Kristin Rizzo, Esq.

Breach of Contract

• Successfully mediated breach of contract claims involving commissions, severance, and other contractual and business disputes.
• Commission claim asserted by a top-level executive of a national company.
• Pregnancy discrimination dispute involving alleged emotional distress and breach of oral contract.
• Dispute involving the breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

Constructive Discharge

• Successfully mediated various types of constructive discharge claims stemming from harassment, hostile work environment, discrimination, and retaliation matters.

Disability

• Successfully mediated a wide range of disability discrimination claims involving various and medical conditions (including physical and mental disabilities, cancer, alcoholism, HIV) and failure to provide reasonable accommodation and to interact in good faith.
• Disability/ medical condition claim involving alleged failure to accommodate remote work request, lack of good faith interactive process, and failure to pay earned commissions.
• Disability discrimination claim involving alleged failure to accommodate and lack of good faith interactive process during COVID-19 lay-offs.

Discrimination

• Successfully mediated a wide variety of discrimination matters on the basis of age, race, color, sex/ gender, pregnancy/ childbirth/breastfeeding, gender identity/ gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, national orientation, disability, medical condition, from single plaintiff to multi-plaintiff and multi-defendant matters involving complex settlements.
• Pregnancy discrimination dispute involving wrongful termination allegation and work performance defense.
• Multi-defendant gender and sexual orientation harassment and discrimination claim involving alleged intentional infliction of emotional distress.
• Sexual orientation discrimination dispute involving a mutually beneficial joint session with an exchange of perspectives, discussion of impact, and clarity of intentions.

ERISA

• Disputes involving retirement and health plans under Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

Family Leave Act

• Successfully mediated various types of leave of absence and accommodation matters involving the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), and other federal and state leave laws.
• Discrimination and retaliation claim alleging denial of CFRA leave and termination for asserting leave rights.
• Disputes between employees and school districts regarding accommodation.

Hostile Environment

• Successfully mediated various types of hostile work environment/harassment matters on the basis of age, race, color, sex/ gender, gender identity/ gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, and disability.
• National origin harassment, discrimination, and retaliation claim involving alleged high-impact language.
• Hostile environment claims alleging sexual orientation harassment against straight and LQBTQ supervisors.
• Internal workplace disputes, including matters involving alleged bullying, abusive conduct, preferential treatment, and post-investigative disputes between co-workers and/or supervisor and subordinates at every level.
• Co-worker dispute involving the inability to work together at a large institution, yielding an exchange of apologies and written memorandum of understanding for moving forward together productively.
• Facilitated mediation/conciliation sessions involving internal workplace conflicts/disputes between current employees to assist with problem-solving and increased effective communication.

Labor Code

• Successfully mediated a wide range of Labor Code violation claims, including minimum wage and overtime, off-the-clock-time, business expense reimbursement, meal period and rest break, wage statement, and waiting time claims involving small (private companies) to large (national) corporations.

PAGA

• Successfully mediated a wide-range of Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) disputes, including minimum wage and overtime, off-the-clock-time, business expense reimbursement, meal period and rest break, wage statement, and waiting time claims involving small (private companies) to large (national) corporations.

Pregnancy Discrimination

• Successfully mediated various types of pregnancy discrimination matters, often including other claims.
• Pregnancy discrimination and denial of safe work environment claim alleged during COVID-19 pandemic.
• Pregnancy discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claim against public entity involving limited term (contractual) employment.

Retaliation

• Successfully mediated a wide variety of retaliation matters, including FEHA retaliation and whistleblower retaliation.
• Retaliation dispute involving disability-related accommodation and termination claim.
• Retaliation dispute involving reasonable accommodation request, failure to accommodate, and job suspension, resulting in a settlement with job restoration and grant of requested accommodation.

Sexual Harassment

• Successfully mediated a wide variety of sexual harassment matters, from single plaintiff to multi-plaintiff and multi-defendant matters involving complex settlements.
• Multi-plaintiff sexual harassment dispute involving alleged retaliation claims post-reporting.
• Multi-defendant sexual harassment dispute involving allegations of CFRA interference and retaliation and a workplace investigation.
• Sexual orientation harassment and discrimination claim by a bisexual plaintiff against a national company.
• Sexual harassment and sexual assault claim against public entity involving a mutually beneficial joint session with a discussion of impact and significant settlement.

Wage and Hour

• Successfully mediated a wide range of wage and hour claims, including misclassification, minimum wage and overtime, off-the-clock-time, business expense reimbursement, meal period and rest break, wage statement, and waiting time claims involving small (private companies) to large (national) corporations.

Wage and Hour Class Action

• Successfully mediated a wide range of wage-and-hour class action disputes, including misclassification, minimum wage and overtime, off-the-clock-time, business expense reimbursement, meal period and rest break, unfair competition (Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200), wage statement, and waiting time claims involving small (private companies) to large (national) corporations.

Whistleblower Wrongful Term

• Successfully mediated a wide variety of whistleblower retaliation matters.
• Whistleblower retaliation dispute involving wrongful termination claim after questioning the availability and requirement to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE).
• Whistleblower retaliation dispute involving wrongful termination claim after reporting alleged product defects to management.

Wrongful Term Covid-19

• Successfully mediated various types of COVID-19 claims, including but not limited to disability discrimination and/or medical condition discrimination during the pandemic, failure to accommodate remote work requests related to COVID-19, failure to provide PPE and/or reimbursement of expenses related to PPE during the pandemic, failure to accommodate religious beliefs related to the COVID vaccine, and wrongful termination/ pandemic lay-offs.
• Religious discrimination claim by an executive against a national company involving alleged failure to accommodate sincerely held religious belief as exemption to COVID-vaccine mandate.

Wrongful Termination

• Successfully mediated a wide range of wrongful termination claims.
• Wrongful termination dispute involving allegations of pregnancy and gender discrimination claims, progressive discipline, and workplace performance issues.

Medical Malpractice

• Successfully mediated various types of employment, labor, and contract disputes involving physicians and other medical and healthcare professionals and providers.
• Disputes involving allegations of a physician, nursing, and hospital negligence.
• Disputes between physicians and medical providers regarding disciplinary proceedings.
• Disputes between healthcare professionals, employers, and/or medical groups regarding accommodation.

Real Property

• Successfully mediated various types of statutory housing matters involving alleged discrimination/retaliation on the basis of age, race, color, sex/ gender, gender identity/ gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, national orientation, disability, citizenship, marital status/ familial status, and source of income.
• Residential habitability and disability discrimination dispute involving multiple parties and insurance issues.
• Race discrimination dispute between landlord and tenant involving high impact language yielding a monetary settlement and a significant apology.
• Age discrimination dispute between landlord and tenant.

PI Sexual Assault

• Successfully mediated various personal injury matters, including sexual assault/ sexual battery disputes.
• Sexual assault and battery claim against a male superior and company by a female subordinate regarding the inappropriate touching of her breasts and other body parts.