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Northern California
Super Lawyer 2007-2011

Home » Attorneys » Jeffrey A. Snyder

Jeffrey A. Snyder – Shareholder

Biography

Jeff has been with the Firm since 1990, and a shareholder since 1997. As head of the Firm's Employment Law team and a member of the Litigation Group, Jeff represents companies and executives in employment litigation, administrative board actions, workplace investigations and mediations. Jeff also serves as the Firm’s General Counsel. His practice involves risk management and litigation avoidance while advising companies in their daily operations, focusing on human resources counseling, sexual harassment and discrimination claims, wage & hour and compensation disputes, severance pay issues and terminations. Jeff also handles cases involving intellectual property rights (trade secrets), non-competes, employment contract disputes, and related insurance coverage issues. He has appeared many times in the California and federal courts, EEOC, DFEH and the Department of Labor's Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE). He has been named a Northern California Super Lawyer in Employment and Labor (www.SuperLawyers.com).

Representative Matters:

Defense of companies and their executives before the California Superior Court and Federal District Courts, EEOC, Department of Fair Employment & Housing (DFEH) in cases of alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, race, gender, national origin and age discrimination;
Negotiation on behalf of companies and high-level executives of employment agreements, separation and release agreements, and complex equity and severance pay packages;
Investigation of sexual harassment and other sensitive and confidential workplace issues;
Risk management and preventative counseling, including development of employee handbooks and policies (including equal employment opportunity and sexual harassment policies, arbitration programs, and privacy and information technology policies);
Insurance coverage disputes involving employment practices (EPLI) and intellectual property coverage, and Directors & Officers (D&O) coverage for insured companies and executives;
Jury trial of fraud case in Superior Court, involving lost profits in golf course development venture;
Defense of companies in court and administrative proceedings before the California Labor Department, in wage & hour cases (including exempt/non-exempt issues, failure to pay overtime or provide meal and rest breaks, vacation, wage and penalty issues).

Articles & Publications

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Wage Theft Notice - Required For All Private Employers
(PDF) (HTML)
Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2011!
(PDF) (HTML)
California Commission Plans Must be in Writing
(PDF) (HTML)
Duty to Accommodate the Permanently-Disabled Worker
(PDF) (HTML)
New Case-law on the Exempt Professional Employee in California
(PDF) (HTML)
Termination Dos and Don'ts
(PDF) (HTML)
Time to Reconsider the Class Action Waiver in Employment Arbitration Agreements
(PDF) (HTML)
U.S. Supreme Court Expands Reach of Retaliation Protection
(PDF) (HTML)
Unemployment and Misconceptions
(PDF) (HTML)
Court Rules That Meal and Rest Break Penalties Cannot be "Stacked"
(PDF) (HTML)
E-mails Between Client and Attorney Are Not Privileged Communications When Sent on Employee's Work E-mail Account
(PDF) (HTML)
2010 Employment Case Highlights
(PDF) (HTML)
Facebook Post Leads to Firing that may Violate Employee's Free Speech Rights
(PDF) (HTML)
Employment Arbitration Agreements – New Guidance
(PDF) (HTML)
Household Employees and Labor Law – Traps for the Unwary
(PDF) (HTML)
California Courts Expand Wrongful Termination Law – Again
(PDF) (HTML)
Unpaid Interns – The Legal Test
(PDF) (HTML)
U.S. Department of Labor Expands Family Leave
(PDF) (HTML)
Misclassified Independent Contractors Still Pose a Big Risk for Employers
(PDF) (HTML)
Employment Arbitration is Dealt a Heavy Blow by the California Supreme Court
(PDF) (HTML)
Employment Law Risk Avoidance (Part II)
(PDF) (HTML)
Employment Law Risk Avoidance (Part I)
(PDF) (HTML)
Prevailing Employee Loses $870,000 in Attorneys’ Fees
(PDF) (HTML)
Employment Agencies and Joint Employer Liability for Unpaid Wages
(PDF) (HTML)
GINA - A New Employment Law Based on Discrimination in Genetics
(PDF) (HTML)
Hidden Cameras in the Workplace?
(PDF) (HTML)
Good, Bad and Ugly: Three Recent Developments in Employment Law
(PDF) (HTML)
Best Practices for Preventing Inadvertent Discrimination Against Employees with Caregiving Responsibilities
(PDF) (HTML)
Managing Risk in a Down Economy Through Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI)
(PDF) (HTML)
I SHALL BE RELEASED ... FULLY
(PDF) (HTML)
Payroll Reductions and Alternatives to Layoffs
(PDF) (HTML)
Employee Termination Meetings — Doing it Right
(PDF) (HTML)
America's New Economic Stimulus Bill Includes Changes to COBRA
(PDF) (HTML)
Important Trends in Federal Employment Law
(PDF) (HTML)
2009 Employment Law Update
(PDF) (HTML)

Education

University of San Diego School Of Law
J.D. 1990
Cum laude
Law clerk to Justice Gilbert Nares at the California Court of Appeal
University of California at San Diego
B.A. 1986 (Economics)

Community

Palo Alto Area Bar Association - Former President
Friends of the Palo Alto Junior Museum & Zoo - Former Member, Board of Directors

Professional ACTIVITIES

Author of First Wednesday, a monthly e-mail bulletin devoted to employment law and risk management issues
Special contributor to The Recorder and Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal

Speaking Engagements

Frequent speaker to companies and their managers concerning the prevention of harassment, discrimination and retaliation in the workplace
Developed a compliance course for the newly-required AB 1825 sexual harassment training for managers and supervisors
Conducts "best practices" seminars for executives and front-line managers.

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