Richard began his career as a workplace lawyer in 1977 after obtaining degrees from Cornell University’s School of Industrial & Labor Relations and the Santa Clara University law school. Richard has spent his entire career assisting management defend and risk manage workplace related legal matters and proposed personnel transactions.
His experience in the trenches enables Richard to provide management with a clear-eyed assessment and strategic options. Richard’s style is one which motivates his clients and adversaries to work cooperatively to find creative solutions to the toughest workplace challenges.
His reputation as a formidable opponent and labor law strategist who is both fair and trustworthy has resulted in peers naming him to the list of Southern California Super Lawyers every year since the inception of that honor and a listing in Best Lawyers in America since 2009.
Recognized as one of the state’s leading experts of workplace law, Richard has lectured extensively for bar associations, trade organizations and management groups throughout the United States and has delivered his proprietary workplace law compliance training and dispute prevention seminars to thousands of lawyers, human resources professionals, business executives and management personnel.
Richard has also published over 75 articles and legal commentaries in numerous trade publications and legal journals and is the creator and principal author of the firm’s widely read e-bulletin Compliance Matters.
Richard handles complex employment law transactions and disputes for a nationwide client base including some of the largest and well-known companies in America. In this role, he counsels on employment law strategy and compliance, and litigates workplace legal disputes. In the past 12 months, Richard has represented clients in such diverse matters as:
- COVID-19 advice and counsel for unionized and non-union companies under the myriad of issues facing employers under federal, state and local workplace safety laws and regulations;
- WARN Act counsel to many businesses needing to furlough employees or shut down operations due to COVID-19;
- Mediator in several highly contested employment law matters;
- Labor counsel in NLRB proceedings (Representation Petitions, Unfair Labor Practice Charges, strikes, picketing and hand billing);
- Advising numerous California cannabis licensees on their state-mandated Labor Peace Agreement obligations; negotiation of Labor Peace Agreements; negotiation of union contracts for unionized cannabis licensees;
- Creating effective strategy for hotel developers and other business owners confronted with “Labor Peace” ,”Card Check/Neutrality” and other organizing agreements;
- Labor transactional counsel in asset and stock purchases/sales transactions; WARN Act and other employment law compliance/due diligence audits;
- Defense counsel in federal and state discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims filed with government agencies or in court;
- Defense counsel in high profile wage-hour law individual and collective/class action claims, including a case on meal break penalty calculation now pending before the California Supreme Court;
- Advice and counsel on California’s onerous requirements for the employment of in-home care and other household staff;
- Strategic claims prevention planning in connection with employer policies and proposed personnel actions (layoffs, plant closures and individual employment terminations);
- Negotiating and drafting executive employment agreements and other protective human resources agreements and policies; and
- Management training on employment law risk management and dispute avoidance.
Admitted to Practice
- California
Court Admissions
United States Courts of Appeals
- Ninth Circuit
- C. Circuit
United States District Courts
- Central District of California
- Southern District of California
- Northern District of California
- B.S., Industrial & Labor Relations, Cornell University (School of Industrial & Labor Relations)
- J.D., Santa Clara University Law School (1977)
- Cum Laude
- Assistant Editor, Santa Clara Law Review
- Wage and Hour Laws, Advising California Employers and Employees (CEB)
- Payment of Wages and Overtime, California Wage and Hour Law: Compliance and Litigation (CEB)
Recent Published Articles (Full list available upon request)
- L.A. Times 2021 Labor & Employment Law Roundtable, April 26, 2021
- Labor & Employment, A Roundtable Discussion, San Fernando Valley Business Journal, January 18, 2021
- Employment & Labor Law Roundtable, Los Angeles Business Journal, May 2, 2016
- Principal author and editor of the firm’s Compliance Matters e-Bulletin
- Employers Labor over New Laws in 2016, Valley Lawyer, February 2, 2016
- Employment & Labor Law Roundtable, San Fernando Valley Business Journal, 2013 to present (January and July issues)
- Administration Declares War on Independent Contractors San Fernando Valley Business Journal, September 21, 2015
- Employers Must Now Furnish All Employees with Written Notice of their Rights under the Affordable Care Act, San Fernando Valley Business Journal, September 30, 2013
- Brinker Restaurant Corporation v. Superior Court, Valley Lawyer, May 2012
- Applying the Federal Labor-Management Law: A Primer about the National Labor Relations Act, Valley Lawyer, March 2012
- U.S. Supreme Court OK’s Class Action Waivers in Arbitration, San Fernando Valley Business Journal, June 24, 2011
- Unpaid Internships: A Trap for the Unwary Employer, San Fernando Valley Business Journal September 27 – October 10, 2010
- Employers Responsible For Employee Online Behavior, San Fernando Valley Business Journal June 7 – 20, 2010
United States Court of Appeals
- Venetian Casino Resort LLC v. EEOC, 530 F.3d 925 (D.C. Cir. 2008) (EEOC must give advance notice to employer and follow other requirements of Freedom of Information Act before disclosing employer-submitted confidential information to third parties)
- Venetian Casino Resort LLC v. EEOC, 409 F.3d 359 (D.C. Cir. 2005) (lawsuit challenging EEOC’s regulations on handling employer-submitted confidential information was “ripe” for judicial review)
Court of Appeal of California
- Bruni v. The Edward Thomas Hospitality Company (2021) 2021 Cal. App. LEXIS 402* (affirming judgment on demurrer in favor of hotel because the Santa Monica City Ordinance granting recall rights to certain laid off employees in a specific geographic area of Santa Monica did not apply to plaintiff because he had not been employed at the hotel for six months or more at the time of his layoff)
- Saret-Cook v. Gilbert, Kelly, Crowley & Jennett (1999) 74 Cal. App. 4th 1211 (upholds defense sexual harassment verdict, judgment on employer cross-complaint for emotional distress and $1 million attorneys’ fees award to employer improperly sued for sex harassment)
- Bardin v. Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Company (1999) 70 Cal. App. 4th 494 (upholds right of employer to give accurate references)
- Kirmse v. Hotel Nikko of San Francisco (1996) 51 Cal. App. 4th 311 (summary judgment upheld; at-will employment)
National Labor Relations Board General Counsel
- Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, 2012 NLRB GCM Lexis 6 (2012) (NLRB General Counsel dismissed unfair labor practice charge challenging employer’s improved benefits for non-union employees while withholding the improved benefits from newly-organized bargaining unit)
Speaking Engagements
- Recognizing and Addressing The Abusive Workplace. The Los Angeles County Bar Association (Jan, 2016)
- Update on CA labor laws for Hoteliers. Los Angeles Hotel Human Resources Association (April, 2015)
- Working Under the New Los Angeles Hotel Living Wage Law, The Los Angeles Hotel Human Resources Association (December, 2015)
- Strategies for Implementing California’s New Paid Sick Leave Law. Presented to various ProVisors group meetings in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys (Jan-June, 2015)
- New Employment Laws Hotels Need To Know, San Diego Hotel Human Resources Association (August, 2014)
- Hospitality Industry Union Update, Los Angeles Hotel Human Resources Association (January, 2014)
Honors
- Southern California Super Lawyer Listing (Labor & Employment Law)
- Top 25 Lawyers. San Fernando Valley Business Journal
- Best Lawyers in America (Labor & Employment Law)
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