Often executives and senior managers and professionals will have concerns that are unique to their high-level positions. These can take any number of forms. In many instances, it may be a negotiation of a proper severance, taking into account trade secrets and purported non-compete provisions in employment contracts.
Are these valid? What is the best strategy for coping? What are the implications for my severance benefit? Are the provisions in my severance standard? Is the severance payment sufficient?
Are you an executive in need of confidential advice? Are you being unfairly retaliated against because you are blowing the whistle on your employer? Call The Rubin Law Corporation at 310-385-0777 or contact us online. We have experience helping high-level executive whistleblowers who want to keep the careers intact while doing the right thing and complying with the law.
Whistleblower retaliation against executives or senior managers
Other situations may be more acute. For example, we have worked on whistleblower cases, where high-level executives or managers (leaders) have refused to go along with unlawful company behavior; or internally blown the whistle on company wrongdoing.
In one memorable case, a plant manager reported a defective boiler that was placing worker lives in jeopardy, but the company was reluctant to take action because the fix would entail a large unbudgeted cost. The executive was fired.
In another case, a quality control manager was reporting an unacceptably high defect rate in medical manufacture devices that the company refused to recognize because of the vast implications for its bottom line.
The whistleblowing executives were understandably concerned about their futures in their industry, and the viability of their careers after word got out about their whistleblowing.
In each instance, we were able to structure a relatively substantial settlement in a brief period of time, after threatening litigation (and in one case developing highly probative evidence in a confidential arbitration). The whistleblowers were able to move on with their settlements and careers intact.
Visit our Center for Employee Rights to learn more.
Discrimination against female executives or senior managers
Female executives will have special problems. We see this all too often.
In one notable case, a high-level executive agreed to a transfer to California within her multinational company. In the event, the position promised to her was not provided. She found herself in a dog fight with other managers and the odd person out in a small clique of men who had been working together for years. She was literally driven out of the workplace on disability.
When she found another, better job, the company wanted to assess her prohibitive sums in a clawback of moving expenses and retention payments. The executive was concerned about losing the go-forward job on account of the ransom being asked.
We were able to effectively develop a counter-strategy that involved suing her company for attempting to enforce non-compete provisions invalid under California law, and for gender harassment and discrimination.
The matter ended within weeks and the executive was able to comfortably move on to her new job with the full support of her new company. We have had a series of other situations as well where high-level players are effectively threatened with demotion solely because they are planning a family and taking maternity leave.
Well-placed and well-timed demand letters can sometimes change the direction of these events, as can litigation if necessary.
Contact a Los Angeles executive labor attorney today
At The Rubin Law Corporation, we regularly deal with executives and leaders in perilous situations in their careers, and we can help you choose the right strategies and make the right decisions.
We have dealt with executives in many kinds of situations, including age discrimination, contract violation, whistleblowing, disability and medical discrimination, sexual harassment and gender discrimination, among others. We look forward to working with you to assist you in making the right decisions that will minimize any risk or damage to your career and maximize benefits you receive.
Today, more and more companies have their employees, including their top-level executives sign arbitration agreements. We review these agreements to determine their validity. In the case of executive leaders, it is sometimes the case that a confidential arbitration will be more desirable than a public courtroom brawl.
We help you each step of the way to walk through these decisions, assessing the pros and cons so that you will be confident of your approach. If you are an executive and need the assistance of a Los Angeles employment attorney who has the experience to represent senior- and director-level employees in California, please contact us online or call 310-385-0777 for immediate assistance.
