Kelly Kagan

Employment and labor law representation across various industries

Kelly Kagan represents employers in defense, academia, retail and restaurant industries. She counsels on employment issues, such as sexual harassment allegations and investigations, employee discipline, and wage and hour violations. Kelly also drafts and edits employee handbooks to help employers stay atop new employment laws. Additionally, she advocates for employers on a variety of matters, including:

• Discrimination
• Wage and hour violations
• Equal pay allegations

Before turning to law, Kelly spent nearly 10 years in the retail industry, which provides additional real-world management experience to her advice and litigation practice.

• Identifies potential legal issues without compromising business goals. Kelly's prior management experience and thoughtful analytical skills prove invaluable when clients consider pivoting in new directions.
• Defends employers against discrimination and retaliation claims, including lawsuits under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the California Fair Employment Act (FEHA), and other federal and state statutes.
• Protects employers with represented workforces by carefully evaluating collective bargaining agreements (CBA) and implementing strategies under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
• Advises employers with unrepresented workforces on various matters under the NLRA, such as strategies for representation hearings before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and reviewing handbook policies for compliance with the NLRA.

• Preliminarily opposed a writ of mandate before the California Court of Appeals.
• Compelled further discovery with sanctions, which led to plaintiff’s settlement request.
• Overturned a multi-million-dollar jury verdict by requesting judicial notice of jury verdicts with similar facts and evidencing jury bias.
• Successfully predicted a return to an Obama-era bargaining unit test so employers could navigate union campaigns by analyzing dozens of recent NLRB decisions and news releases.
• Established worker’s supervisory status under the NLRA, thereby invalidating the required showing of interest and barring union election.
• Moved for terminating sanctions and monetary sanctions against plaintiff for abuse of California’s discovery statutes.