Cathleen S. Yonahara

About Cathleen's Practice

Cathleen S. Yonahara received her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law in 1999. She concentrates her practice on labor and employment law, including Title VII, FEHA, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, CFRA, and the California Labor Code. Cathleen has represented clients before federal and state courts, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the California Department of Fair Employment Housing, the California Labor Commissioner and other government agencies. Her employment litigation practice includes claims of discrimination, harassment, failure to accommodate, retaliation, wrongful termination, unfair competition, wage and hour violations, and breach of contract. Cathleen's practice also includes counseling clients on all aspects of the employment relationship from hiring to termination. She advises clients with respect to employment and severance agreements, confidentiality agreements, independent contractor agreements, personnel policies and employee handbooks, and internal investigations. Cathleen is an experienced speaker on labor and employment law matters, such as complying with California employment laws, preventing sexual harassment, legally managing leaves of absences, and wage and hour compliance. She is Assistant Editor of the California Employment Law Letter.

Education

• University of California, Hastings College of Law, J.D., 1999

Major Publications & Speaking Engagements

• Assistant Editor, California Employment Law Letter
• Quoted, "Employers Watching Bill Aimed at Easing PPP Loan Forgiveness Rules," HR Daily Advisor, June 2, 2020
• Author, "California Law on Lactation Accommodation Takes Effect in January," California Employment Law Letter, October 28, 2019, and HR Daily Advisor, December 18, 2019
• Quoted, "California Employers Get More Time to Comply With New Harassment Training Law," HR Daily Advisor, September 5, 2019
• Author, "How to comply with conflicting certification requirements under FMLA and CFRA," California Employment Law Letter, March 11, 2019, and HR Daily Advisor, September 5, 2019
• Author, "Appellate court upholds $500,000 jury verdict for disability harassment," California Employment Law Letter, July 24, 2018, and HR Daily Advisor, August 20, 2018
• Author, "San Francisco Ban on Pay History Questions to Take Effect July 1," HR Daily Advisor, June 4, 2018
• Author, "California court: Employer may be liable for sexual harassment by nonemployee," California Employment Law Letter, November 7, 2017, and HR Daily Advisor, December 5, 2017
• Author, "California court: Some of employee's claims must go to arbitration," California Employment Law Letter, August 10, 2017, and HR Daily Advisor, September 26, 2017
• Author, "Oh joy! Guest worker case answers tricky wage and hour questions," California Employment Law Letter, July 16, 2017, and HR Daily Advisor, August 9, 2017
• Author, "Commissioned California employees entitled to separate pay for rest periods," California Employment Law Letter, March 9, 2017, and HR Daily Advisor, April 11, 2017
• Author, "Employment contract interference: Apple bites off more than it can chew," California Employment Law Letter, July 28, 2016, and HR.BLR.com, August 16, 2016
• Author, "Sexual harassment: Do California employers have to pay defense costs for accused employee?" California Employment Law Letter, May 26, 2016, and HR.BLR.com, June 21, 2016
• Author, "Disabilities: California court goes where no one has gone before," California Employment Law Letter, April 25, 2016, and HR.BLR.com, May 17, 2016
• Author, "Third time is not the charm for California school district," California Employment Law Letter, February 4, 2016, and HR.BLR.com, March 15, 2016
• Author, "Sexual harassment: California jury awards employee over $1 million in retaliation suit," California Employment Law Letter, January 1, 2016, and HR.BLR.com, February 16, 2016
• Author, "California court shows proper way to calculate overtime on flat-rate bonus," California Employment Law Letter, January 21, 2016, and HR.BLR.com, February 1, 2016
• Author, "California employee injured on the job sues for wrongful termination," California Employment Law Letter, December 2015, and HR.BLR.com, January 26, 2016
• Author, "Can California employer terminate employee for DUI arrest?" California Employment Law Letter, December 10, 2015, and HR.BLR.com, January 5, 2016
• Author, "California employee fired for reporting theft of her wedding ring," California Employment Law Letter, October 1, 2015, and HR.BLR.com, November 10, 2015
• Author, "California: Who decides whether a dispute should be arbitrated?" California Employment Law Letter, September 7, 2015, and HR.BLR.com, October 13, 2015
• Quoted, "California getting tough law on gender wage gap," Human Resources News, October 7, 2015
• Author, "California truck drivers misclassified as independent contractors," California Employment Law Letter, August 10, 2015, and HR.BLR.com, September 1, 2015
• Author, "Wage and hour: These shoes were made for walking ... off with my paycheck," California Employment Law Letter, July 13, 2015, and HR.BLR.com, August 18, 2015
• Author, "California employees' privacy interest trumps request for personal information," California Employment Law Letter," May 26, 2015, and HR.BLR.com, June 17, 2015
• Author, "Discrimination: California court determines when employer can recover lawsuit costs," California Employment Law Letter, May 11, 2015, and HR.BLR.com, June 2, 2015
• Author, "Disabilities: California jury awards $1.9 million to bus driver fired for excessive absences," California Employment Law Letter, May 2015, and HR.BLR.com, May 18, 2015
• Author, "California Supreme Court: Employer must pay for on-call and sleep time," California Employment Law Letter, January 26, 2015, and HR.BLR.com, February 19, 2015
• Author, "Reassigning vacant teacher to vacant position is elementary, my dear," California Employment Law Letter, January 14, 2015, and HR.BLR.com, February 12, 2015
• Author, "Perception is reality when it comes to disabilities," California Employment Law Letter, April 2014, and Diversity Insight, July 20, 2014