Joan Fife Discusses Wage & Hour Litigation at California Labor & Employment Conference

Labor and employment partner Joan Fife, who serves as managing partner of the firm's San Francisco office, spoke at the State Bar of California's Labor and Employment Law Section's 30th Annual Meeting on November 3, 2012, in Newport Beach, California.

Ms. Fife spoke on the panel titled "Wage and Hour Litigation 101," which provided basic strategies for prosecuting and defending individual, collective, and class action wage and hour cases. The panelists provided basic introductions to the parameters of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and the California Labor Code and Wage Orders, highlighting key differences, and discussing some of the major and lesser-utilized causes of action, including overtime, meal/rest periods, unlawful deductions, seating requirements, reimbursement claims, and California penalties for waiting time and itemized wage statement violations. Panelists also discussed unique wage/hour settlement issues, and some of the cutting-edge issues new practitioners to the wage/hour field would be most likely to confront, including the fallout from Brinker, Duran, and Kirby.

Ms. Fife was joined by Matthew Helland of Nichols Kaster, Leonid Zilberman of Wilson Turner Kosmo, and Wilmer Harris of Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris, Hoffman & Harrison LLP. Bryan Schwartz, of Bryan Schwartz Law, moderated the panel.

Other sessions at the conference included:

• Tips From the Bench: Top 5 Do's and Don'ts for Employment Lawyers
• Taking and Defending the Plaintiff's Deposition in a Harassment Case
• What Every Employment Lawyer Needs to Know about the National Labor Relations Board