Employment Law Victories

$468,000 For Victim of Retaliation

A Los Angeles company hired our client to work as an in-house recruiter. After one week of employment, he received an email stating that the company was rejecting a female job candidate he had submitted because the vice president wanted to hire a man. Our client sent an email objecting to the instruction, citing the federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in the workplace and asking what the job's requirements were. He also confronted the vice president in person. The company fired our client a week later. Although the company told our client he was being laid off for "economic reasons" and was eligible for re-hire, the company told others that he had been fired for performance reasons. Our client was unable to find comparable work and also suffered depression (a condition that runs in his family).

We sued the company for unlawful retaliation under California's employment civil rights statute, the Fair Employment and Housing Act ("FEHA"). During discovery, the company could not get its story straight about why it fired our client or who made the decision to do so. It also was caught (a) trying to hide a key witness and (b) trying to tamper with her testimony before she could be subpoenaed for a deposition. We filed a special motion for discovery sanctions and an instruction to the jury about the company's misconduct and the inferences that could be drawn from it. The judge hinted that he was going to grant the motion and then deferred ruling on it. The lawsuit then settled just two weeks before trial for $468,000.

Six Figure Settlement For Sexual Harassment and Wrongful Termination Victim

A client working as a medical assistant for a San Bernardino company was sexually harassed by her supervisor (a doctor). He repeatedly talked about her buttocks and breasts, offered her money to expose herself, intimated that he would like to receive oral sex from her, masturbated in her presence and walked around in his underwear in front of her. When the woman reported the conduct to management, she was fired.

Before coming to The Cowan Law Firm, our client filed a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint with the EEOC. An EEOC mediation where she did not have a lawyer failed when the company rejected the woman’s six figure demand while refusing to pay more than $10,000. The woman retained The Cowan Law Firm. We spent several months hunting down and interviewing witnesses. Ultimately we obtained signed statements corroborating our client’s story. After being advised of these developments, the company agreed to mediate the dispute in December 2007 with a retired judge before the woman’s deadline to file a lawsuit compelled litigation. This time the company paid not only six figures to settle the dispute but also a sum that was 50% more than the offer it rejected at the EEOC mediation.

Six Figure Settlement for Employee Discriminated Against Because of His Kids' Disabilities

A male employee for a publicly traded corporation had three children who suffer from "boy in the bubble" disease and regularly need medical treatment at UCLA. The company transferred him from Los Angeles to Las Vegas after promising to accommodate our client's need to return home every few weeks to visit his family and help take the children to the hospital for medical treatments. Then the company learned how the medical needs of our client's kids were increasing its insurance premiums. Suddenly, our client's supervisor started harassing him and denying him time off to see his children - to the point that he suffered a nervous breakdown. After The Cowan Law Firm was retained, a six figure settlement was negotiated within a few weeks.

Former employees vindicated on embezzlement claim

Two former employees of a Southern California company were sued for embezzlement. We defended the employees - who hotly disputed the allegations - while counter-suing for wage claim violations. Comprehensive discovery yielded no evidence to support the employer's allegations. After we won (1) a motion for financial sanctions against the company and its lawyer for failing to produce documents and computer files, and (2) a motion to have some of the company's claims dismissed, the employer paid our clients to settle the lawsuit.