Employment Defense Litigation Associate

Distinct | North America; California; Remote; USD 185,000 - 235,000; Full time

Job summary

Distinct | North America is seeking an Employment Defense Litigation Associate for a fully remote role focused on Orange County matters. The position involves defending employers nationwide, handling PAGA notices, wage/hour disputes, and single-employee discrimination claims, with opportunities to conduct depositions and support both written and oral advocacy.

Applicants should be licensed to practice in California and comfortable running files independently for clients, including managed

Responsibilities

• PAGA notices and the representative actions behind them, manageability fights included.
• Wage and hour claims, some in state court and some removed to federal.
• Discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims brought by one employee.
• Written discovery, motions to compel and opposing them.
• Depositions, yours to take and yours to defend.
• Policy and handbook advice for employers before anyone has a lawyer.

Job description

Employment Defense Litigation Associate | Fully Remote, Orange County | $185,000 to $235,000

Being the one employment lawyer at a firm that mostly does something else wears thin around the third time a partner asks you what PAGA stands for.

This firm defends employers and that's all it does, all over the country. The partner reviewing your brief has written dozens like it, the associate on the next Teams call knows what a manageability argument looks like, and when a client with a California problem turns out to have the same problem in Georgia, somebody else in the firm picks up Georgia.

The seat sits on Orange County matters and you'd do it from home. It's representative actions and single plaintiff cases side by side, plus the calls from employers who want to know if they're about to be sued.

Your cases:

• PAGA notices and the representative actions behind them, manageability fights included
• Wage and hour claims, some in state court and some removed to federal
• Discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims brought by one employee
• Written discovery, motions to compel and opposing them
• Depositions, yours to take and yours to defend
• Policy and handbook advice for employers before anyone has a lawyer

It pays $185,000 to $235,000. You'll need the California Bar and enough employment defense behind you that running your own files, and talking to a client with no partner on the line, feels normal.

A PAGA notice claims to speak for hundreds of employees at once. My calls are just you and me, for 15 minutes.