Labor and Employment

A significant portion of the firm's resources is dedicated to employment counseling, collective bargaining, employment litigation, and administrative proceedings. Our attorneys are recognized experts at the state and national levels. We are routinely asked to speak at all of the major Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) labor and employment conferences, School Employees Association (SEA), California Council of School Attorneys (CCSA), the National School Boards Association (NSBA), and the California School Boards Association (CSBA) as labor and employment experts. Lozano Smith attorneys also teach in Tier One and Tier Two administrative programs at California State University, Fresno and California State University, East Bay, on school law topics including labor and employment issues.

Contract Arbitration

The expertise of our firm includes issues along the full spectrum of labor and employment law: from the hiring process and the drafting of employment contracts, to performance documentation and dismissal. Lozano Smith has drafted numerous management-level contracts and evaluated existing contracts employment agreements. The firm is experienced in matters involving statutory mandates such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Our firm has represented school districts throughout the state at all levels of grievance arbitration. We are successful at assisting districts analyze and resolve grievances and if settlement is not possible or advisable, we are ready to provide experienced attorneys to litigate those grievances.

Matters Before the Public Employee Relations Board

We have represented school districts in proceedings before a variety of administrative agencies, including the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, and the U. S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

Lozano Smith has appeared before the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) throughout California and has successfully represented Districts in unfair practice charges. We are often able to influence the PERB regional attorneys to refuse to issue complaints or defer cases to arbitration. In the event of a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, we have numerous attorneys who can successfully navigate the issues PERB reviews, including retaliation, bad faith bargaining and unilateral change cases.

Discipline Proceedings

Our attorneys are recognized experts on employment issues and are known for creatively resolving employee discipline and dismissal actions. Over the past 17 years, our attorneys have handled numerous disciplinary actions, including dismissals, involving classified, certificated and management employees.

To provide our clients with cost-effective services we have developed many timesaving forms and systems. For example, in conducting layoffs, we standardized our forms and established a protocol for conducting the layoff hearing that all Lozano Smith attorneys follow. Additionally, we have trained our paralegal assistants to efficiently respond to subpoenas for personnel and student records.

OCR/EEOC/State Department of Fair Employment and Housing

Lozano Smith attorneys regularly work with various public agencies handling discrimination and civil rights matters. Our attorneys have represented public agencies in DFEH, EEOC and OCR complaints and investigations. In addition, our attorneys have handled discrimination and civil rights litigation from the filing of the complaint through the rendering of a jury verdict in both state and federal courts. We regularly present in-services to our clients on discrimination and harassment issues.