Photo of Michelle Lappen

Michelle Lappen is an associate in the Labor & Employment Department and a member of the Employment Litigation & Arbitration Group. Her practice addresses a wide range of labor and employment issues, including matters involving alleged discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wage-and-hour issues, whistleblowing and wrongful termination. Michelle has represented clients in a variety of industries, including entertainment, healthcare, financial services, professional services and technology.

Michelle has defended nationwide employers in connection with complex, overlapping wage-and-hour class and representative actions. Michelle also has defended single-plaintiff discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wage-and-hour cases in both arbitration and state and federal courts. Michelle has comprehensive experience in litigation, including propounding and responding to written discovery, defending depositions, drafting dispositive motions and managing preparation for trial. In addition to Michelle’s employment litigation practice, she advises clients on various employment issues, including litigation avoidance, pay data reporting and compliance with federal, state and local laws.

Michelle earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was an articles and submissions editor for the Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts. She also served as a teaching fellow for the Advanced Negotiation Workshop and advocated for state and federal legislation as a clinical student in the Columbia Law Health Justice Advocacy Clinic.

Michelle was selected to be a Protégée for Proskauer’s Women’s Sponsorship Program, an initiative for high-performing, midlevel associates that champions future leaders. She also serves as a member of the Firm’s Summer Program Committee.

As we previously covered here, the State of California and select California cities increased the minimum wage effective January 1, 2023.  Now, another round of minimum wage increases from a dozen localities will take effect on July 1, 2023.

The following list contains the local minimum wage rate, effective July 1, 2023, for non-exempt employees working in each of the California counties and municipalities

As we previously reported (here), California requires private employers of 100 or more employees (with at least one employee in California) to report pay and demographic data to the California Civil Rights Department (“CRD”) (formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing).  Senate Bill 1162 (previously covered here) enhanced California’s reporting requirements by:

  • Changing the deadline to May 10, 2023 for the

On January 13, 2023, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction to stop the controversial Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act or “FAST Recovery Act” (AB 257) from taking effect, pending a vote by California voters.  Previously, on December 30, 2022, the court had issued a temporary restraining order against the new law, which was signed by Gov. Newsom

In the weeks and months since it changed its name from the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to the California Civil Rights Department (“CRD”), the agency has been busy.  Most recently, the CRD released proposed modifications to the regulations under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”) related to the use and consideration of criminal history information in employment decisions—a process that is already

In the continuously evolving whistleblower retaliation standard we previously reported on earlier this year here and here, the Ninth Circuit has now weighed in on California Labor Code section 1102.5 in Killgore v. Specpro Pro. Serv., LLC, No. 21-15897.

In holding that a consultant on an environmental project for the U.S. Army Reserve Command raised a genuine dispute of fact over whether he

As in other sectors of the economy, there is a labor shortage in the funeral industry.  However, unlike other fields in which the demand for workers is outpacing supply, the interest in joining the ranks of the funeral services business is booming.  The American Board of Funeral Service Education (“ABFSE”), the national academic accreditation agency for college and university programs in Funeral Service and

The California Secretary of State announced on July 22, 2022 that a measure to replace the California Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”) qualified as an eligible statewide ballot measure for the November 2024 General Election ballot.  PAGA allows “aggrieved” employees to file a representative action on behalf of themselves and other “aggrieved” employees and the state of California for certain alleged

As covered previously here, the California Chamber of Commerce (“Chamber”) once again has identified a handful of “job killer” bills making their way through the legislative process.  This year’s crop of proposed legislation would, among other things, inflate employer data reporting requirements and further expand the scope of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”).  Several of these recently introduced bills already have passed

A federal court judge pared down last year’s jaw-dropping $137 million damages award against Tesla in a racial bias lawsuit.  As covered previously here, a San Francisco federal court jury awarded $6.9 million in emotional distress damages and $130 million in punitive damages to a Black former elevator operator who worked at Tesla’s Fremont facility for approximately one year before quitting his employment in