Maria Rodriguez is a Labor and Employment partner in the firm's Los Angeles office.
Ms. Rodriguez counsels domestic and foreign corporations in all areas of employment law compliance. She has extensive litigation defense experience, but ultimately prides herself on helping clients resolve disputes through proactive planning.
Understanding the needs of clients and the complexities involved in doing business in California, across the United States and with formalizing policies across jurisdictions that are manageable, compliant and consistent, she has worked with companies based in the UK, Sweden, Norway, France, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Chile, China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea, in compliance efforts and in the defense of litigation.
Ms. Rodriguez's litigation practice consists predominately of employment class action defense, including wage-hour, discrimination, WARN and seating class actions and multiple plaintiff cases. She has defeated class certification in numerous cases, including defeating appeals at the California Court of Appeals.
Single and multiple plaintiff cases include sexual harassment, wrongful termination, discrimination, breach of employment contract, unlawful business practices, non-solicitation, trade secrets and other employment-related cases. Ms. Rodriguez has achieved victories for her clients by way of early motions to dismiss, summary judgment and leveraging cases early to produce nuisance value resolutions. At trial, Ms. Rodriguez has produced wins in multiple-plaintiff wage-hour, retaliation, discrimination and wrongful termination cases and achieved a defense verdict in a high-profile, eight-week jury trial involving UNRUH civil rights claims brought by 26 plaintiffs against eight defendants.
Ms. Rodriguez also defends employers in proceedings before the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, the California Labor Commissioner, the US Department of Labor, the Department of Justice and city and state government agencies that enforce employment laws.
Although Ms. Rodriguez works with employers across all industries, she has particularly extensive experience with clients in the media, technology, sports and entertainment, food and restaurant, airline, transportation and distribution, health care, and fashion industries. Being fluent in Spanish also allows her to provide additional service to clients based or doing business in Spanish-speaking countries.Honors and Awards
In January 2010, the Daily Journal profiled Ms. Rodriguez in its “Top 20 Under 40” series for her work in labor and employment litigation. Ms. Rodriguez was also honored in 2006 as a Woman of Achievement by the Century City Chamber of Commerce. She has been recognized as a Southern California Super Lawyer Rising Star from 2005 through present. In addition, she was nominated by the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2009 as a Women Making a Difference Rising Star.
Admissions
Memberships
- Los Angeles County Bar's Labor and Employment Law Section – Executive Committee
- Cuban-American Bar Association – former President
- Women's Sports Foundation – Benefits Committee
Civic and Charitable
- Board of Directors for CAN-Do, a non-profit dedicated to bringing relief to disaster victims