People: Raymond R. Kepner, Partner

Raymond R. Kepner

Partner

Los Angeles - Downtown
Direct: (213) 270-9633
Fax: (310) 201-5219

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Biography

Mr. Kepner is the Managing Partner of the firm’s Los Angeles (Downtown) office, and a member of the firm’s national Labor and Employment Steering Committee. He is the former Chair of the firm’s California Labor and Employment Practice Group, which involved practice management responsibilities for over 100 attorneys state-wide from 2004 until 2009.

Mr. Kepner has represented a variety of private and public sector employers with respect to labor relations and employment matters, including manufacturing, financial services, insurance, retail, health care, publishing, restaurant and hospitality, educational, and agricultural concerns. He has extensive litigation experience in state and federal courts on behalf of employers, including class actions and complex multi-party matters, which have been the focus of his practice in recent years. He also has represented employers in union representation and unfair labor practice proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board.

He regularly counsels employers with respect to employment and labor issues, including equal employment opportunity compliance, employee terminations, workplace investigations, reduction-in-force planning, workplace privacy, wage/hour compliance, and the labor and employment law aspects of business transactions.

Mr. Kepner has written and lectured extensively on developments in the labor and employment law field. He has taught industrial relations and labor law in the UCLA Extension, Department of Business and Management, and has taught employment discrimination law in the University of Southern California Law Center’s Advanced Professional Program.

Education

J.D., University of Michigan Law School (1977)
Managing Editor, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
B.A., Indiana State University, (1974)
summa cum laude

Admissions

California
Ohio

Affiliations

American Bar Association (Labor and Employment Law and Litigation Sections)
State Bar of California (Labor and Employment Law Section)
Los Angeles County Bar Association (Labor and Employment Law Section)
Indiana State University Foundation (Board of Directors)

Representative Engagements

Class and Collective Actions

Comcast Corp. adv. Lawrence (Cal. Super. Ct.) (class action concerning alleged improper calculation of overtime and other pay stub violations)
Ecolab Inc. adv. Stevens (USDC, C.D. Cal.) (class action by service technicians alleging failure to provide meal periods and failure to pay for allegedly compensable commute time)
Farmers Group, Inc. adv. Citizens for Due Diligence (Cal. Super. Ct.) (Section 17200 representative claim involving vacation pay policy)
G&K Services Co. adv. Fournier (Cal. Super. Ct.) (class action concerning exempt status of route sales representatives, meal and rest periods, and deductions)
Harte-Hanks, Inc. adv. Gattuso (Cal. Supreme. Ct.) (class action concerning mileage reimbursement for outside salespersons; obtained seminal California Supreme Court decision favorably interpreting Labor Code Section 2802)
Pitney Bowes, Inc. adv. Chiaramonte (USDC, S.D. Cal.) (class action alleging unlawful chargebacks from commissions and failure to reimburse expenses of outside sales persons)
Quality Carriers adv. Hart (Cal. Super. Ct.) (class action concerning alleged misclassification of truck drivers as independent contractors and failure to provide meal periods)
Vincent B. Zaninovich & Sons, Inc. adv. E.E.O.C. (USDC, E.D. Cal.) (class action involving claims of sex discrimination in job assignments and compensation)
Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. adv. Vartanian (Cal. Super. Ct.) (class action challenging performance-based bonus system as an unlawful wage deduction policy)
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc. adv. Sylvia (Cal. Super. Ct.) (class action alleging failure to reimburse mileage and other employee expenses)

