Employment Law

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  • The cover of the January 2024 issue of the California Lawyers Association’s Labor & Employment Law Review features an article authored by Andrew Friedman, Ramit Mizrahi, and Anthony Oncidi—”The Top Employment Cases of 2023“—that highlights the most important California state and federal employment cases from last year. Click on the below image to read the article in full. The Top Employment Cases of 2023: Cover Article of January 2024 Cal. L&E Law Review was […]

  • Ramit Mizrahi’s November 2023 ADR Update in the California Labor & Employment Law Review has been published and can be found below.

    Page 1 of ADR update

  • Ramit Mizrahi’s July 2023 ADR Update in the California Labor & Employment Law Review has been published and can be found below.

    Page 1 of ADR update

  • Ramit Mizrahi has joined the California Labor & Employment Law Review as its latest columnist. She will be authoring its ADR Update column in every other issue (March, July, November), alternating with Hon. Michelle R. Rosenblatt (Ret.).

    Her first column can be found below.

    Page 1 of ADR update

  • The year 2022 not only continued our new normal of a deluge of employment decisions, but it also brought some blockbuster decisions in employment law.

    The January 2023 issue of the California Lawyers Association’s Labor & Employment Law Review features an article authored by Ramit Mizrahi, Andrew Friedman, and Anthony Oncidi—”The Top Employment Cases of 2022“—that highlights the most important California state and federal employment cases from last year.

    Click on the below image to read the article in full.

    Top Employment Cases of 2022 Article Cover Page


    Ramit will also be speaking at the following continuing education program this month:

    2022 New Employment Practitioner Conference, Employment Law 101

    Program by: California Lawyers Association Labor and Employment Law Section

    Date/Time: : Thursday, 1/19/22, 8:30-10 a.m.

    Description: California provides employees with numerous protections that practitioners need to understand to provide effective representation and which employers need to know in order to be in compliance. In this module, our panelists will provide an overview of filing and defending against claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation provided by the Fair Employment & Housing Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and other key employment laws. The presentation will touch upon exhaustion of administrative remedies, the essential points of analysis for claims, recent changes to the law, and emerging trends and concerns.

  • Within the past two years, Labor Code § 1102.5, California’s general whistleblower protection law, went from being a secondary cause of action to the most important one for most employees alleging retaliation. Two critical events spurred this change: (1) the 2020 amendment to section 1102.5 allowing successful plaintiffs to recover attorney’s fees; and (2) the California Supreme Court’s January 2022 decision in Lawson v. PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc., 12 Cal. 5th 703 (2022), which clarified the framework for evaluating section 1102.5 claims. But while the benefits of attorney’s fees are readily apparent, the extent of Lawson’s impact remains to be seen.

    In its November 2022 issue, the California Labor & Employment Law Review published an article by Ramit Mizrahi that examined all published and unpublished California and federal appellate decisions and federal district court cases that addressed Labor Code § 1102.5 claims post-Lawson. The results suggest that defendants continue to prevail on summary judgment, and some courts may be treating the first step in the sections 1102.5/1102.6 analysis as creating a heavier burden than the first step in the McDonnell Douglas test. If so, the benefits of section 1102.6 to plaintiffs may largely be neutralized.

    Click below to read the article in full.

  • The January 2022 issue of the California Lawyers Association’s Labor & Employment Law Review features an article authored by Ramit Mizrahi, Andrew Friedman, and Tony Oncidi.

    The article—”The Top Employment Cases of 2021″—highlights the most important California state and federal employment cases from last year. Click on the below image to read the article in full.

    Image of Labor and Employment Law Article

    Ramit will also be speaking at the following continuing education program this month:

    Thursday, 1/20/22, 8:30-10 a.m.
    2022 New Employment Practitioner Conference, Employment Law 101
    Program by: California Lawyers Association Labor and Employment Law Section
    Description: California provides employees with numerous protections that practitioners need to understand to provide effective representation. In this module, our panelists will provide an overview of filing and defending against claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation provided by the Fair Employment & Housing Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and other key employment laws. The presentation will touch upon exhaustion of administrative remedies, the essential points of analysis for claims, recent changes to the law, and emerging trends and concerns.

  • The January 2021 issue of the California Lawyers Association’s Labor & Employment Law Review features an article authored by Ramit Mizrahi, Andrew Friedman, and Tony Oncidi.

    The article—”The Top Employment Cases of 2020″—highlights the most important California state and federal employment cases from last year. Click on the below image to read the article in full.

    Image of Labor and Employment Law Article

    Ramit also spoke on two panels this month:

    Thursday, 1/14/21, 3-5 p.m.
    2020 Is Done: What’s New In 2021?
    Program by: Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
    Description: Stay up-to-date on the laws that affect your practices. This program covers new housing laws post-COVID, new employment laws, a personal injury perspective on Proposition 22, and anticipated and current legal challenges to the new laws.

    Thursday & Friday, 1/20/21-1/21/21
    2021 New Employment Law Practitioner 2021
    Program by: California Lawyers Association Labor & Employment Law Section
    Description: This is the perfect program for the new lawyers, paralegals, and legal assistants who work with you to learn about the basics of employment law. The program will have six panels: Employment Law 101 (discrimination, harassment, retaliation), Leave of Absence Compliance, Wage and Hour 101, Ethics & Bias During Pandemic Times, California Privacy Rights Act’s Top 10, and Complying with the NLRA.

  • man putting together final jigsaw pieces to complete a Pride flag

    Today is a day for the history books, and a day for celebration! In Bostock v. Clayton County, a landmark decision released on June 15, 2020, the United States Supreme Court held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s prohibition on sex discrimination encompasses discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In doing so, the Court gave gay and transgender employees throughout the nation workplace protections from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. The 6-3 opinion, authored by Justice Gorsuch, held that an employer who fires a worker for being gay or transgender violates Title VII, as doing so necessarily discriminates against that person because of sex. In doing so, the Court resolved a split among federal courts as to whether Title VII offered these protections—as some courts had held that employees could be fired for being gay or transgender.

    Here in California, our civil rights law, the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), has protected gay and transgender employees from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation for years:

    • In 2000, the FEHA was amended to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
    • In 2003, the FEHA was amended to include “gender” in its definition of sex. The definition incorporated by reference then-Penal Code section 422.76, which defined gender as “the victim’s actual sex or the defendant’s perception of the victim’s sex, and includes the defendant’s perception of the victim’s identity, appearance, or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the victim’s sex at birth.”
    • In 2011, the FEHA was amended to specifically prohibit discrimination and harassment based on “gender,” “gender identity,” and “gender expression.”

    I have traced this history and written before about why workplace protections are so important for gay and transgender employees. Now, workers throughout the nation will be protected.

    Two of the three plaintiffs in these cases, Aimee Stephens and Donald Zarda, did not live to see this day—a poignant reminder that while we may not see the benefits of some of our work, we do it as much for future generations as for ourselves.

  • The January 2020 issue of the California Lawyers Association’s Labor & Employment Law Review features an article authored by Ramit Mizrahi, Andrew Friedman, and Tony Oncidi.

    The article—”The Top Employment Cases of 2019″—highlights the most important California state and federal employment cases from last year. Click on the below image to read the article in full.

    Image of Labor and Employment Law Article

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