Smith v. Rae-Venter Law Group, 29 Cal. 4th 345 (2002)

Following Timothy L. Smith’s resignation as an associate with the Rae-Venter Law Group (RVLG), he filed a claim with the Labor Commissioner and obtained an award for unpaid vacation pay, some miscellaneous deductions and expense reimbursements and statutory prejudgment interest. Smith also sought but failed to recover an unpaid bonus and waiting-time penalties. Smith appealed the Labor Commissioner’s award to the superior court where he did no better than he had before the Labor Commissioner except that he was awarded $230 more in prejudgment interest on his non-wage claims. Smith unsuccessfully appealed the superior court’s failure to award him waiting-time penalties, and RVLG successfully appealed the court’s denial of its request for attorney’s fees and costs under Labor Code § 98.2(c) on the ground that Smith had been “unsuccessful in the appeal” from the Labor Commissioner’s ruling. The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeal’s judgment denying Smith waiting-time penalties on the ground that there was a good-faith dispute as to whether Smith was owed unpaid compensation. However, the Supreme Court reversed the judgment entered in favor of RVLG. The Court held while the Court of Appeal was correct in determining that Smith had not been successful in his appeal because he had failed to improve on the Labor Commissioner’s award, this rule would be applied only prospectively because Smith had reasonably relied on prior Court of Appeal precedent that was disapproved in this opinion.

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Photo of Tony Oncidi Tony Oncidi

Anthony J. Oncidi is the co-chair of the Labor & Employment Law Department and heads the West Coast Labor & Employment group in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Tony represents employers and management in all aspects of labor relations and employment law, including…

Anthony J. Oncidi is the co-chair of the Labor & Employment Law Department and heads the West Coast Labor & Employment group in the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Tony represents employers and management in all aspects of labor relations and employment law, including litigation and preventive counseling, wage and hour matters, including class actions, wrongful termination, employee discipline, Title VII and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, executive employment contract disputes, sexual harassment training and investigations, workplace violence, drug testing and privacy issues, Sarbanes-Oxley claims and employee raiding and trade secret protection. A substantial portion of Tony’s practice involves the defense of employers in large class actions, employment discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination litigation in state and federal court as well as arbitration proceedings, including FINRA matters.

Tony is recognized as a leading lawyer by such highly respected publications and organizations as the Los Angeles Daily JournalThe Hollywood Reporter, and Chambers USA, which gives him the highest possible rating (“Band 1”) for Labor & Employment.  According to Chambers USA, clients say Tony is “brilliant at what he does… He is even keeled, has a high emotional IQ, is a great legal writer and orator, and never gives up.” Other clients report:  “Tony has an outstanding reputation” and he is “smart, cost effective and appropriately aggressive.” Tony is hailed as “outstanding,” particularly for his “ability to merge top-shelf lawyerly advice with pragmatic business acumen.” He is highly respected in the industry, with other commentators lauding him as a “phenomenal strategist” and “one of the top employment litigators in the country.”

“Tony is the author of the treatise titled Employment Discrimination Depositions (Juris Pub’g 2020; www.jurispub.com), co-author of Proskauer on Privacy (PLI 2020), and, since 1990, has been a regular columnist for the official publication of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of California and the Los Angeles Daily Journal.

Tony has been a featured guest on Fox 11 News and CBS News in Los Angeles. He has been interviewed and quoted by leading national media outlets such as The National Law JournalBloomberg News, The New York Times, and Newsweek and Time magazines. Tony is a frequent speaker on employment law topics for large and small groups of employers and their counsel, including the Society for Human Resource Management (“SHRM”), PIHRA, the National CLE Conference, National Business Institute, the Employment Round Table of Southern California (Board Member), the Council on Education in Management, the Institute for Corporate Counsel, the State Bar of California, the California Continuing Education of the Bar Program and the Los Angeles and Beverly Hills Bar Associations. He has testified as an expert witness regarding wage and hour issues as well as the California Fair Employment and Housing Act and has served as a faculty member of the National Employment Law Institute. He has served as an arbitrator in an employment discrimination matter.

Tony is an appointed Hearing Examiner for the Los Angeles Police Commission Board of Rights and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law and a guest lecturer at USC Law School and a guest lecturer at UCLA Law School.