Genie E. Harrison

Harrison initially aimed to be an international human rights lawyer. She wanted to prosecute war criminals at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. At law school, she discovered she could fight for the rights and dignity of others here at home as a labor and employment attorney.

After working with various firms, Harrison opened her own in 2013 to focus on plaintiff employment, civil rights and wage and hour litigation. She fights for employees and others who have been sexually harassed, assaulted or raped at work or outside of work.

Harrison herself has been the target of sexual harassment in the workplace and elsewhere, and said those experiences only served to deepen her commitment to fight on behalf of employees.

“It’s the honor of a lifetime to represent employees at some of the toughest times of their lives,” she said. “I am so grateful to be able to do my best to make a difference, to make a positive impact on people’s lives.”

In Gutierrez v. Kenneth Cole Productions Inc., 3:15-cv-00129-SC (N.D. Cal. 2016), Harrison represented a retail store manager who was diagnosed with breast cancer and fired after five months of employment. Since Gutierrez had not worked at the Kenneth Cole store long enough for Family and Medical Leave Act or California Family Rights Act to cover her, the defense said she was not automatically protected, and it was within its rights to fire her.

“That’s not how I read California law,” Harrison said. “The employer really has to engage in the interactive process, and do their best to accommodate the needs of employees such as a woman who was just given one of most devastating diagnoses.”

Rather than working to find a reasonable compromise, Harrison said, the company’s reaction was to simply fire Gutierrez. Harrison aggressively litigated the case, taking 25 depositions from across the country. She partially defeated summary judgment, and the matter was settled confidentially one week before trial.

Harrison is actively involved in the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest local association of plaintiff attorneys. She has served on the Board of Governors since 2008. She currently serves as CAALA treasurer, and will become its president in 2021.

— Jennifer Chung Klam