Other Selected Representations

B. Braun Medical, Inc. adv. Hafer (USDC, S.D. Cal.) (claims of sexual harassment, assault and constructive discharge -- mediated settlement)
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. adv. Krausse (Cal. Super. Ct.) (binding arbitration before Judge Philip E. Schwab, Jr. -- ruling in favor of defendant on all causes of action, including age discrimination and breach of implied employment contract)
California Institute of Technology adv. Greenberg (USDC, C.D. Cal.) (reverse age discrimination case challenging modification of retirement program -- case dismissed on Rule 12(b)(6) motion)
Del Taco, Inc. adv. Patton (Cal. Super. Ct.) (nine-plaintiff race discrimination case -- mediated settlement following successful motion to disqualify opposing counsel)
Ecolab Inc. adv. Anderson (Cal. Super. Ct.) (summary judgment in favor of client on breach of contract claim concerning stock incentive plan)
El Centro Regional Medical Center adv. Roux (Cal. Ct. of App.) (obtained Court of Appeal decision upholding summary judgment in favor of client on all ten causes of action brought by hospital’s former associate administrator alleging wrongful termination and various common law torts)
Farmers Group, Inc. adv. Gutierrez (Cal. Ct. of App.) (Court of Appeal decision upholding summary judgment in wrongful termination case)
First Lincoln Financial Corp. adv. Lawson (Cal. Super. Ct.) (summary judgment in age discrimination case brought by client’s former vice-president)
Harte-Hanks Shoppers, Inc. adv. Guthrie (Cal. Super. Ct.) (summary judgment in favor of client on all six causes of action, including race discrimination and retaliatory discharge)
Hoson Produce, Inc. adv. Fifer (USDC, C.D. Cal.) (judgment pursuant to Rule 12(c) involving employee’s whistleblower claims)
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. adv. Ng (Cal. Ct. of App.) (Court of Appeal decision upholding summary judgment in religious discrimination claim brought by employee terminated for proselytizing in the workplace)
Northern Trust Bank of California adv. Saada (USDC, C.D. Cal.) (disability discrimination and wrongful termination case involving former chief operations officer of bank -- mediated settlement)
San Francisco Newspaper Agency adv. Najjar (USDC, N.D. Cal.) (summary judgment based on Section 301 preemption of wrongful termination and common law claims)

Presentations

“Bounty Hunters in the Workplace: The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act,” Association of Corporate Counsel, Southern California Chapter, Newport Beach and Los Angeles, California (April 21, 2004)
“Corporate Counsel Forum: Cutting Edge Legal Considerations for the Rebounding Economy,” American Corporate Counsel Association, Southern California Chapter, Los Angeles and Irvine, California (June 26, 2002)
“The Carrot or the Stick — Avoiding Employment Liability and Punitive Damages in Harassment and Discrimination Claims,”American Corporate Counsel Association, Southern California Chapter, Costa Mesa and Los Angeles, California (September 12, 2000)
“Investigating Employee Misconduct — A Guide for California Employers,” The California Labor Letter Seminar, Newport Beach, California (February 9, 1999) and Los Angeles, California (February 10, 1999)
“Conducting Effective Internal Investigations,” American Corporate Counsel Association, Southern California Chapter, Costa Mesa and Los Angeles, California (April 8, 1998)
“Employment Issues In Cyberspace: Confidentiality, Legal Liability and Other Issues Raised by E-Mail, Voicemail, and Other Technological Developments in the Workplace,” American Corporate Counsel Association, Southern California Chapter, Irvine and Los Angeles, California (June 6, 1996)
“Hiring Employees from or Losing Them to a Competitor: Trade Secrets and Restrictive Covenants,” ATA Litigation Center Forum for Motor Carrier General Counsels, Coronado, California (February 9, 1996)
“Recent Employment Discrimination Case Law Developments,” State Bar of California Labor and Employment Law Section, Annual Spring Symposium, Anaheim, California, May 12, 1995 and San Francisco, California (May 19, 1995)
“Managing Employment Litigation (And Your Attorney),” The California Labor Letter Seminar, Irvine, California, February 2, 1995; Palo Alto, California, February 7, 1995; and Los Angeles, California (February 9, 1995)
“Strategies for Dealing with Workplace Violence,” National Employment Law Institute, 1994 Employment Law Briefing, San Diego, California (April 8, 1994)
“Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Employment Arena,” State Bar of California Labor and Employment Law Section, San Diego, California (July 18, 1992)
“Acquiring or Selling the Privately Held Company: Labor Law Aspects,” Practicing Law Institute, Los Angeles, California (June 15, 1992)
“Trends and Strategies in Wrongful Termination,” State Bar of California Labor and Employment Law Section, Annual Spring Symposium, San Francisco, California, May 22, 1992 and Beverly Hills, California (May 29, 1992)

Publications

Co-author, "Hill v. NCAA: A New Drug Testing Standard," The California Labor Letter (March 1994)
Co-author, "The Americans With Disabilities Act: Hiring A Productive Workforce," published in The Americans With Disabilities Act: A Practical Guide for California Employers (1992)