California Labor and Employment Law » Announcements

We’ve Been Named a Top 100 Legal Blog!

Eugene Lee — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 06:31:21 +0000

Great news! The Daily Reviewer has just selected “California Labor & Employment Law” as one of its Top 100 Legal Blogs. We’re very excited by the recognition. A big thank you to the hard-working editors at the Daily Reviewer. Keep up the good work and we’ll keep on doing what we’ve been doing and hopefully stay on your list. To everyone else, be sure to check out the other 99 top legal blogs. It’s pretty rarefied company and we’re honored to have been included.

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I’m Baaaack (and with a Jury Verdict to report)

Eugene Lee — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:37:08 +0000

Sorry for the long hiatus, folks. But I do have an excuse: I was tied up doing a particularly grueling 3-week jury trial in federal court in Fresno, CA. I’m happy to say that the good guys won — a unanimous verdict on all counts: disability discrimination (mental disability) under the California Fair Employment & Housing Act (FEHA), failure to accommodate a disability, failure to engage in interactive process to find a reasonable accommodation, CFRA/FMLA medical leave interference, medical leave violation, medical leave retaliation, FEHA complaint retaliation, etc.

This is a case where the other side never once offered to settle. One of the lawyers on the defense team sneered at my client several times during trial too.

The jury awarded us $500,000+ in economic damages. Because there was also a unanimous jury finding of “willful” violation of FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) by the defendant, the addition of liquidated damages should take the recovery to over $1+ million. There’s also the award of substantial case-related costs and statutory attorney fees for the 3,500+ hours I worked on this case, which has yet to be decided.

There were a number of challenges in this case. First, I tried this case in the Eastern District of California, a venue that is well-known to have conservative and anti-plaintiff jurors. Second, the defendant was a county with an immense amount of resources, connections and, in my opinion, arrogance. They were contentious and unpleasant to deal with. Third, the court’s rulings markedly favored my opponents from start to finish. Months before trial, the magistrate judge for my case abruptly left the bench to become County Counsel for my opponent, the County of Kern. Fourth, discovery was massive, with over 30,000 pages produced in discovery and over 40 witnesses were deposed.

I was interviewed on TV evening news shortly after the verdict: “Doctor Wins $500,000 Judgment”.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well. I’m happy to be back and will be posting again. Thanks for your patience and sticking with me.

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We’ve been named a Top 100 Employment Law Blog!

Eugene Lee — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:30:25 +0000

The good folks over at the "Delaware Employment Law Blog", which is itself a top-notch employment law blog published by the Delaware law firm of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP, have seen fit to include our blog in their roundup of the Top 100 Employment Law Blogs across the country . Of course, we’re thrilled by the honor. Right back at ya, mates! Make sure to check out their list and their blog when you get the chance.

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Yours Truly Will Be MIA for 3 Weeks

Eugene Lee — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:09:03 +0000

Sorry folks but it looks like I won’t be posting here for a while. I’m about to head into 3 straight weeks of back-to-back depositions (lawyer-speak for witness interviews in a lawsuit). For the non-lawyers out there, that’s a LOT of depos. I’ll get back to posting as soon as the craziness lets up. Until then, may the employment gods smile upon you.

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I’ll Be Taking A Brief Break from Posting

Thank You to Michael Fox of “Jottings by an Employer’s Lawyer”

Eugene Lee — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:35:28 +0000

Michael Fox runs one of the oldest and most respected employment law blogs (blawgs?) in the business, "Jottings by an Employer’s Lawyer" . He was blogging long before it became fashionable. I’ve been a regular reader of his blog and a fan.

Recently, Michael got nostalgic and posted this entry: "6 Years, 1800 Posts and How the World Has Changed" . Why do I bring this up? Well…ahem… he lists my blog as being one of those that "have made their way to my RSS reader"!

Well, thank you, Michael, and Happy 6^th Birthday to your blog. May there be many, many more.

