Alan R. Berkowitz, Esq.

A D A

• Mediated employment and defamation case involving individual claims of disability discrimination, retaliation for seeking legal representation, and defamation.

Disability Discrimination

• Mediated employment and disability discrimination case involving claims of disability discrimination, failure to provide reasonable accomodation, failure to engage in the interactive process and retaliation for asserting disability rights.

Discrimination

• Mediated employment discrimination matter involving allegations of failure to accomodate an employee's PTSD and failure to engage in the interactive process.
• Mediated employment dispute involving allegations of race discrimination, racial harassment, and failure to prevent harrassment against a government entity. Claims were brought under both state and federal anti-discrimination laws.
• Mediated employment case involving claims of race discrimination, racial harassment, and failure to prevent discrimination, brought by a different employee against the same entity as referenced above.
• Mediated wage-and-hour matter involving a representative action alleging unlawful forfeiture of accrued vacation time, failure to provide compliant meal and rest breaks, an individual claim for disability discrimination, and a claim under PAGA.
• Mediated employment discrimination matter involving individual claims of race discrimination, racial harassment, and violation of the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).
• Mediated employment discrimination case involving individual claims of disability discrimination, failure to provide reasonable accommodation, failure to engage in the interactive process, failure to prevent discrimination, and wrongful termination.
• Mediated employment matter involving claims by four former employees alleging age discrimination, breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and retaliation.
• Mediated employment discrimination case involving an individual claim of pregnancy discrimination brought against a children’s clothing designer.
• Mediated employment discrimination case involving claims of unlawful termination and retaliation for taking a protected medical leave of absence.
• Mediated employment discrimination case involving individual claims of discrimination based on race, national origin, and color; retaliation for opposing discriminatory practices; fraud; and breach of contract.

Hostile Environment

• Mediated employment dispute involving claims of wrongful termination, discrimination, hostile work environment, and failure to accommodate, brought against a major security company.

Labor Code

• Mediated wage-and-hour and unfair competition case involving allegations of employee misclassification, failure to pay overtime, failure to provide compliant meal and rest breaks, failure to issue accurate wage statements, and violations of unfair competition laws.
• Mediated wage-and-hour, employment, and PAGA matter involving claims that the employee was misclassified, resulting in unpaid wages, non-compliant meal and rest breaks, wrongful termination, and violations under PAGA.
• Mediated employment matter involving multiple alleged violations of the California Labor Code.

PAGA

• Mediated a PAGA case involving alleged violations of Labor Code Section 432.5, which prohibits employers from requiring employees to agree in writing to any term or condition known by the employer to be unlawful. The matter also involved a PAGA group action waiver and arbitration issues.

Wage and Hour

• Mediated employment and wage-and-hour matter involving high-value claims for denial of earned commissions, unlawful commission agreements, disability discrimination, and violations of San Francisco Police Code Section 33A relating to off-duty conduct.
• Mediated employment and wage-and-hour class action involving 710 current and former employees of a janitorial company, alleging missed or untimely meal and rest breaks.
• Mediated wage-and-hour and employment matter involving individual claims for unpaid commissions and associated penalties under the California Labor Code.
• Mediated employment and wage-and-hour matter involving an individual claim for unpaid wages and Labor Code violations related to wage-and-hour compliance.
• Mediated wage-and-hour and employment class action involving claims for failure to provide compliant meal and rest breaks, failure to pay for all time worked and overtime, failure to issue accurate wage statements, and associated penalties under the California Labor Code.

Wage and Hour Class Action

• Mediated wage-and-hour and unfair competition class action involving merchandising specialists alleging failure to pay for all time worked, failure to reimburse business expenses, and violations of unfair competition.
• Mediated wage-and-hour and unfair business practices class action involving store managers of a major retail chain across California. The case alleged employee misclassification, unpaid overtime, non-compliant meal and rest breaks, violations of the California Labor Code, and unfair business practices
• Mediated wage-and-hour and unfair business practices class action involving sales employees state wide, alleging off-the-clock work and non-compliant meal and rest breaks.
• Mediated wage-and-hour and employment class action involving claims for unpaid wages and penalties under the California Labor Code.

Whistleblower Wrongful Term

• Mediated employment and whistleblower matters involving two separate but related cases against the same defendant: one brought by an employee alleging termination in retaliation for whistleblowing about financial misconduct by the CEO, and the other brought by the CEO alleging wrongful termination and breach of contract.

Wrongful Term & Discrimination

• Mediated breach of contract and fraud case involving allegations of fraudulent inducement to accept employment, breach of contract, wrongful termination in violation of public policy, and violations of the California False Claims Act.
• Mediated employment discrimination case involving an individual claim of age discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
• Mediated employment, labor, and discrimination matter involving an individual claim of discriminatory failure to recall from layoff, in violation of rights under a collective bargaining agreement.
• Mediated employment, discrimination, and defamation matter involving individual claims of age discrimination, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, defamation, invasion of privacy, and issues arising under the National Bank Act.
• Mediated employment matter involving an individual claim of workplace discrimination.
• Mediated employment discrimination case involving individual claims against a university for age and marital status discrimination, retaliation for asserting those claims, and misrepresentation in the inducement of employment.

Wrongful Termination

• Mediated whistleblower and fraud matter involving claims of fraud, misrepresentation, unlawful product labeling, and whistleblowing in connection with the events leading up to and following the sale of a business.
• Mediated breach of contract and fraud dispute involving claims of fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of contract arising from the sale of a business and termination of its original founder and seller.
• Mediated employment discrimination matter involving individual claims of sex discrimination and failure to promote, brought against a public entity.
• Mediated employment matter involving claims for unpaid wages related to work performed outside the employee’s job classification and off-the-clock work.
• Mediated employment matter involving claims of retaliation and breach of contract, including alleged violations of the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), Labor Code Section 6310 for reporting unsafe working conditions, and breach of contract.
• Mediated employment discrimination matter involving an individual claim of race discrimination.
• Mediated employment, breach of contract, and negligence matter involving claims that a CEO was terminated due to age, perceived physical disability, and retaliation for reporting sexual harassment. Additional claims included breach of contract and negligence resulting in the loss of valuable benefits.
• Mediated employment matter involving an individual claim for violations of California Labor Code Sections 6310 and 6311, arising from complaints about a potentially violent coworker and unsafe working conditions.
• Mediated employment matter involving claims of discrimination and wrongful termination brought by 11 former employees of a bank.
• Mediated employment matter involving an individual claim of age discrimination and retaliation for serving as a class representative in a prior wage-and-hour lawsuit against the defendant.
• Mediated employment, discrimination, and whistleblower retaliation matter involving claims of sexual harassment resulting in severe emotional distress and subsequent disability, disability discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, and wrongful termination.
• Mediated employment matter involving an individual claim of workplace discrimination and wrongful termination.
• Mediated employment and whistleblower matters involving two related cases against the same defendant: one brought by an employee alleging termination in retaliation for whistleblowing about financial misconduct by the CEO, and the other by the CEO alleging wrongful termination and breach of contract.
• Mediated employment discrimination matter involving an individual claim of wrongful termination and discriminatory treatment.
• Mediated a whistle blower retaliation case.
• Mediated a dispute involving claims of unpaid commissions and wrongful termination in retaliation for whistleblowing activity. The case was resolved through settlement.