Partner |

Heather M. Sager is a partner in the firm's Labor & Employment Practice Group.  Heather focuses her practice on management-side representation in collective and class actions, with particular experience in wage and hour litigation under state and federal law. Heather also regularly handles single and multiplaintiff employment litigation in the areas of unfair competition, wrongful discharge, harassment and discrimination before state and federal courts and administrative agencies. Heather regularly provides management training seminars and advice and counsel on employee relations, policies and procedures for the firm's clients. Heather joined Drinker Biddle from Carlton, DiSante & Freudenberger LLP, where she was one of the senior partners in their San Francisco office.

Published Opinions:

Ho v. IKON Office Solutions, Inc., 143 F.Supp.2d 1163 (N.D.Cal. 2001)
Woodfin Suite Hotels, LLC v. City of Emeryville, 2007 WL 81911 (N.D. Cal. 2007)
Wren v. RGIS Inventory Specialists, 2007 WL 484793 (N.D. Cal. 2007)

Representative Experience and Accomplishments:

• Lead counsel in numerous state and federal class and collective actions, supervising fact investigation, discovery, certification briefing and argument, and notice proceedings.
• Defeated certification of national class in FLSA collective action.
• Obtained summary judgment on majority of wage and hour claims brought under FLSA in putative national collective action.
• In two separate actions, obtained voluntary dismissal of putative state-wide class claims followed by minimal settlement of individual plaintiffs' remaining causes of action.
• Obtained summary judgment of travel pay claim under California state law. 
• Obtained complete defense verdict after the arbitration of a high six-figure discrimination matter.
• Obtained summary adjudication on 60 of 63 causes of action in multiplaintiff litigation.
• Obtained complete summary judgment on behalf of a large national advertising firm for claims of breach of contract, wrongful termination and retaliation filed by former management employee fired for sexual harassment.
• Defeated six-figure wage claim by former sales employee.
• Represented a business owner at mediation in which the client obtained a high six-figure award.
• Lead attorney in successful negotiations to obtain a complete waiver and release of an ERISA claim with exposure of several million dollars for low six-figures.
• Drafted an opinion used by the California Restaurant Association and California Chamber of Commerce and incorporated into Proposition 72, which defeated California's mandatory employer health care initiative.

Bar Memberships.  Heather is admitted to practice in all California State Courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.  For more than a decade, she has been a member of the Labor and Employment Law Sections of the American, California, San Francisco and Los Angeles Bar Associations.  

In General.  Heather graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University with a bachelor's degree in English.  She received her law degree from Fordham University School of Law.  She is active in a number of professional and trade organizations including the National Association of Women Business Owners ("NAWBO") Bay Area Chapter, Fordham University School of Law's Alumni Association and the International Law Journal.  Heather is a frequent speaker for various civic and trade organizations including the Oakland Small Business Symposium, Bay Area New Employer Training Forum (sponsored by Assemblyman Gene Mullin), the California Restaurant Association (including employer and management training sessions at their annual tradeshows - Western Food Expo and California Food Show), "The Employer's Group," California Lodging Industry Association, and at events sponsored by Lorman Education Services.

Publications:

Contributing chapter editor, Elkhouri & Elkhouri: How Arbitration Works, 6th ed. & 2006 supplement

"Striking Out: Responding to Labor Protests," San Francisco Attorney, August/September 2001

"Truth or Consequences: Falsity of Employer's Nondiscrimination Explanation May Be Sufficient to Infer Unlawful Discrimination," California Employment Law Reporter, August 2000

Quoted in Court Tosses Punitives Based on ‘Good Faith Efforts,’ Inside Counsel magazine, October 2007