Practice Areas

At Gallenberg PC, our Los Angeles employment law lawyers provide legal representation to employees and consumers in employment and class action litigation. Our practice areas include breach of employment contracts, discrimination lawsuits, wage and hour lawsuits, retaliation, qui tam, and class action lawsuits. We handle most cases on a contingency fee basis, and our team does not charge potential clients for an initial consultation. The best and fastest way to get a case evaluation is by submitting our online form. Alternatively, you can call us in Burbank at (818) 237-5267, in Los Angeles at (213) 986-8432, or in Beverly Hills at (310) 295-1654.

In California, employment is at will, which means that an employment relationship may end for any reason that is not illegal or a breach of an employment contract. However, employers are not allowed to fire their employees in violation of public policy as described in anti-discrimination laws, such as the Fair Housing and Employment Act (FEHA), the False Claims Act, or whistleblowing statutes.

Discrimination and harassment in the workplace on the basis of a protected characteristic are illegal under both state and federal laws. Title VII is the primary federal law that prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, or religion. Under FEHA, it is unlawful for your employer to take an adverse employment action against you on the basis of your gender, pregnancy, race, disability, sexual orientation, age, or religion. Adverse employment actions include firing, demotion, job reassignment, or removal of benefits, as well as harassment in the workplace. An employer is also required to provide reasonable accommodations for disability and religion as long as they do not create an undue hardship.

California has strong overtime and wage and hour laws. For example, eligible employees are to be paid overtime if they work over eight hours in a single day or 40 hours in a week. After they work 12 hours in a day, they must receive double time pay. An employee who works on a seventh day is entitled to time and a half for the first eight hours they worked and double time for any extra hours. Employers must provide an unpaid meal break of 30 minutes after five hours, except if the workday is going to be completed in six or fewer hours, and both the employee and the employer consent to waive it. Employees are also entitled to a paid 10-minute rest break for every four hours worked, unless their total workday is less than three and a half hours.

Under both state and federal laws, private citizens may file a qui tam lawsuit on behalf of the government when they have knowledge that the government is being defrauded. In California, there several different whistleblowing statutes that protect employees who report or refuse to participate in illegal activity in the workplace. For example, Government Code section 12650-12656, the False Claims Act, prohibits people and businesses from knowingly presenting a false or fraudulent claim to the government for payment or approval. The law includes a qui tam provision allowing a whistleblower to file suit to enforce the law. California Labor Code section 1102.5 is a general whistleblower statute that prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who report a reasonable belief that the employer has violated state, federal, or local laws.

We handle employee class actions, consumer class actions, privacy class actions, and the Bank of America class action concerning background checks. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 382, class action treatment is considered appropriate if there is a question of common interest to many people or if there are numerous parties, such that it would be impracticable to bring them before the court.

Class certification is a critical step in a class action case because the court must certify the class in order for the case to get class action treatment. Employment cases in California are the most commonly certified type of case. A plaintiff seeking certification needs to establish that there is an ascertainable class, that there are predominant common questions of fact or law in the class members' cases, that the class representatives have typical claims, and that there are class representatives who can adequately represent the group's interests.

As an employee in California, you have many rights. If your employer violates federal or state laws, you will need a resourceful Los Angeles employment law attorney on your side. Gallenberg PC represents people in many Southern California cities, such as Burbank, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Van Nuys, Glendale, Downey, and Inglewood. We are available whether you are bringing an individual claim or seeking representation from a class action attorney. Call us in Burbank at (818) 237-5267, in Los Angeles at (213) 986-8432, or in Beverly Hills at (310) 295-1654. For the fastest response, you should contact us online for a consultation.