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Shelline Bennett
Shelline Bennett’s 30-year legal career has been exclusively advising and representing management in all areas of labor and employment law. She has worked with private employers in a variety of industries, non-profit organizations, and all types of public employers. Shelline has an extensive litigation background in federal and state courts; she has represented employers before state administrative agencies, arbitrators, and commissions; and her practice includes serving as lead negotiator at bargaining tables.
Shelline brings the breadth of her entire legal experience to her investigation work. She serves on the firm’s Investigation Practice Group Executive Committee. Shelline is an Association of Workplace Investigators (AWI) Certificate Holder and conducts trainings for AWI. Shelline’s investigation work spans the entire process from serving as the investigator to overseeing all aspects of the investigation, including retaining outside investigators, preparing the critical scope of investigation, analyzing investigation findings of fact, providing legal conclusions and recommendations. Shelline also regularly conducts full-day train the investigator trainings in compliance with Civil Rights Department guidelines.
Prior to joining Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, Shelline was a Managing Shareholder for a large international employment law firm and managed their Central California office.
Professional and Community Involvement
Shelline has served as the Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary/Treasurer for the Litigation Section of the Federal Bar Association.
Shelline can be watched monthly on a local news affiliate’s employment-law update.
Recognitions
Shelline has continued to be recognized throughout her career, including the following:
- Northern California Super Lawyers, (2004, 2006, 2008-2023)
- “Top Women Attorneys in Northern California,” San Francisco Magazine, (2013)
- Fresno Magazine’s Employment and Labor Super Lawyer, (2009)

Education
JD, UC College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings)
BA, California State University, Fresno
Did You Know
Tri Dam Project – Lead negotiator.
Stanislaus County Regional Housing Authority – Lead negotiator.
Tuolumne County – Lead negotiator.
City of Merced – Lead negotiator.
Cambria Community Service District – Lead negotiator.
City of Selma – Lead negotiator.
Tulare County – Lead negotiator and factfinding panel member.
Tulare County Public Authority/IHSS – Lead negotiator.
City of Kingsburg – Lead negotiator.
Merced County – Lead negotiator and factfinding panel member.
Merced County Public Authority/IHSS – Lead negotiator.
City of Dos Palos – Lead negotiator.
City of Porterville – Lead negotiator and factfinding panel member.
City of Arroyo Grande – Lead negotiator.
City of Sanger – Lead negotiator and factfinding panel member.
City of Visalia – Lead negotiator.
Monterey County – Lead negotiator.
City of Orange Cove – Lead negotiator.
City of Reedley – Lead negotiator.
State Center Community College District – Lead negotiator and factfinding panel member.
North Kern Water District – Lead negotiator.
San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District – Lead negotiator.
South San Joaquin County Irrigation District – Lead negotiator.
Selma Kingsburg Fowler Sanitation District – Lead negotiator.
Merced County Housing Authority – Lead negotiator.
San Joaquin County – Lead negotiator.
Fresno County – Factfinding panel member.
Fresno County Public Authority/IHSS – Lead negotiator.
Five Cities Fire Authority – Lead negotiator.
Mariposa County Public Authority/IHSS – Lead negotiator.
During this morning’s KNX News Broadcast, LCW Partner Shelline Bennett spoke on TikTok and the importance of employers in establishing clear policies surrounding social media use in the workplace. Check out the full segment below:
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Quoted in Law360, LCW Partner Shelline Bennett speaks on the National Labor Relations Board’s blocking approach in Starbucks employees’ efforts to decertify their union. When unions try to block decertification elections by filing charges with the NLRB, it can be akin to telling workers, Shelline...
Published this morning in both The Business Journal and The Orange County Register, LCW Partner Shelline Bennett speaks on Assembly Bill 2188, which will go into effect on January 1, 2024. This legislation makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate against a person in hiring, terminating, or...
During this morning’s KNX News Broadcast, LCW Partner Shelline Bennett discussed AB 2188, which prevents employers from penalizing or firing an employee who uses marijuana on their own time. “The current drug testing that employers use are primarily drug tests that test for non-psychoactive...
Quoted in Law360, LCW Partner Shelline Bennett speaks on the unionization efforts of Amazon warehouse workers. With regard to strategy, Shelline states, “The national and the bigger unions have so much in playbook that is beneficial to organizing.” Amazon employees departing from that...
Quoted in Law360’s recent article “New Law Brings Calif. Public Sector ULPs Closer To Litigation”, LCW Partner Shelline Bennett uses her labor and employment law expertise to speak on the prospect of economic sanctions for public sector labor violations.
To read the full article,...
LCW Partner Shelline Bennett recently appeared on FOX26, where she discussed the employer/employee perspective on quiet quitting.
Check out the interview below:
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6986095645493272576
In 2013, the Harvard Business Review posited that rudeness in the workplace was “rampant” and “on the rise.” Now, two years into the COVID-19 pandemic and in the midst of widespread political polarization, the workplace of 2013 seems downright quaint in comparison.
People have always disagreed...
LCW Partner Shelline Bennett’s article “Codes of conduct and ethics in the public sector” was published in the Aug. 24, 2021 edition of American City & County. The piece, which is part two of her series addressing the prevalence of bad behavior from elected officials, provides elected officials...
LCW Partner Shelline Bennett’s article “Decorum and civility in the public sector” was published in the July 27, 2021 edition of American City & County. The piece provides helpful pointers that aid elected officials in preserving decorum and civility on the job. See article below.
In a two-part...
Partner Shelline Bennett penned the piece “Bringing back decorum and civility in the public sector,” which was published in the June 1, 2021 edition of Western City Magazine. The article provides much-needed tips that elected officials and senior city management can implement to help preserve...
LCW Partner Shelline Bennett provided viewers details on vaccination mandates for employees returning to the workplace during a May 12 Fox 26 (Fresno) Eye on Employment segment. During the segment, Shelline also covered topics like reasonable accommodation as well as healthy and safe workplaces.
The number of individuals who publicly do not identify exclusively as either male or female has increased. Exactly how much is difficult to estimate, but a 2017 survey by GLAAD showed that 12 percent of millennials (i.e., adults who were then between the ages of 18 and 34) identified as something...
There’s been increasing recognition of individuals who do not identify exclusively as either male or female. Employers need to implement practices for creating a non-discriminatory and accommodating workplace.
These individuals—often described as “non-binary” or “gender non-conforming”—are not a...