Melis partners with employers in all aspects of employment law, from aggressive litigation defense to tailored compliance advice to avoid the courtroom. Melis counsels employers on a wide array of topics, including off-the-clock, meal and rest break, expense reimbursement, overtime calculation, Fair Credit Reporting Act, leave of absence, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and retaliation matters.
Melis focuses her practice on wage and hour matters. She has diverted over a dozen class and PAGA representative actions to favorable single-plaintiff settlements. Her other recent successes include:
- Negotiating a complete dismissal for national retailer client in wage-and-hour class action without any client contribution
- As first appearance in a joint-employment action, obtaining an order dismissing national retailer client without leave to amend
- Filing numerous successful motions to dismiss class action claims for unpaid wages, meal and rest periods, FCRA, unfair competition law, and/or derivative penalties without leave to amend
- Negotiating a complete dismissal of international manufacturing client from class action before filing an answer and without any client contribution
- Obtaining numerous orders to stay class actions based on prior-filed claims for manufacturing, logistics, and retailer clients
- Defeating a plaintiff’s motion to certify for interlocutory appeal a federal court’s favorable order dismissing claim for violation of Labor Code section 204.
Melis enjoys providing her clients practical advice. Examples of her counselling services include: conducting comprehensive wage-and-hour audits; designing meal and rest period attestations; developing compliant policies; providing advice to bolster exemption statuses; and writing severance agreements and commission agreements.
Melis also knows how to successfully defend her clients in highly-contentious, single-plaintiff matters. Highlights of recent victories include: successfully moving to dismiss her client from a discrimination and wrongful termination action based on a sovereign immunity defense; filing a successful motion for summary adjudication of age discrimination, disability discrimination, and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims; and negotiating a walk-away deal in a disability discrimination action with no client contribution.
