In The News: Acknowledged Achievements

In the News: Acknowledged Achievements of Helmer-Friedman L.L.P.

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Workplace Violations

The law firm of Helmer • Friedman LLP represents plaintiffs in a potential class action lawsuit against U.S. Remodelers, Inc. and its parent corporation, U.S. Home Systems, Inc. The lawsuit seeks to recover: (1) deductions that were unlawfully taken from the commissions earned by California Sales Associates from July 3, 2003, to the present time; and (2) reimbursements for expenses incurred by California Sales Associates during the same time period.

The lawsuit alleges that U.S. Remodelers unlawfully required that its California Sales Associates “insure” the company against business losses and alleged “overhead” expenses by deducting two types of losses and expenses from the employees’ earned commissions. First, the lawsuit alleges that U.S. Remodelers deducted a co-called “administration” or “permit” fee (typically in the amount of $250.00) from salespersons’ commissions. Second, the lawsuit alleges that U.S. Remodelers deducted amounts from each California Sales Associate’s commission when they under-measured the customer’s kitchen or other area to be re-faced or made other mistakes.

The lawsuit also alleges that U.S. Remodelers failed to reimburse its California Sales Associates for the expenses they incurred in the course of performing their job duties and responsibilities including, among other expenses.

Sexual Discrimination

A policy against sex discrimination, particularly one that specifically addresses sexual harassment, is an extremely important method for preventing sexual harassment. This policy also prohibits retaliation against any person who brings an accusation of discrimination or sexual harassment or who assists with the investigation or resolution of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment creates confusion because it blurs the boundary between professional roles and personal relationships. If you feel you may be a victim of sexual harassment, The Law offices of Helmer-Friedman has more information and solutions to help employees and employers. They wrote “the book” on employment discrimination law.

“Super Lawyers” 2008

Law & Politics Magazine and the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine select Andrew H. Friedman and Gregory D. Helmer of Helmer Friedman LLP as 2008 Southern California “Super Lawyers”
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 5, 2007 — Helmer & Friedman, LLP is very pleased to congratulate both of its founding partners, Andrew H. Friedman and Gregory D. Helmer, on being selected as Southern California “Super Lawyers” for 2008.
Andrew H. Friedman was selected as a “Super Lawyer” in the category of Labor and Employment Law. This was Mr. Friedman’s third year in a row as a “Super Lawyer.” Mr. Friedman literally wrote “the book” on employment discrimination law — Litigating Employment Discrimination Cases (James Publishing, 2005-2007). The book, a two volume 1400 practice guide, is designed to provide the employment law practitioner with strategies, tactics and forms to successfully handle employment discrimination cases from case inception through trial. It can be purchased at http://www.jamespublishing.com/. “We are obviously very pleased to be recognized by my peers as ‘Super Lawyers'” said Mr. Friedman.

Gregory D. Helmer was selected as a “Super Lawyer” in the category of Labor and Employment Law. This was Mr. Helmer’s third time being selected as a “Super Lawyer.” Among other accomplishments, Mr. Helmer has obtained a $1,643,000.00 arbitration award on behalf of an employee who had been discriminated against and harassed because of his age. The landmark arbitration award was, at the time, reputed to be one of the largest ever received by an individual in a discrimination case.

Helmer & Friedman, LLP, located on the boardwalk overlooking the Pacific ocean in Venice, California, represents celebrities, employees, individuals and businesses in a broad array of legal matters, including employment and wage claims, contract negotiations, defamation and privacy issues, entertainment transactions, trademark and copyright infringement, unfair business practices, class actions, whistle-blowing and retaliation, personal injury, sexual harassment, discrimination and elder abuse claims.

What is Sexual Harassment?

The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) defines sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when this conduct explicitly or implicitly affects an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance, or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

The Law Offices of Helmer & Friedman LLP are dedicated to ending sexual harassment in the workplace. In addition to assisting people who have been sexually harassed by their current and/or former employer, we counsel employers on how to prevent sexual harassment. In fact, we literally wrote The Book on litigating harassment and discrimination cases.


