Industry Insight. Trusted Guidance. Proven Defense
We help clients keep pace with California’s changing employment laws with advice that reduces risk and protects operations. Our attorneys provide preventive support through compliance audits, management training, and employee handbook reviews for employers of all sizes with operations in California.
With an untarnished trial record in favor of our clients, our Labor and Employment group defends businesses in class actions, wage and hour claims, PAGA cases, wrongful termination, union issues, and disputes over trade secrets or restrictive covenants. We represent businesses in court, arbitration, and administrative hearings, providing consistent, experienced counsel across all matters.
With eight employment attorneys and growing, our Labor & Employment group offers consistent, senior-level representation. When matters are insurance-appointed, we advocate for our clients to their insurers, to ensure our clients receive the same high-caliber service across all engagements.
All related services
- Employment Discrimination Defense
- Unemployment and Disability Benefits Claims and Appeals
- Non-Compete, Non-Solicitation, and Confidentiality Agreement Enforcement
- Employment Contracts
- Leave Law Compliance
- Independent Contractor Compliance
- Workplace Policies
- Anti-Discrimination Compliance
- Severance & Separation
- Pay Plans & Compliance
- COBRA Compliance
- Background Check Compliance
- DEI Programs & Compliance
- Workforce Restructuring
- Workplace Conduct & Risk Policies
- Specialized Employer Compliance
- Whistleblower & Retaliation
- Wage & Hour Defense
- Arbitration & Mediation
- Litigating trade secret theft and enforcing NDAs and post-employment restrictions to protect California employers
- Workplace Investigations & HR
- we understand the retail auto industry, with former in house counsel to family and national auto groups, giving us practical insight to the industry
Precision engineering, Precision details
Our Labor and Employment group defends businesses in class actions, wage and hour claims, PAGA cases, wrongful termination, union issues, and disputes over trade secrets or restrictive covenants. We represent dealerships in court, arbitration, and administrative hearings, providing consistent, experienced counsel across all matters.
Representative matters
- Put together team of advisors for safety compliance, accounting, insurance and HR for Canadian company entering U.S. market through California. Handled initial and ongoing legal compliance and legal operations for new California operations
- Counseled clients on leave and accommodation issues, including FMLA/CFRA, pregnancy disability, and discretionary leave.
- Negotiated multiple nuisance-value settlements short of litigation in discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, and accommodation claims.
- Drafted customized Workplace Violence Prevention Plans for diverse client facilities.
- Directed and conducted workplace investigations involving hostile work environment, discrimination, retaliation, whistleblowing, and wrongful termination claims.
- Successfully resolved a disability discrimination case via favorable settlement while summary judgment was pending, mitigating risk and securing certainty for the client exposure
- Guide clients through mediations, achieving early and cost-effective resolutions that minimize exposure and avoid drawn-out discovery battles.
- Associate in Scali Rasmussen’s Labor & Employment Department, focusing on FEHA litigation including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, wage & hour, and PAGA.
- Former Assistant United States Attorney (Civil Division, Los Angeles), serving as lead counsel in complex federal litigation involving tort defense, employment discrimination, immigration, and bankruptcy; advised federal agencies on legal strategy throughout litigation.
- Successfully obtained issue sanctions, on behalf of day care center, and eliminated all economic damages in case where Plaintiff alleged disability discrimination, wrongful termination and whistleblower retaliation. Thereafter secured summary adjudication on plaintiff’s claims pursuant to the Fair Employment and Housing Act. Sophia Perusset v. Tutor Time Learning Centers, LLC; No. 22TSCV06702
- Successfully obtained summary adjudication for southern California hospital, where Plaintiff alleged discrimination, harassment, failure to accommodate and wrongful termination based on her refusal to comply with the COVID-19 vaccination mandate due to her alleged religious beliefs. Lilia Acevedo-Cosio v. PIH Health Hospital Whittier; No. 22NWCV00509
- Obtained favorable decision for client by successfully arguing against joint employer liability before the Department of Industrial Relations Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement. Gamble v. Avitus Group; No. WC-CM-547163
- Obtained a favorable arbitration award on behalf of client, a national retailer, where Claimant alleged (1) Harassment (2) Retaliation and (3) Wrongful Termination. LaTasha Jennings v. J.C. Penney Corporation; No 01-18-0001-1768
- Obtained a unanimous jury verdict in the U.S. District Court – Central District of California before Honorable Fernando M. Olguin where Plaintiff alleged (1) Failure to Provide Reasonable Accommodations, Cal. Gov. Code § 12940 et seq.;(2) Failure to Engage in Good Faith Interactive Process, Cal. Gov. Code § 12940 et seq.;(3) Retaliation, Cal. Gov. Code § 12940;(4) Discrimination, Cal. Gov. Code § 12940;(5) Failure to Prevent Discrimination and Harassment, Cal. Gov. Code § 12940; and (6) Wrongful Termination in Violation of Public Policy against high end national gym and spa. Dashiell Kramer, an individual, Plaintiff, v. Equinox Holdings, Inc., a Delaware Corporation; and DOES 1 through 50, inclusive, Defendants; No. 2:20-cv-06169-FMO-JEM; United States District Court, C.D. California.
