Employment Litigation & Advisory
Keesal, Young & Logan’s employment attorneys take pride in their ability to litigate a broad range of employment matters, while never losing sight of our clients’ overall business and employee-relations goals. Our attorneys work closely with clients to minimize risks of litigation, provide practical and creative human resources advice, and defend claims relating to every aspect of local, state, and federal employment law.
The firm routinely defends clients before federal, state, and local administrative agencies on a wide variety of employment related claims. The firm has tried and/or arbitrated cases involving claims for wrongful termination, age discrimination, sex discrimination, disability discrimination, national origin discrimination, racial discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, religious discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour violations, ERISA violations, sexual harassment, breach of contract, trade secret theft, defamation, violation of family leave laws, whistleblower (including Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Dodd-Frank Act) and many other claims.
In addition, the firm has defended and obtained favorable resolutions of a significant number of wage and hour class actions, including claims for overtime misclassification, rest period and meal break violations and related claims.
Because Keesal, Young & Logan finds that a little “preventive medicine” often averts and/or mitigates potentially troublesome matters resulting in litigation, the firm’s attorneys frequently advise clients on a wide variety of employment issues, including hiring and selection procedures, discipline and termination, harassment and discrimination investigations, wage and hour matters, FCRA compliance and background checks, drug testing, polygraph testing, COBRA, occupational safety and health matters, unfair competition, employee indemnification, and many other issues. The firm’s attorneys also prepare employment applications, employee handbooks and employment policies, binding arbitration agreements, at-will employment agreements, employment contracts, independent contractor agreements, and a variety of other forms and agreements.
In an effort to keep our clients advised of recent developments that affect their employees and employee-relations, our employment group sends periodic email updates reporting on important developments in case law, employment regulations, and federal, state, and local laws. The following are examples of our employment alerts.
For additional information, please contact:
Jodi S. Cohen
(562) 436-2000
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Julie L. Taylor
(415) 398-6000
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Elizabeth H. Lindh
(562) 436-2000
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Melanie L. Ronen
(562) 436-2000
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Among the recent results obtained by our employment attorneys are the following:
- Defense award in arbitration by former California financial advisor alleging that she was terminated in violation of public policy and subsequently defamed.
- Defense award in arbitration filed by former 30-year California financial advisor alleging 12 causes of action including age discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination in violation of public policy, interference with prospective economic advantage, fraud, and other claims.
- Defense award in arbitration filed by former Texas financial advisor making whistleblower and retaliation claims (including SOX and Dodd-Frank) and obtain affirmative recovery for our client on financial advisor’s promissory note of over full amount of principal, interest, and attorney’s’ fees (over $300,000).
- Defense award in arbitration filed by former long-time California financial advisor claiming sex and age discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination.
- Defense award in arbitration filed by former Oregon financial advisor claiming breach of contract and other compensation-related claims.
- Defense award in arbitration filed by two former Beverly Hills financial advisors who alleged damages of over $2.5 million related to compensation issues.
- Defense award in arbitration filed by former institutional salesperson who alleged she was entitled to hundreds of thousands of dollars in incentive compensation and other compensation.
- Defense award in arbitration filed by former Minnesota financial advisors for breach of contract fraudulent inducement and other employment claims and obtain affirmative recovery for our client of over $400,000 on its counterclaims.
- Fractional award (less than half of 1%) in arbitration filed by two Beverly Hills financial advisors who alleged unfair competition and violation of California Business and Professions Code related to alleged failure to hire.
- Defeated class certification in meal period class action filed by bank employee on behalf of over 8,000 employees.
- Dismissal of overtime misclassification class action brought by financial advisor on behalf of over 1,000 employees. After her deposition, the class representative resigned from her role in the litigation. Defeated plaintiff’s motion to find a new class representative, and the case was dismissed by the District Court.
- Motion to stay granted and class claims ultimately dismissed in class action brought by financial advisor on behalf of over 1,300 other financial advisors alleging that promissory notes were invalid.
- Defense judgment and partial attorneys’ fees awarded to our client in a $6 million constructive termination, disability discrimination, FMLA, invasion of privacy, and defamation case.
- Summary judgment in a race discrimination, fraud, promissory estoppel, unfair competition, and unpaid wages case.
- Defense judgment in a million-dollar sexual harassment, assault and battery, and emotional distress case.
- Summary adjudication of age discrimination and retaliation claims brought in multi-plaintiff action.
- Defense judgment and costs awarded to our clients in a $9 million claim for breach of partnership agreement.
- Defense award in a $36 million constructive termination and fraud claim and obtained affirmative award in favor of our client on its counterclaim.