Rod M. Fliegel has been practicing exclusively in the area of labor and employment law since he graduated from law school in 1993. Rod joined Littler’s San Francisco office in 1997 and was elevated to shareholder in 2001.

Rod has broad subject matter experience and significant expertise in class action defense, the intersection of the federal and state background check laws (e.g., Title VII and the Fair Credit Reporting Act and their state law equivalents), and the intersection of the federal and state disability discrimination and family medical leave laws (e.g., the ADA, FMLA and California Fair Employment & Housing Act).

Rod also has extensive experience defending employers in state, federal and administrative litigation, including matters with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the New York Office of the Attorney General. As the national coordinating counsel for a large nationwide retailer and a large nationwide background check company, Rod handles and oversees civil and administrative matters throughout the country.

Select examples of Rod’s litigation experience include the following:

• Led the Littler defense team in the successful defense of a nationwide retailer in a systemic investigation by the EEOC concerning the retailer’s criminal background program.
• Led the Littler defense team in a sprawling putative California wage and hour class action against a national retailer and prevailed on a motion for summary judgment for the defendant parent company and to dismiss class-wide fraud claims, class-wide restrictive covenant claims, and class-wide claims for injunctive relief under California Business & Professions Code section 17200.  The named plaintiff ultimately accepted a nuisance value settlement to resolve her individual claims.
• Led the Littler defense team in a putative California wage and hour class action against a trucking industry employer.  The named plaintiff ultimately accepted a nuisance value settlement to resolve his individual claims.
• Led a team of Littler attorneys to a seven-figure pre-trial settlement in a vigorously contested trade secret dispute in California state court.
• Defeated proposed class action claims in a federal court lawsuit against a background check company under California’s version of the FCRA.
• Successfully represented a large retailer in an investigation by the FTC concerning the retailer’s compliance with the FCRA.
• Prevailed on an anti-SLAPP motion in a disability discrimination case and used the attorney’s fee award to leverage a dismissal with prejudice.
• Prevailed in state court on a motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit against a background check company under California’s version of the FCRA arising out of a conviction that belonged to the plaintiff’s twin sister.
• Prevailed in federal court on a summary judgment motion in a disability discrimination case brought by a Teamsters-represented union worker.
• Prevailed in a California state court action on a summary judgment motion in a racial discrimination and harassment case.  Successfully defended the judgment on appeal.
• Prevailed in a state court lawsuit on a motion for judgment on the pleadings in a lawsuit against a background check company under California’s version of the FCRA where the plaintiff alleged that the background report illegally reported his status as a registered sexual offender.
• Prevailed in state court on a motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit against a background check company under California’s version of the FCRA arising out of a reporting-error by an independent court researcher.
• Prevailed in a California state court action on a summary judgment motion in a disability discrimination case.  Successfully defended the judgment on appeal. Successfully defeated on summary judgment a follow-on federal court disability discrimination case.
• Successfully defended a summary judgment on appeal in a state court employment dispute brought by a high-level executive in the company’s human resources department.