Overview
Freda Tjoarman has significant employment litigation experience at both the state and federal level, having worked in labor and employment litigation for her entire legal career. She has successfully arbitrated and tried cases to successful verdict as second chair.
Freda has defended employers in individual and multi-plaintiff lawsuits regarding workplace discrimination, harassment (including all forms of sexual harassment), failure to accommodate, failure to engage in the interactive process, disability leave, retaliation, whistleblower, wrongful termination, PAGA, and wage and hour claims, as well as in matters brought before the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). She has helped numerous clients settle matters for a fraction of the claimant’s demand and significantly below the settlement authority given by accurately assessing the facts and evaluating the settlement value of the case.
Freda also has experience litigating wage and hour class action claims, medical leave, parental leave, maternity/paternity leave, and pregnancy leave claims, claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the False Claims Act (FCA), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), Title VII, and the Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) regarding employer background checks, and invasion of privacy and defamation claims.
Freda has also helped employers draft employee handbooks, policies, procedures, employee and vendor agreements and contracts while she interned and worked in-house at mass media and entertainment companies, as well as a nonprofit organization focused on girls’ education, children’s literacy, and opening schools in Asia and Africa.
During law school, Freda served as the executive supervising editor of the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly.
Freda is fluent in Mandarin, conversational Cantonese, and basic Fukienese (Hokkien).
Education
- J.D., University of California, Hastings College of the Law (Named, Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholar)
- B.S., University of London (Recipient, Witkin and CALI Awards for Legal Writing and Research)
- B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 2006 cum laude
Admissions
- United States Appeals Court, Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court, Central and Southern Districts of California
Significant Engagements & Transactions
-
- Obtained summary judgment for a multi-entity medical group on all 12 causes of action in an employment discrimination action brought by a former Director of Marketing, including claims of sexual harassment, sex discrimination, wrongful termination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and wage and hour violations under the Labor Code and FEHA.
- Second chaired and secured a unanimous defense jury verdict for manufacturing client following a seven-week trial in a highly contested employment action alleging sexual harassment, assault and battery, whistleblower retaliation, gender discrimination, and multiple wage and hour violations under FEHA and the California Labor Code. The defense assumed representation after a prior mistrial, developed a new trial strategy and narrative, and obtained a complete defense verdict on every claim after approximately 45 minutes of jury deliberations. The court subsequently denied the plaintiff’s motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for a new trial.