its employees in the future for the time they spend in mandatory training sessions and pre‑shift briefings.

Obtained a $4.65 million settlement from an automobile manufacturing plant for failure to compensate its employees for donning and doffing protective gear, in violation of federal and state law.

Obtained a nearly $2 million settlement in a class action challenge to a pharmaceutical company’s refusal to pay contractually‑mandated severance pay and bonuses to employees upon sale of the company, representing complete recovery of all monies owed plus ten percent interest.

Obtained a settlement in administrative action of $1.6 million in back wages to construction workers who were not paid the prevailing wage required on public works projects.

Negotiated a $12.7 million settlement in nationwide overtime case under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state law on behalf of internet sales representatives.

Defeated a motion for preliminary injunction in Florida state court seeking to prevent California-based employee of Florida company from working for company’s California competitor.

Obtained a consent decree, with a four‑year duration, in a federal court class action requiring changes in Best Buy’s personnel policies and procedures that will enhance the equal employment opportunities for the thousands of women, African Americans, and Latinos employed by Best Buy nationwide.

Obtained a $2.35 million settlement, amounting to 113% of targeted bonuses, on behalf of a class of employees and executives of a merged company who failed to receive change-in-ownership/retention bonuses to which they were entitled after the completion of the merger.

Successfully defended on appeal a federal court class certification order on behalf of commissioned furniture sales personnel who were not separately paid for non-sales activity, where the employer failed to maintain records documenting the extent of that unpaid work.

Obtained summary judgment in federal District Court upholding union dues authorization agreements against a constitutional challenge, and successfully defended summary judgment ruling on appeal.

Negotiated a settlement of a federal court case brought on behalf of approximately 120 Hispanic employees of a dairy, under which the employer agreed to make substantial changes to its employment and housing policies and practices and to pay $390,000 in class monetary relief.

Represented an intervenor union in obtaining a federal district court judgment upholding against a federal preemption challenge California’s use of the “ABC test” to determine whether truck drivers are employees or independent contractors for purposes of a wage order.

Obtained a preliminary injunction in a class action requiring the defendant airline to provide its employees with paid sick leave and kin care leave in compliance with California and local law.

Obtained a Ninth Circuit ruling that state court representative claims brought under California’s Private Attorney General Act cannot be removed to federal court pursuant to the federal Class Action Fairness Act.

Briefed and argued on behalf of amici in obtaining California Supreme Court decision construing the California law requiring premium pay when an employee does not receive a legally compliant meal or rest break to be based on all of the employee’s non-discretionary compensation (including the base hourly wage, nondiscretionary bonuses, commissions, and other forms of non-discretionary compensation), not just on the base hourly wage.

Obtained a writ from the California Court of Appeal holding that the “relation back” doctrine applies to newly-added plaintiffs in claims brought pursuant to the California Public Attorney General Act (PAGA).

Obtained the right to apply for legalization under the Immigration Reform and Control Act for hundreds of thousands of undocumented aliens who were prevented from applying because of unlawful federal regulations; and negotiated temporary work authorization for approximately three million aliens potentially eligible for legalization under the Act.

Obtained numerous awards and settlements, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, in employment misclassification and wage-and-hour class actions, and in individual cases.