Advice and Counseling

Davis Wang advises employers on a wide range of employment law matters covering the entire spectrum of the employee-employer relationship to minimize legal risk. We take a proactive, practical, and cost-efficient approach to solving day-to-day employment issues and meeting each client’s unique business objectives.

Our advice and counsel team guides clients through the myriad of complicated (and sometimes conflicting) federal, state, and local laws to answer questions, provide options on handling sensitive workplace matters, as well as provide step-by-step guidance on implementing solutions. We help our clients identify areas of legal exposure, as well as develop and implement workplace policies, procedures, and strategies to minimize the exposure.

As part of our practice, we regularly provide advice and counseling on the following types of matters:

• Wage and hour laws
• Discrimination and harassment
• Retaliation, whistleblower, and other workplace complaints
• Background checks, pre-employment testing, and drug and alcohol testing
• Hiring, discipline, performance management, and termination advice
• Leaves of absences
• Disability accommodations
• Non-compete and non-solicitation issues
• Employee mobility issues
• Protection of trade secrets and intellectual property
• Compensation plans
• Arbitration agreements
• Employment policies and employee handbooks
• Employee privacy and social media use
• Reorganizations and reductions in force
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Executive representations

Workplace Investigations/Trainings/Audits

Our team is highly experienced in conducting workplace investigations, particularly involving highly-sensitive and/or complex allegations on behalf of employers of a variety of sizes and industries, from startups and other privately-held companies to public companies, as well as community based and national non-profit organizations. We have extensive experience investigating allegations of sexual and other forms of harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and misappropriation of funds for employers. After conducting a prompt investigation, our team works with our in-house counter-part to resolve the matter, including requests to provide a detailed, confidential oral or written report. We have assisted clients investigate, address, and/or minimize risk for the following representative matters:

• Allegations of harassment against the head of HR of a publicly traded technology company;
• Allegations of abusive conduct and sexual harassment against management at a rapidly growing technology company; and
• Allegations of harassment and mismanagement against the founder and CEO of a Bay Area non-profit organization.

Davis Wang offers management and harassment prevention training customized to each client’s specific needs and audience. Davis Wang’s harassment prevention trainings comply with California mandated training requirements (including those mandated by AB 1825 and SB 1343). We address topics ranging from sexual harassment prevention, diversity in the workplace, reporting procedures, proper documentation practices, and recent changes in the law. These programs assist clients reduce legal exposure and ensure the implementation of best practices.

In addition, Davis Wang has extensive experience conducting internal audits, as well as responding to government audits and ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local laws. Our comprehensive reviews of employer’s policies, practices, and forms reduce exposure to legal risk. We have assisted clients conduct audits in the following representative matters:

• In-depth wage and hour audits of pay plans and restructure of pay plans for legal compliance
• Review and analysis of equal pay practices; and
• Responding to the DLSE’s audit following PAGA letter for classification of exempt/non-exempt employees.

Employment Litigations/Class and PAGA Actions

Our expertise in employment law allows us to provide big firm litigation services cost-effectively. We are distinct in offering experienced trial lawyers to, when necessary, aggressively defend our clients before a judge or jury. We also are distinct in being able to provide full-service litigation, trial, and post-trial motions, from the day a lawsuit is filed through dispositive motion, settlement, arbitration hearing, or jury verdict. We are also well experienced in filing writs and appeals with the appellate courts.

Keeping the goals of our clients in mind, our litigation philosophy is to conduct early case evaluations, assess options, and conduct strategic planning. We explore early disposition as a method to controlling costs. We also utilize technological tools to organize and analyze large volumes of data, such as electronically-stored information and communications.

Our experienced litigators defend single and multiple plaintiff actions in state and federal courts involving claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, trade secret misappropriation, defamation, invasion of privacy, emotional distress, breach of contract, as well as claims for unpaid minimum and overtime wages and missed meal and rest breaks, among other wage and hour claims.

We also defend clients in complex class actions, as well as representative actions under the California Private Attorney General Act. These types of actions exponentially increase the exposure faced by a client when an individual claim that might appear to be relatively small is amplified to large numbers of employees for a period of up to four years. As a result, our experienced employment litigators conduct early evaluation to develop the most effective strategy for resolution, be it working towards summary judgment or defeating class certification, participating in early mediation, or going to trial.

For more information about our Employment Law Practice, contact Shirley Wang.