Valerian Law, P.C.

California’s Private Attorney General Act for the Uninitiated

California’s Private Attorney General Act (PAGA) for the Uninitiated

By Dan Gildor May 1, 2023 As attorneys who represent employees in California, we often encounter clients who are not aware of their rights as employees.  But while knowing one’s rights are important, so is knowing how the rights are enforced. One enforcement mechanism that is important for all employees to know about is the …

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Resisting Unconscionable Arbitration Agreements

Trevor Bryne1 Over the past few decades, it has become increasingly common for American corporations to require workers and consumers to sign arbitration agreements. Through these agreements, workers and consumers waive their right to pursue a lawsuit in court if they are harmed by the corporation’s misconduct. Instead, they must submit to a process called …

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From Astrophysics to Employment Law by Dan Gildor

From Astrophysics to Employment Law: A Conversation with Valerian Law’s New Senior Counsel

By Alex Li Dan Gildor, Valerian Law’s new Senior Counsel, has lived many professional lives: as an aspiring astrophysicist at MIT, a programmer at start-ups during Silicon Valley’s dot-com boom, an environmental litigator enforcing the Clean Water Act, a lawyer for the Department of Industrial Relations, and a plaintiff’s-side employment lawyer for renowned class-action law …

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Supreme Court Battle Over Affirmative Action Could Impact Employment Diversity Initiatives

Affirmative Action Up for Debate at the Supreme Court As we wrote about in our previous blog post on affirmative action, two ongoing Supreme Court cases on affirmative action in college admissions are predicted to have wider impacts that go beyond the realm of education, affecting how employers are able to seek out and hire …

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Title VII and the Equal Protection Clause

Affirmative Action Part 1 of 2 | Title VII and the Equal Protection Clause

By Eileen Torrez, November 30th, 2022 Three important federal laws form the basis for protecting U.S. employees from discrimination in the workplace: the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We’ve written about the EPA here and the ADA here. This article focuses on …

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Whistleblower

You Could be a Whistleblower Even If You Don’t Know It

“I am a Human Resource generalist at a mid-sized private company. I told my department manager that we should not discourage employees from talking about pay, because that could be illegal. I learned this at a training hosted by our outside employment law firm about how HR should be handling compensation questions. My manager replied …

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employee protections

Bring on 2022! New Employee Protections in Employment Contracts in the Silenced No More Act

Happy New Year! In California, a new year often brings new laws protecting employees. Let’s dive into one that applies to our clients dealing with NDAs and employment contracts: The Silenced No More Act. As of 2 years ago, California already broke new ground in protecting employees by outlawing confidentiality provisions in settlement agreements for …

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