Junior Employment Litigation Associate

Distinct | North America; California; Remote; USD 195,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Distinct | North America is seeking a Junior Employment Litigation Associate for a fully remote role in California. The work focuses on wage-and-hour class actions and PAGA, with hands-on experience in depositions and a strong emphasis on managerial and payroll-related disputes.

Two years of relevant employment litigation experience is preferred. The role offers exposure to cutting-edge wage-and-hour issues and the opportunity to work directly on high‑visibility cases from early stages through

Qualifications

• Minimum two years of experience in employment litigation.
• Experience with wage-and-hour class actions and PAGA.
• Ability to work remotely within California is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Handle class and PAGA wage-and-hour cases from demand letter through to certification.
• Depose store managers, payroll staff, and corporate designees.
• Work on single plaintiff discrimination and wrongful termination claims alongside class work.
• Conduct early analysis of meal and rest breaks, rounding, and off-the-clock issues.

Skills

Wage & Hour

PAGA

Depositions

California Employment Law

Job description

Junior Employment Litigation Associate | Fully Remote, California | $195,000 to $230,000

Two years in, somebody hands you a timekeeping export with four hundred thousand punch times on it and says have a look at the meal breaks. No instructions. Just the file and a Thursday.

And you find it. A store where the second break keeps landing after the sixth hour, or a rounding rule that only ever rounds one way. The case turns on that, and you're the one who turned it up, which at two years in doesn't happen at most firms.

This is management side employment litigation on a team that lives in it. Wage and hour class actions and PAGA are the bulk of the work, and because of that you get the bits juniors normally wait around for. Your own depositions. Sitting in the room at mediations instead of hearing how they went.

It pays $195,000 to $230,000 for two to three years out, California barred.

• Class and PAGA cases, from the first demand letter through to certification


• Meal and rest break, rounding and off the clock analysis, done before anybody talks numbers


• Depositions of store managers, payroll staff and the occasional corporate designee


• Single plaintiff discrimination and wrongful termination claims alongside the class work

One of the good things about this one is that it's remote and the team only does employment, so nobody drops a construction defect file on your desk the week things go slow.

If you want to come on the call with the thing you once found in a spreadsheet that nobody else spotted, go on then. Otherwise fifteen minutes and nothing to prepare is fine.