Services
The Law Office of John C. Fox, P.C. specializes in all areas of employment law, helping businesses of all sizes navigate a complex legal system. I have successfully defended lawsuits in federal, state, and administrative courts around the country. In addition to being trial-ready, I am skilled in the arena of private arbitration. I strive towards a successful and early resolution and have a proven ability to limit the claims and disputes at issue.
I also know how to help you steer clear of costly and unpredictable litigation. I provide strategic counseling and proactive training to help you prevent or lower corporate risk.
Click on a link below for more detail regarding my services.
Discrimination and Harassment ClaimsBusinesses of any size find it a challenge to keep up with the most recent shifts in discrimination and harassment laws. Every year, courts and administrative agencies reinterpret and redefine employment laws that impact your personnel. We help you stay current. Among others, we defend claims arising under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, as well as the analogous state laws, such as California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act.
My expertise in discrimination and harassment lawsuits extends from the Bay Area to throughout the nation. I have the distinction of having defended two of the largest disability discrimination lawsuits ever filed; one involving 997 consolidated individual disability discrimination lawsuits, and the other involving claimed damages and remedies exceeding $3 billion- the largest civil case ever tried in the federal courts in Idaho.
As a recognized authority in discrimination and federal contracting law, I also maintain a national practice on behalf of employers in the federal contracting arena.
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Terminating an employee is one of the least agreeable aspects of doing business. The only thing more painful, disruptive and costly is being faced with wrongful termination and/or retaliation claims. I have a successful track record of helping companies dispose of these claims before they go to trial. During deposition, I concentrate on establishing the existence of an intervening basis for termination. Our goal is to reach a successful resolution that spares clients the wasted time, resources, and stress of litigation.
This is an area of the law where prevention is often the most efficient course. As your employment law advisors, I will guide you through the termination process and point out the steps to take to reduce the risk of retaliation lawsuits, including:
- documenting performance issues
- properly and timely investigating complaints
- drafting severance agreements and releases of claims
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Decades of experience in wage and hour disputes have streamlined my defense efforts so that your business receives the maximum protection at the most reasonable cost. I tried the first wage-hour class action ever taken through full trial. As a designated CLE provider, I trained many of California's lawyers about wage-hour law. I have been lead council in over three dozen wage-hour class action casses in the courts.
- Missed Meal and Rest Breaks
- Unpaid Overtime and Overtime Exemptions
- Recordkeeping Obligations
- Minimum Wage Requirements
- Misclassification of Independent Contractors
- Contract Claims for Commissions and Wages
- Expert Witness
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When it comes to class action lawsuits, I understand that what works for the Fortune 100 employer may not suit a smaller employer. I deliver an efficient and cost-effective defense, customized to suit each client’s unique needs. For larger companies with in-house resources, I serve as an extension of the in-house team. For clients without in-house legal departments, I assume the role of an in-house attorney by gaining first-hand knowledge of my client’s business.
For businesses of all sizes, I bring decades of experience handling various types of class and collective actions under both federal and state laws, including defending:
- Government Contractor Litigation in the Administrative and Federal Courts (13 of 13 Wins)
- Race Discrimination Claims
- Wage-Hour Class Actions
- Overtime and Unpaid Commission Claims
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One of the biggest issues employers face in today’s marketplace is the constant mobility of their workforces. The only way to ensure your competitive advantage is by protecting your business’s trade secrets and strategies. I work proactively to help you establish the procedures and guidelines that will guard your trade secrets, as well as protect you from competitor claims of poaching or misappropriation.
I will also help you draft necessary agreements, such as:
- confidentiality agreements
- work for hire agreements
- severance agreements
- non-solicitation agreements
- and non-compete agreements (when permitted)
When litigation is necessary, I move quickly to protect your interests, handling the technological issues unique to trade secret law, from working with forensic digital technicians to determine if data/documents have been stolen, to e-discovery issues, to protecting against leaks of sensitive information.
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Litigation can be costly and time consuming. Consequently, more and more employers are opting to use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) where appropriate to do so. From arbitration to mediation, I can guide employers through the ADR process to a successful resolution of the case. I also advise companies about drafting ADR agreements, including those that limit class actions.
