When is the need for a proven employer defense attorney in San Diego or throughout California?  It isn’t a matter of “if,” we can tell you that.  The San Diego based employer defense lawyers at the Watkins Firm have four decades of experience serving the San Diego and California business, medical, healthcare, real estate and tech communities.

Key Takeaways When Searching for a Proven Employer Defense Attorney in San Diego or Anywhere in California:

• It isn’t a matter of “if” you will be sued as a California employer, it’s a matter of “when.”
• California is the hardest state in the union in which to be an employer.  California PAGA lawsuits (where employees sue you, the employer and get paid for it), wage and hour and unpaid overtime litigation are at all time highs.
• The best defense is an experienced employment defense attorney from Watkins Firm, and a good “offense” to make sure you take all precautions and preparations necessary to prevent exposure and expensive litigation.

California is the hardest state in the union when it comes to the myriad of laws and regulations piled upon our employers.  Plaintiff’s attorneys aggressively advertise for any employee, current or former, who might have an issue with which to make a wage and hour or PAGA dispute against a San Diego or California Employer.  California Courts usually embrace the legal perspective of the employee based upon federal and California employment laws.  You need a strong, experienced and proven employer defense attorney from Watkins Firm, with almost four decades of experience, to protect your interests, prevent disputes from arising, and ultimately to defend your interests in any dispute, litigation or PAGA lawsuit which might follow.

Employer Defense Begins on Offense

The first line of defense for any San Diego or Southern California employer is a good offense.  Establishing a good foundation is one element of the need for a proven employer defense attorney in San Diego.  The employer defense attorneys at the Watkins Firm work to make sure your employee handbook is overburdened with superfluous information.  This is most often not in your interest as an employer.  We work with our clients to develop and implement a sound employee handbook backed up by proven policies and procedures which reduce the likelihood of an employee-related dispute.

You have questions about every aspect of being an employer.  You will face every strategy in the book for employees to miss work, use a federal or state program such as FMLA or wage and hour laws to issues associated with retaliation as a basis for a potential lawsuit.

The Need for a Proven Employer Defense Attorney in San Diego is Evidenced by Consistent Substantial Changes in Federal and State Law

Look no farther than the significant number of recent changes in California employment laws to establish the need for a proven employer defense attorney in San Diego and throughout California.  Substantial record keeping requirements must be met and ready for on-site inspection at any moment by California agencies.  New laws governing everything from posting of job titles and wage rates based upon classes of employees to the misclassification of independent contractors open the door for an employee related dispute or PAGA action.

It’s not a matter of “if,” it’s a matter of “when.”  It is important for you as an employer to know that there are immediate actions you can take at the outset of any dispute which will reduce, remediate or eliminate your exposure or risk in an employee-related dispute.  This is another reason to work with employer defense attorneys with more than four decades of experience providing sound counsel, advice, insight and representation for San Diego and Southern California employers.

Pro-Tip: “If you really want to lay it out, anything you do that is technically wrong as an employer, well, the state of California has hired or licensed a whole bunch of lawyers out there to be bounty hunters, and instead of funding any regulation and enforcement, our legislature has just said, ‘we can say whatever we want. And there will be a lawyer out there who wants to get attorney’s fees out of an employer and be a bounty hunter to try to catch employers in the tiniest of mistakes and make them pay dearly for it.’

What’s the best word of caution? Pay attention and have a good lawyer. You need an experienced, proven attorney that only represents employers, one that stays up to speed and take those little technical matters seriously, because it doesn’t cost much to be in compliance. It really doesn’t, but it costs so much to get caught. Usually you don’t get caught for a few months and before you know it, you could literally lose hundreds of thousands of dollars for an accounting error or the way you put your paychecks out or your refusal or failure to put up a little sign in your break room. All those little things. There’s some lawyer out there, Mr. Bounty Hunter, looking for you to try to collect five, 10, $15,000 or more in attorneys’ fees for catching you in these tiny mistakes.

Let’s talk about class actions. That’s how you take a mistake on the way somebody drafted someone’s paycheck in the tune of, let’s say $15 a week. When there are multiple employees, that puts you in a class action that costs you $300,000 to $400,000 because of an accounting error, because they went into a class action. Now, had you had certain types of agreements in place, even some kinds of arbitration agreements, (that’s where we’re at now on these laws), you could have cut this off at the start.  Also, had you had an old, experienced employer defense lawyer you could talk to about your procedures or maybe an outside accounting service to review it or a CPA or our HR person, someone you can call if there’s any questions, or your staff can call, then you won’t have this problem. And if you do, then you shut it down right away.

And that leads us to another important point: fast action in any of these matters is the key. Pick up the phone and call us the second that you think something’s going on. Why does that matter? Judges don’t really like these cases, and there’s a lot of technical reasons to throw them out because of the sort of a shady PI lawyer, the person that hangs out in the hospital room. These kind of employment lawyers are starting to be like that. And so if they don’t follow all the rules and you get to court in the first couple of months and you file a motion saying you didn’t give the proper notice, you didn’t state the proper cause of action, judge will throw it out.

Our first question in many of these cases is “How can we help you to remediate the problem?”  Sometimes we literally have them come in and we say, ‘no, no, no, don’t pay us all this money. Pay the extra $3,000 in wages. Send out amended pay stubs before you even have to answer the complaint.’ And guess what? All of the causes of action that have attorney’s fees in them are gone. Nobody wants to see you anymore because of that. So yes, quick action gives your employer defense lawyer at the Watkins Firm the right to do things that just destroy a case in the beginning. We love that!” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

If you even suspect an employment-related dispute is developing you need to pick up the phone immediately and seek an informative, thorough and complimentary consultation with a Watkins Firm proven employer defense attorney in San Diego, regardless of where you may be throughout the State of California.  We invite you to review our podcast Episode 39 – What Keeps Employers Up at Night as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today.

Meet Daniel Watkins:

Daniel W. Watkins is a true people person who sincerely listens. He cares deeply about what others are going through.  Dan enjoys digging into the facts and finding creative solutions to problems.  He contributes his insights candidly and constructively.

Dan’s interest in people make him deeply invested in every relationship and his exuberant personality makes him a true litigator. Dan fights for his clients with a fierce and calculated commitment.

Dan has practiced in the areas of business, medical practices and healthcare business, high tech/science, real estate and employment defense law since 1987. He is a trusted litigation strategist and true trial attorney with over 50 jury and bench trials to his credit. Dan has successfully represented both large companies and individuals and achieved substantial victories in well-publicized trials throughout California and the U.S.

He is experienced in business and corporate formation and administration, as well as all forms of alternative dispute resolution, including binding arbitration and mediation.

THE ROAD TO BECOMING A BUSINESS LAWYER AND LITIGATOR

Dan has almost 40 years of experience working with, for and against some of the largest insurance companies in the country. He has successfully tried and litigated cases in the areas of Healthcare Compliance, Commercial Litigation, Unfair Business Practices, Fraud, Breach of Contract, Battery, Premises Liability, Product Defect, Medical Malpractice, Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Construction Defect, as well as Unfair Competition, Defamation, and Trade Secrets.

In December 2003, Dan commenced litigation against Health South Surgery Centers-West, Inc and its’ subsidiaries, exposing the company’s extensive mismanagement and misconduct of its’ surgery centers. Dan has also been asked by some of California’s largest municipalities and corporations to conduct legally required investigations into matters involving alleged employment discrimination and harassment.