- Obtained a unanimous jury verdict in the Superior Court of the State of California County of San Diego before Honorable Carolyn Caietti where Plaintiff alleged (1) Disability Discrimination; (2) Failure to Engage in the Interactive Process, (3) Failure to Accommodate Disability; (4) Retaliation and (5) Harassment against Car Dealership. Michael Ganatta v. JKC Palm Springs Automotive, Inc.; No. 37-2020-00028633-CU-WT-CTL
- Provides advice/counsel to clients in complex medical leave of absence and disability accommodation situations and drafts related correspondence/policies.
- Creates complex commission pay plans and assists clients with tools to properly calculate overtime pay, meal/rest break premiums; vacation/sick leave pay; final vacation pay and other regulated methods of employee compensation.
- Performs in-depth audits of Labor Code compliance by employers for purposes of meeting the eligibility standards for reduced penalties under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).
- Conducted thorough investigations for clients in multiple employment law settings, including potential fraudulent conduct; complaints of harassment/retaliation; wage and hour practices; and wrongful termination allegations.
- Analysis and calculation of potential exposure for multiple wage/hour class action and PAGA cases resulting in expedient and favorable resolutions for clients.
- 100% dismissal rate of charges of discrimination brought with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and California Civil Rights Department.
- Author of comprehensive Human Resources process and compliance manual and accompanying personnel forms library that span the employment lifecycle.
- Achieved favorable settlement of a contentious FEHA lawsuit while a dispositive motion for summary judgment was pending, mitigating litigation risk and exposure.
- Design and implement compensation plans, workplace policies, and compliance procedures tailored to California’s dynamic employment law landscape.
- Obtained dismissal of class allegations and negotiated favorable resolution of a 300-employee PAGA action through the strategic use of employee survey data.
- Obtained dismissal of class allegations and negotiated favorable resolution of a 300-employee PAGA action through the strategic use of employee survey data
- Regularly defend employers in complex FEHA litigation involving claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Frequently achieve favorable outcomes—often through early settlements prior to costly discovery or via strategic dispositive motions such as summary judgment
- Assisted in obtaining defense verdict in FEHA case by manager claiming disability discrimination, harassment, failure to engage in interactive process, and failure to provide reasonable accommodations.
- Favorably settled a contentious wrongful termination, retaliation, breach of contract and independent contractor misclassification suit by general manager against three automotive dealerships to client’s satisfaction.
- Won a full defense verdict in a three-week jury trial in San Diego County, California for a franchised auto dealer facing claims of disability discrimination and failure to accommodate. Plaintiff sought more than $20 million in damages; the jury returned a complete defense verdict on all counts.
- Advised a casting company on operations issues.
- Advised clients concerning entertainment industry union issues.
- Advised on distribution and production contracts.
- Reviewed and negotiated recording contracts.
- Wage and hour class action defense of auto dealers. Litigated wage and hour class actions for auto dealers and other retailers.
- EDD and Labor Commissioner hearing representation. Handled claims before the Employment Development Department and the Labor Commissioner.
- FMLA and CFRA advice and counsel. Advised and counseled auto dealers and other retail clients on employee leave issues, including FMLA and CFRA issues.
- Labor and employment advice and counsel. Advised and counseled auto dealers and other retail and entertainment clients on effective employment policies and making adverse employment decisions.
- Blocked confirmation of employee's arbitration award against former employer. After executive employee obtained arbitration award against employer, blocked confirmation of award against employer-related entities by utilizing successful procedural strategies.
- Successful resolution of numerous discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims against auto dealers and others. Litigated and arbitrated numerous employment discrimination and harassment lawsuits against auto dealers and others. Obtained numerous successful settlements in employment discrimination claims for media and entertainment and retail clients by employing strategies designed to minimize settlement value.
- Publically-held automobile dealer group restructuring litigation. The Firm is currently defending a publicly-traded auto dealer group’s dealership in an age discrimination lawsuit brought by a former employee. The plaintiff was affected by a facility-wide restructuring that resulted in discharge or reassignment of a number of management-level employees. At issue in this case are the company’s legitimate business reasons for the restructuring in the dealership’s highly competitive retail environment. The dealership’s case focuses on the location’s financial performance and customer service objectives as well as the plaintiff’s individual performance. This litigation is currently in the discovery phase and will go to arbitration in 2016.
- Automotive service technician and service advisor wage and hour class action. Scali Rasmussen has successfully resolved several wage and hour class actions brought against its dealership clients. It is currently defending a California automobile dealership against wage and hour claims made against it in a class action brought by its service technicians. Scali Rasmussen is representing another California automobile dealership against wage and hour claims made against it in a class action brought by its service advisors, one of the first wage and hour class actions brought by service advisors against an automobile dealership in California.
- Automotive advertising compliance review. Scali Rasmussen was chosen by the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) to draft its 2015 Dealership Advertising Manual. After the manual was complete, Mr. Scali toured the state with CNCDA counsel providing advertising compliance seminars. As a result of that effort, Scali Rasmussen is representing several automobile dealerships providing advertising compliance advice, particularly in the often complex area of digital compliance, where the TCPA, CAN-SPAM Act, California Anti-Spam Act, and various other advertising and privacy laws intersect. Scali Rasmussen is conducting a comprehensive review of website advertising, direct mail, email advertising and text and mobile based advertising practices.
A depth of expertise