Pet Food Lawsuit

Dog and Cat Owners File California-Wide Class Action Lawsuit Over Pet Food Poisoning
Publish Date : 3/28/2007 3:44:00 AM Source : Animals and Nature News Onlypunjab.com
Class counsel, Helmer Friedman LLP and Schonbrun De Simone Seplow Harris & Hoffman LLP, announced today that Lois Grady of Sacramento, California, and Kaye Steinsapir of Los Angeles, California, have filed a California-wide class action lawsuit against the international pet food company Menu Foods of Ontario, Canada, Nutro Products, Inc., and PETCO for allegedly manufacturing and selling pet food contaminated with aminopterin – a highly toxic rat poison. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and assigned case number BC368561.
Ms. Grady and Ms. Steinsapir allege that each of their cats became extremely ill as a result of eating cat food manufactured by Menu Foods. Defendant Menu Foods has recalled over 60 million cans and pouches of wet, or “cuts and gravy” style, dog and cat foods sold under popular brand names such as Iams, Eukanuba, Nutro Natural Choice, Nutro Ultra, Special Kitty, Loving Meals, Winn Dixie, Science Diet.
The Complaint alleges that “although Menu Foods has issued what is purported to be one of the largest, if not the largest, recalls of products in the pet food industry’s history, countless pets have died, experienced kidney failure and/or suffered other serious adverse health consequences as a result of eating the contaminated food.” The Complaint also alleges that the defendants knew or should have known that the pet food was defective and posed an unreasonable safety risk to the safety of animals who would consume itand that the defendants concealed from members of the consuming public the nature and scope of the product defect.
“Pet owners should immediately go to the Menu Foods website — http://www.menufoods.com/recall/ — to see if their pet food has been recalled,” warned class counsel Michael D. Seplow. “The list of recalled pet food not only includes 42 lines of cat food and 53 lines of dog food under many different brand names such as Nutriplan, Iams, Hy-Vee, America’s Choice, but also many different private label or grocery store brands such as Food Lion, Publix, Schnucks, Stater Bros., Save-A-Lot, Winn Dixie, Wegmans, and Tops.”
Gregory D. Helmer, counsel for plaintiffs, advised: “If your pets have suffered symptoms of contaminated pet food, immediately take them to a veterinarian. Do not discard the unused pet food; instead mark it in indelible ink with the words ‘Do Not Eat,’ ‘Poisoned,’ or ‘Contaminated’ and make certain to store it in a safe place that is beyond the reach of pets and children. Later, the pet food can be tested for the presence of aminopterin and other contaminants. In addition, pet owners should save their receipts from where they purchased their pet food, save any veterinary bills and burial bills, locate photographs of their pets while they were alive, take a photograph of their deceased pets, and journal the loss of their pets to establish pain and suffering from the death of their pets.”
Pet owners with animals injured or killed by the pet food poisoning who wish to learn more about the lawsuit and report their experiences to plaintiffs’ counsel should contact attorneys Gregory D. Helmer/Andrew H. Friedman (http://www.helmerfriedman.com/) at 310-396-7714.

Class Action Lawsuit

California Pet Owners File Class Action Lawsuit In Pet Food Contamination Case

March 27, 2007, Los Angeles, California pet owners file a statewide class action lawsuit against the manufacturer and distributor of pet food that has caused numerous pet deaths and injuries across the Country. The proposed class consists of all California pet owners whose dogs or cats died or suffered injuries from eating Menu Food contaminated pet food.

Forcing Job Applicants to Divulge Constitutionally Private Matters

Religious Hospital Forcing Job Applicants to Divulge Constitutionally Private Matters

February 5, 2003, Helmer-Friedman LLP Files Lawsuit Against St. Joseph Hospital for forcing job applicants to divulge reproductive dysfunctions, infertility, pregnancy, venereal disease, still born births, miscarriages.