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I’ll Be Taking A Brief Break from Posting

Eugene Lee — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:24:43 +0000

My work schedule for the next month is going to be very tight so posts may become more sporadic. I’ll let you all know as soon as I am able to get back to more regular posting. If you’ve got questions, feel free to click on the “Ask An Attorney” tab at the top and drop me a line. Thank you!

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We’ve Been Named “Blawg of the Day”

Eugene Lee — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:14:06 +0000

Renowned legal website Inter-Alia.net has been kind enough to name us as their Blawg of the Day. Inter-Alia.net is an Internet legal research weekly which discusses legal blogs of note, legal news, etc. that is published by Tom Mighell. Thank you and a tip of the hat right back at ya!

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A Selection of Interesting Articles from Legal Blogs Around the World

Eugene Lee — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:22:18 +0000

Peter Black’s blog, Freedom to Differ, recently hosted a weekly editorial roundup of interesting articles from legal blogs around the world. Peter Black is a law lecturer at Queensland University of Technology in Australia. His blog focuses on happenings in the area of internet and media law.

I was honored to have two of my articles, this one and this one, selected for inclusion in the roundup. Thank you Mr. Black! After getting over the initial excitement, I took a moment to read some of the other posts that had been selected. I found this eye-opening post from a lawyer named Scott Greenfield who practices in New York:

“For those of us in the trenches, we see and hear a lot of things from the bench that make us cringe. From the “soft-core” improprieties of inappropriate temperament to covert bias, judges are untouchable. To grieve is to commit professional suicide, because the Commission isn’t going out on a limb over anything that subjective or lightweight. Nobody is going to spit in the face of an angry bear, unless you want your head torn off.”

Bad judges tearing lawyer’s heads off! Boy! I thought that happened only here in California.

Sad to say, my experience hasn’t been all that different from Mr. Greenfield’s. While most judges I have been before have been smart, fair and professional, there’s been a few that simply shouldn’t be on the bench deciding people’s fates. Even one bad judge who denies justice to one person is one bad judge too many. Some judges don’t even try to hide their extreme biases in favor of employers and Big Business.

And this brings up another point. When you sue someone in court, you never know what’s going to happen. If you draw a bad judge, for instance, you can pretty much kiss your suit goodbye.

Don’t believe me? Then read this article about the infamous Judge James Brooks, a California state trial court judge who treated a top trial lawyer in a ridiculous and unprofessional manner during a jury trial. Wanna guess whether the lawyer won the case for her client? Time’s up. Answer: after 30 days of grueling trial, she lost and the Court of Appeal ordered a new trial. Thank you Judge Brooks.

Ahh, bad judges. That will have to be a post of its own one of these days. I’ll put that one on my to-do list.

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Lofty Literacy Levels Leave Legions Lost

Eugene Lee — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 09:32:56 +0000

So my blog has scored a literacy level of “Junior High School”.

Would it surprise you if I told you I am doing my darnedest to make this blog as easy to read as possible? As a trial lawyer, my goal is to communicate. Communicate to the judge. Communicate to the jury. Communicate to opposing counsel. And communicate to you. What makes it especially hard is that the law is rarely straightforward.

Eugene Volokh, in addition to being a law professor at UCLA Law School, is also the veteran blogger behind the highly-successful Volokh Conspiracy . He got the same literacy rating I did. Here is what he had to say about it: “Think with the learned, and speak with the vulgar.”

I promise you that I will try not to waste your time by keeping this blog as straightforward and to the point as I can.

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3 – 2 – 1 Liftoff!

Eugene Lee — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 03:01:58 +0000

Welcome to CaLaborLaw.com, a website that discusses the latest legal news and tips for employees in the fast-changing area of California labor and employment law. Recent court decisions show that employee rights in California are under assault. Yet the public hardly knows or cares. CaLaborLaw.com seeks to change this and make a difference. If you’re an employee in California, read on and learn your rights!

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