MCLE Self-Study: TOP EMPLOYMENT LAW CASES OF 2021

By Andrew H. Friedman, Anthony J. Oncidi, & Ramit Mizrahi

Andrew H. Friedman is a founding partner of Helmer Friedman LLP in Beverly Hills, where he (almost) exclusively represents employees in all areas of employment law. Mr. Friedman is the author of a two-volume employment law treatise, Litigating Employment Discrimination Cases (James Publishing 2005-2020). Mr. Friedman served as Counsel of Record in Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage Corp. et. al. 137 S.Ct. 553 (2017), where he successfully persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari. In January 2017, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision authored by Justice Sotomayor, reversed the Ninth Circuit and ruled in favor of Mr. Friedman’s clients. Mr. Friedman’s email address is afriedman@helmerfriedman.com. Anthony J. Oncidi is a partner in and the Chair of the Labor and Employment Department of Proskauer Rose LLP in Los Angeles, where he exclusively represents employers and management in all areas of employment and labor law. His telephone number is (310) 284-5690 and his email address is aoncidi@proskauer.com. Ramit Mizrahi is the founder of Mizrahi Law, APC in Pasadena, where she represents employees exclusively. She is Chair of the Pasadena Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section and Immediate Past Chair of the CLA Labor and Employment Law Section. She can be reached at ramit@mizrahilaw.com.

INTRODUCTION

After 2020’s slight lull, 2021 saw a resumption of what has become the new normal—a deluge of employment decisions, with an average of more than one new opinion each day! Indeed, despite the continuing pandemic, and the slow halting resumption of civil trials, federal and state appellate courts continue to regularly churn out multiple important decisions that directly affect employees and employers.