EMPLOYMENT / LABOR
DISPUTE RESOLUTION EXPERIENCE

Mr. Polsky has a very high settlement rate as a mediator of employment disputes. He employs a specially designed process to ensure that the unique emotions involved in these cases are properly managed, and to facilitate good communication. He also serves as a neutral fact finder and facilitator in labor related issues. His articles on the subject have been published in Bar journals and legal newspapers.

REPRESENTATIVE EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR CASES HANDLED BY MR. POLSKY

• Termination of 8-year manager of nationwide telecommunications company due to aggressive management style without adherence to progressive counseling policies. (Settlement of 1.5 years of salary)
• Termination of city manager in violation of contract, which provided for employment absent acts of moral turpitude against city, following conviction for solicitation of prostitute. (Settlement of relocation benefits plus 1.0 year of salary plus attorney fees)
• Sexual harassment alleged against manager for repeated acts of sexual intercourse with subordinate employees. ($1.5 mm)
  Labor complaint neutral fact finding in connection with large manufacturing corporation.
• Repeated touching by manager followed by demotion after advances were rebuffed. (Settlement agreement involving relocation, promotion, payment of attorney fees, special management sensitivity program)
  Sexual advances to 23-year-old temporary clerical worker by 51-year-old manager. (Settlement $75 k)
• Sexual discrimination alleged by female mutual fund manager against parent corporation when a male co-manager was appointed. Allegations included disparate treatment and hostile work environment. (Settlement $850 k)
• Mailroom employee exposed to irritating fumes. Claim against seller for inadequate markings and employer for failure to give notice of chemical shipment. (Settlement including early medical retirement)
• Suit by tanker truck driver against oil company for failure to create a light duty job following a work related injury. Corporation asserted that the law of reasonable accommodation does not require that the employer create a new position with its organization and that, after plaintiff could not return to work following a 16 month leave, termination was appropriate. (Settlement ($175 k)
• Action by sales representatives for breach of contract and wrongful termination after they were recruited from a competitor, trained, put into the workforce and fired within 12 months. Plaintiff asserted that they were recruited to remove them from a competitor and then terminated in violation of public policy after they refused to provide customers with false and inflated information regarding cost the customers were incurring and savings that could be obtained. (Settlement)
• Pre suit mediation of claim of age discrimination and wrongful termination of 41-year employee who rose to the position of President of company that was eventually bought out by defendant. Following buy out, plaintiff was placed in the position of Vice President of Sales and Marketing at a base salary of $100 k plus bonus, until he was escorted out 18 months after the buy out. Plaintiff was replaced by a younger employee in an effort to reduce compensation expenses. (Settlement $100 k plus attorney fees)

OTHER RELATED EXPERIENCE

Mr. Polsky is a sought after negotiation skills trainer and has lectured throughout the United States. He is an adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Southern California Law School, where he teaches a course he designed on ADR and negotiation, and at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, where he teaches courses on mediation and arbitration in the LLM program. He has resolved thousands of complex commercial and serious injury disputes and was named one of the top 20 mediators and arbitrators in California by the Daily Journal. Local bar association annual reviews consistently give Mr. Polsky high marks for fairness as an arbitrator and tenacity and commitment as a mediator.