I conduct formal training sessions to help prepare you for mediation, including a detailed presentation regarding what to expect throughout the mediation process and how to “outfox” the mediator.
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One of the most frequent and most complex HR issues companies now face is employee leaves of absence. I regularly advise employers on the myriad of intersecting state and federal statutes, including the FMLA, ADA, CFRA, USERRA, and California FEHA. I also defend businesses in both administrative forums and in the courts.
We are able to help you with issues such as:
- Maternity leave
- Medical leaves of absence
- Intermittent leaves of absence
- Reasonable accommodation under the ADA
- Drafting appropriate policies
- Leave forms
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If any of your employees complain of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, California state law requires the company to undertake a prompt and impartial investigation. I have extensive experience interviewing reluctant witnesses, obtaining key evidence, and assessing the credibility of the witnesses involved.
My internal investigations determine:
- Whether any wrongdoing occurred
- The company’s potential liability, if any
- How to best remedy the situation
- How to minimize the risk of a lawsuit
Throughout the process, I strive to ensure that the investigation is done as confidentially as possible and with the least amount interruption possible to your business.
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I helped design and launch the first federal investigations of sexual harrassment in the workplace while helping to run OFCCP, coming on the heels of the publication of the first federal "Sexual Harrassment Guidelines".
California law mandates that all California employers with 50 or more employees create an anti-harassment policy and regularly provide sexual harassment training to their California managers and supervisors. Providing sexual harassment training is not only required by California law, it is also crucial to limiting potentially costly awards in sexual harassment cases. I have much experience drafting anti-harassment policies and delivering effective and compliant sexual harassment training sessions for both small and large companies. I tailor my seminars to the specific needs of my clients, and am able to perform training sessions either in person, or via a web-based seminar.
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Whether you have existing handbooks and policies in need of review, or need new ones drafted, I can customize material to suit the legal needs of both small and large employers. I can draft a variety of employment contracts such as:
- Employment Agreements
- Severance Agreements
- Confidentiality Agreements
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Agreements Settlement and Release Agreements
- Work-For-Hire Agreements
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John has been sought out as an expert witness in high-profile cases including the celebrated Walt Disney Company Shareholder Derivative lawsuit tried in the Chancery Court in Georgetown, Delaware before the Chief Judge of the Chancery Court. Legal pundits have often described the case as the most important matter tried in 2005. John was the anchor witness after a 6-month trial. Each Member of the Board of Directors of the Walt Disney Company, and The Walt Disney Company, designated John as its California Employment Law Expert Witness. The Court so certified him. After cross-examination by 22 lawyers representing the Plaintiff Shareholders, the Judge subsequently credited in his 170+ page written opinion John’s trial testimony and his several hundred page Expert Witness Report in unexpectedly handing the win to Disney. The Judge’s case decision set down the modern rules of Corporate Governance for the approximately 85% of all major U.S. companies that are incorporated in Delaware.
John was also the Expert Witness for Plaintiff Shareholders in their challenge to a novel poison pill Yahoo adopted to attempt to thwart a hostile takeover. John’s Expert Witness Report caused Yahoo to thereafter rescind its poison pill.
John has also been called upon to offer Expert Reports in a wide variety of individual and class-action employment cases, including trade secret cases, arising around the country, but primarily in California.
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John was a co-author of the first book in the country (1977) titled “Strikes, Picketing and Boycotts”. John cut his teeth in traditional labor law and dealt with the usual bread and butter issues of traditional labor relations. These issues included defending against union organizing drives, leading employee education campaigns, strikes, picketing and boycotts, and defense of grievances arising under various collective bargaining agreements primarily in the transportation, automobile production, and manufacturing industries. John drafted and won an injunction in the 1977 nationwide dock strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association forcing northern California longshoremen to honor their contract to work the ports in the San Francisco area and to uniquely load and unload Sea-Land ships when all other marine transport company ships remained moribund and moored in port and unable to unload or load.
More recently, John has spent increasing amounts of time within his traditional labor law docket negotiating collectively bargained contracts for various clients involving a variety of different unions, but increasingly with bargaining units either the Laborers International Union or the SEIU represents.
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