Photo of Sehreen Ladak

Sehreen Ladak is an associate in the Labor & Employment Department. She represents clients in a wide range of employment matters, including state and federal litigation, arbitration, and class actions on wage and hour, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. Sehreen has experience managing every aspect of litigation, including taking and defending depositions, arguing discovery and dispositive motions, and leading trials and labor arbitrations.

Sehreen also advises clients on various employment issues, including wage and hour compliance, onboarding procedures, employment and separation agreements, handbooks, and workplace accommodations.

In addition, Sehreen has experience in evaluating labor and employment issues in connection with corporate transactions and partners with her colleagues in corporate and executive benefits departments to provide the highest level of service. She also regularly leads employee trainings on workplace conduct and has been published in trade journals on a variety of employment law topics.

Sehreen’s clients come from a broad spectrum of industries, such as transportation, entertainment, healthcare, financial services, and retail. She leverages her experience to provide highly efficient, yet thoughtfully bespoke solutions to address her clients’ unique needs.

During law school at USC, Sehreen was the Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice’sExecutive Submissions Editor and served as a judicial extern for an administrative judge at the E.E.O.C.

Sehreen was selected to be a Protégée for Proskauer’s Women Sponsorship Program, an initiative for high performing midlevel lawyers that champions emerging leaders. She also serves as a member of the Firm’s Associate Council and Asian Lawyer Affinity Group.

It just wouldn’t be Fall without the passage of a flurry of new laws, shaking up the employment landscape in California.  As of the close of the legislative session on August 31, several “job killer” bills (so called by the California Chamber of Commerce as reported here and here) passed the state legislature and are awaiting action by Governor Gavin Newsom.

While Governor Newsom

Amid a recent surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates in Los Angeles, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (“AMPTP”) announced an extension of and modifications to the existing Return-to-Work Agreement between the Directors Guild of America, the AMPTP, IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, and other industry stakeholders.  The prior iteration of the Agreement had been set to expire on July 15, 2022.

Initially implemented in

As we reported here, earlier this year, the California Supreme Court confirmed a relaxed standard by which employees can prove whistleblower retaliation under Labor Code section 1102.5 in Lawson v. PPG Architectural Finishes, Inc., 12 Cal. 5th 703 (2022).  Despite the newly affirmed and extremely high burden for employers to prevail against Section 1102.5 claims on summary judgment, the Third District Court of

Pablo Neruda once said “you can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.”  Likewise, California businesses’ protests against oppressive employment legislation don’t seem to stem the tide of the Legislature’s latest batch of anti-employer bills.

The California Chamber of Commerce has just identified a host of recently introduced “Job Killer” Bills pending before the California Legislature.  This year’s list includes

In recent years, countries such as Iceland and Belgium and some domestic companies have experimented with the concept of four-day workweeks.  Now, a new bill proposed by California Assemblymembers Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) and Evan Low (D-San Jose), Assembly Bill 2932 (“AB 2932”), proposes to make a four-day workweek the new normal in California for non-exempt employees.

Under existing law, both California’s Labor Code

Despite California’s general hostility towards post-termination restrictive covenants, the California Court of Appeal, in a recently published opinion, Blue Mountain Enters., LLC v. Owen, 74 Cal.App.5th 537 (1st Dist. Jan. 10, 2022), affirmed that a post-termination customer non-solicitation agreement was enforceable under California Business & Professions Code § 16601.

Under most circumstances, contractual provisions that prevent a person from engaging in a profession, trade,

The California Court of Appeal has definitively resolved an issue that was until now somewhat ambiguous:  Can volunteers in fact volunteer their time for nonprofit organizations without receiving pay or other forms of compensation?  The answer is YES.  Woods v. American Film Institute, Case No. B307220 (Cal. Ct. App. Dec. 17, 2021).

Laurie Woods worked for four days as a volunteer at the American

As the 2021 legislative season came to a close, Governor Gavin Newsom signed numerous bills into law. From arbitration to workplace safety, these laws will impact employers across the state.  We have summarized the most important ones for you here:

Arbitration

Arbitration fees will now need to be paid upon receipt of invoice unless the arbitration agreement expressly establishes a payment schedule. The new law