Labor & Employment

Cooper’s Labor and Employment practice covers the entire spectrum of employee relations, from compliance counseling and training, to mediating, arbitrating, and litigating employment-related disputes. Cooper lawyers represent publicly and privately held companies and nonprofit groups, including entities in the telecommunications, technology, energy, pipeline, green, retail, and service industries.

Counseling and Training

Our primary goal is to prevent lawsuits before they happen, through training managers and supervisors on the legal obligations of employers under federal, state and local laws, drafting employment handbooks and policies, and advising clients on the latest developments in this rapidly changing field. Our expertise includes:

• Drafting and revising employee handbooks and employment policies
• Drafting and revising independent contractor agreements
• Auditing and counseling on employee classification issues
• Counseling and training on disabilities and employee leaves under the Americans with Disabilities Act, California Fair Employment and Housing Act, California Workers’ Compensation Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and California Family Rights Act
• Counseling and advice on wage and hour law issues, including compliance with meal and rest break and prevailing wage requirements
• Managing disciplinary actions, individual terminations, reductions in force and lay offs, including WARN Act compliance and disparate impact analyses
• Sexual harassment training and investigations

Employment Litigation

Cooper attorneys litigate management-side employment matters on all facets of employment law. Our attorneys have tried, mediated, and arbitrated employment cases, and have handled individual, class, and representative matters before the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Department of Labor, and California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, Employment Development Department, and the Contractors State License Board.

We have handled employment litigation in the federal courts in the Northern, Central, Southern, and Eastern Districts of California, in all of the state courts of the counties in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in courts and administrative agencies from Eureka to San Diego. Our areas of focus include:

• Wrongful termination
• Discrimination, harassment and retaliation
• Workplace violence
• Labor Code section 132a
• Wage and hour issues
• Unfair competition, defamation and trade secrets

Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining

Our lawyers also provide service in the union environment, including:

• Negotiating collective bargaining agreements
• Responding to organizing campaigns
• Representing management at grievance proceedings and arbitrations
• Defending unfair labor practice claims before the National Labor Relations Board
• Litigating matters involving union conduct during strikes and other concerted activities, as well as multi-employer union pension plans