Wage and Hour Employment Defense Associate

Distinct | North America; California; Remote; USD 250,000 - 295,000; Full time

Job summary

Distinct North America is seeking a Wage and Hour Employment Defense Associate for a fully remote role based in California. The position pays $250,000 to $295,000 with bonus potential.

The San Francisco office is the reference point, but the work is conducted remotely with a strong emphasis on wage-hour class actions and discrimination/retaliation claims. The successful candidate will draft summary judgment motions, oppose class certification, and argue them, with substantial deposition work and

Qualifications

• 3–4 years defending California employment cases.
• Experience with wage-and-hour class actions is preferred.
• Ability to draft and argue motions and oppositions.

Responsibilities

• Draft summary judgment motions and class certification oppositions, then argue them.
• Handle deposition work and manage timekeeping exports to determine class viability.
• Work with payroll managers, HR, and named plaintiffs on relevant issues.

Skills

Employment defense

Wage and hour class actions

Legal writing & motions

California employment law

Education

California Bar admission

Job description

Wage and Hour Employment Defense Associate | Fully Remote, San Francisco | $250,000 to $295,000

This is a fully remote employment defense job for a California associate three or four years in, and it pays $250,000 to $295,000 plus a bonus.

The office is San Francisco, though mostly you'd know that from your email signature. The cases are employers getting sued, a lot of them wage and hour class actions, with discrimination and retaliation claims alongside. Meal and rest periods, off the clock work, the bonus that should have gone into the regular rate and somehow didn't.

You'll know most of it already. What changes is the size of the files and who stands up in court. You'd write the summary judgment motions and the class certification oppositions and then argue them yourself, and at three or four years that's a big deal, because plenty of associates at that stage still hand the draft upstairs and find out how the hearing went from an email.

There's deposition work too, payroll managers and HR people and the named plaintiffs, and a fair amount of time inside timekeeping exports working out whether a class even exists before anybody gets to argue about certifying one.

You'd want three or four years defending California employment cases and the California Bar. The employers here are big ones, so expect heavier files than you're used to.

I'm Arran at Distinct North America.