Our People

Judith S. Islas

Of Counsel, San Diego

619.481.5903
jislas@lcwlegal.com
Bio
Experience Representative Matters Affiliations Awards Publications Presentations

For more than 20 years, Judith has practiced in labor, education and employment law.  Judith has an extensive background in all types of employment litigation at the trial and appellate levels, in both state and federal courts, including discrimination, harassment, discipline and wrongful termination, and other employment based claims on behalf of public entities including cities,  counties, special districts, school districts and universities, as well as on behalf of independent schools, and some private employers.  Judith also represents employers, in various administrative proceedings, including in disciplinary  proceedings and contractual disputes before  arbitrators, boards, and commissions,  discrimination complaints before the DFEH , EEOC, and wage and hour disputes before the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

Judith conducts management training programs on a wide variety of personnel, labor, discrimination and education issues.  Some topics that Judith regularly presents on are sexual harassment, diversity in the workplace, drafting effective performance  evaluations, employee management, due process, employee discipline, hiring, and avoiding liability.  Judith is experienced in drafting employment manuals and personnel policies, and has handled workplace investigations.

Prior to joining Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, Judith was a partner in a national labor and employment law firm and then was a partner in a boutique employment and business litigation firm. Before that,  Judith was at Liebert, Cassidy & Frierson, LCW's predecessor, where she started her career representing employers.

Representative Matters

Appellate

  • Williams v. Chino Valley Fire District (2011) - A disability retired fire captain contended that he was entitled to his job back after he over-came his disabilities.  LCW attorneys argued that as a retiree, he was not entitled to his job back.  The San Bernardino Superior Court disagreed and ordered that he be given the first available Fire Captain position.  The LCW attorneys brought a writ to the California Court of Appeal and the Court of Appeal reversed the Superior Court, issuing the writ and agreeing with their argument that the law did not entitle Mr. Williams to a job with the fire district.  The Supreme Court also denied review on June 8, 2011.
  • Brar v. City of Banning II (2010) - Melanie Poturica and Judith Islas prevailed in a writ action brought by the City's former Assistant Public Works Director's challenging his termination for violation of the City's sexual harassment policy.  The employee claimed there was not substantial evidence to support the City Manager's finding he had violated the sexual harassment policy, and that even if he had, termination was an excessive penalty.  Melanie and Judith successfully defended the termination in the trial court, and then when Brar brought his case to the Court of Appeal, again successfully defended both the finding that Brar had violated the City's sexual harassment policy and the penalty of termination.  Brar continued his challenge by filing a petition for review, asking the California Supreme Court to hear the case.  Melanie and Judith opposed this petition, and the California Supreme Court denied Brar's request for review, leaving intact the City's victory in the Court of Appeal.
  • Thompson v. City of Monrovia (2010) - In a case handled by Scott Tiedemann and Judith Islas, the Court of Appeal, second judicial district, affirmed summary judgment in this alleged retaliation and harassment case brought by a Caucasian police officer based on alleged discriminatory treatment towards his African-American co-worker.  Specifically, the officer claimed he was retaliated against for reporting alleged discriminatory treatment of his African-American co-worker and for testifying on the co-worker's behalf in a separate lawsuit brought by the co-worker.  The officer also alleged the City failed to investigate the alleged harassment and retaliation. In a lengthy opinion, the Court decisively rejected all of the officer's arguments.  Key in the court's analysis was the long and well documented history of the officer's performance issues.  On the harassment and hostile environment claims, the Court concluded that a Caucasian officer can premise these causes of action based on an association with or advocacy on behalf of another officer's protected classification but must show he was personally subjected to unwanted racial comments as a result of the association or advocacy and also, that the conduct was severe and pervasive, which the officer failed to so in this case.

Litigation

  • Williams v. Chino Valley Independent Fire District (2012) - Obtained dismissal of a Federal Court disability discrimination lawsuit filed by a retired fire captain, who alleged he was discriminated against in his efforts to be re-hired into the position from which he disability retired several years ago.  LCW attorneys had previously obtained dismissal of a prior action filed by this retired fire captain in state court.  When he then tried to re-litigate his claims in the federal court system, the motion was filed to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12 (b)(6) arguing the state court judgment on these claims precluded the fire captain from re-litigating in federal court.  They also argued the federal complaint failed to state a viable claim because the District's limit to a one year requalification period applied to anyone who wanted to be re-hired into a prior previously held position, not just disabled individuals.
  • Breach of Contract (2012) - Obtained a victory for a private liberal arts and sciences college in a federal court case filled by a former student who after withdrawing, claimed the college breached contractual and other legal obligations. The college is located in Iowa and the case was filed in federal court in Los Angeles, in an attempt to "forum shop" and litigate the case in a forum more favorable to plaintiff for statute of limitations purposes. Prepared a motion to dismiss the case based on lack of personal jurisdiction, improper venue and forum non-conveniens, and met and conferred with the former students' lawyer, after which plaintiff outright dismissed the case. This is a victory for an out of state college that was the victim of forum shopping and an attempt to subject that college to litigation in California. A swift and comprehensive attack to the lawsuit saved the college from the burden of litigating a case half way across the county.
  • Brar v. City of Banning I (2010) - In a case handled by Melanie Poturica and Judith Islas, a summary judgment was obtained resulting in complete dismissal of a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit brought by the City's former Assistant Public Works Director, who claimed his being placed on administrative leave and then terminated was the result of retaliation for his complaining about sexual harassment and national origin discrimination. The Court held that there were legitimate business reasons for his termination and the City's other actions, and the employee failed to show those legitimate reasons were pre-text for discrimination.

Affiliations

IPMA, 2009-current

Publications

Presentations

Education

  • JD, University of California, Davis School of Law
  • BA, University of California, Los Angeles
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