March 3, 2015- Law & Politics Magazine and the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine have selected Gregory D. Helmer and Andrew H. Friedman as 2015 Southern California “Super Lawyers” in the category of Labor and Employment Law. This is the ninth consecutive year that both Mr. Friedman and Mr. Helmer have been selected as “Super Lawyers.”
Courtney Abrams has been selected as a “Rising Star” for the second year in a row.
January 26, 2015 – If you want to learn about the good, the bad, and the ugly employment law cases of 2014, you really need to attend the Employment Law Update sponsored by the Labor & Employment Law Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association on January 26, 2015 featuring Helmer Friedman LLP partner Andrew H. Friedman. Mr. Friedman will be speaking with The Honorable Judge Virginia Keeny of the Los Angeles Superior Court and Anthony J. Oncidi of Proskauer Rose LLP. Space is limited and individuals interested in attending are strongly urged to register now! For more information and to register, go to https://bhba.org/index.php/component/jevents/icalrepeat.detail/2015/01/26/679/-/126-employment-law-update-the-best-and-the-worst-of-2014.
June 12, 2014 – Helmer Friedman LLP is proud to announce that the Super Lawyers attorney rating service has selected Courtney Abrams as a 2014 Southern California “Rising Star” in the category of Employment Litigation — Plaintiff.
June 11, 2014 – Andrew H. Friedman will be speaking at the State Bar of California’s California Solo & Small Firm Summit on Saturday, June 21, 2014 from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa. Mr. Friedman will be presenting “The Year In Review: An Overview of Recent Employment Law Cases” along with Anthony J. Oncidi of Proskauer Rose. The State Bar of California has described the presentation as follows: “A distinguished defense employment attorney, Anthony J. Oncidi, and a prominent plaintiff employment lawyer, Andrew H. Friedman, will reprise their annual update on the latest and greatest employment law cases highlighting those cases that are of most importance to the employment practitioner whether plaintiff, defense or neutral.” For more information about this presentation and/or to register for the The State Bar of California’s California Solo & Small Firm Summit, please go to http://sections.calbar.ca.gov/SoloSummit.aspx.
May 21, 2014 – Andrew H. Friedman, prominent plaintiff-side employment attorney, and well known defense-side employment attorney, Anthony J. Oncidi, as well as distinguished retired judge/mediator, Hon. Michael D. Marcus, will reveal their best strategies and tactics (along with a few tricks) for successfully resolving employment lawsuits. The panelists also will address common ethical pitfalls in mediation that can befall the unwary. Dinner program will be held on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, 6pm to 7:30pm at Beverly Hills Bar Association Center. Register Now!
January 31, 2014 – Andrew H. Friedman and Tony Oncidi (of Proskauer Rose LLP) will take their annual employment law update on the road for the Santa Clara County Bar Association on Tuesday, January 31, 2014.
January 23, 2014 – Law & Politics Magazine and the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine have selected Gregory D. Helmer and Andrew H. Friedman as 2014 Southern California “Super Lawyers” in the category of Labor and Employment Law. This is the eight consecutive year that both Mr. Friedman and Mr. Helmer have been selected as “Super Lawyers.”
October 2, 2013 – Andrew H. Friedman to appear from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. this evening on Your Legal Rights hosted by Chuck Finney on KALW San Francisco Public Radio at 91.7 on the FM dial. Listen to a recording of the program here.
April 18, 2012 – Today, a former employee of Computer Sciences Corporation (“CSC”) filed a gender discrimination and harassment lawsuit against CSC. The Complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court (Case No. BC482993), alleges that CSC, a multi-billion dollar company that provides information technology and business services to companies throughout the world, routinely paid women less than men and denied them higher-paying and more prestigious positions. According to the Complaint, CSC has a practice of retaliating against women who complain by demoting or removing them from their positions, withholding their pay, and/or firing them.
Unfortunately, the glass ceiling really does exist at many companies. Hopefully, lawsuits like this one will shatter that ceiling and enable women to reach the same levels in corporate America occupied by men.
The plaintiff, Anne Roeser, was a high-level executive at CSC who, according to the Complaint, was subjected to pervasive gender discrimination and harassment by some of the Company’s Indian male executives who did not want to work with women and who openly stated that women should stay at home, take care of their husbands and raise their children. These Indian male executives, the Complaint alleges, were openly hostile to women, they made sexist and derogatory remarks about women (calling them “girl,” “blonde,” and “white woman”), and they demeaned the jobs held by women (saying, for example, that one high-level female executive’s job was merely to take clients out to lunch and go shopping with them), they refused to communicate with women about substantive work-related issues, and they behaved toward women in an aggressive, condescending and intimidating manner.
According to the Complaint, when Ms. Roeser complained about the gender discrimination and harassment and the illegal conduct in which some of these executives were involved, she was demoted, denied earned wages, otherwise retaliated against, and told to stop complaining. When she continued to complain, she was fired. The Complaint alleges that, among other illegal conduct, Ms. Roeser complained that the Company’s off-shore Indian employees engaged in over 6,000 instances of illegally accessing the private health and financial information of the patients of one of the Company’s largest health care clients in violation of HIPAA, the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, and the privacy rights of these patients.
Commenting about these allegations, Ms. Roeser’s attorney, Andrew H. Friedman of Helmer Friedman, LLP, said, “Unfortunately, the glass ceiling really does exist at many companies. Hopefully, lawsuits like this one will shatter that ceiling and enable women to reach the same levels in corporate America occupied by men.”
Ms. Roeser’s other attorney, Michael D. Seplow of Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris, Hoffman & Harrison, LLP, commented, “At a time when our nation is debating the role of women in the workplace and the issue of gender equality, Ms. Roeser’s lawsuit addresses the challenges faced by women employees, including the biases and stereotypes that exist in many companies.”
For a PDF copy of Ms. Roeser’s Complaint, click here
For additional information or to report unlawful conduct on the part of CSC, contact:
Andrew H. Friedman (afriedman@helmerfriedman.com)
Helmer * Friedman, LLP, (310) 396-7714
(www.helmerfriedman.com)
Michael D. Seplow (mseplow@gmail.com)
Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris Hoffman & Harrison, LLP (310) 396-0731
