Robert G. Hulteng

Hulteng has practiced labor and employment law at Littler since the start of his career in 1976. In that time, he has led trial teams on numerous federal and state employment law cases and has served as lead counsel in complex class action lawsuits involving claims of sex, age, race and disability discrimination.

Two class action cases in which he served as lead counsel were successfully tried to complete defense verdicts, and several of Hulteng’s class actions have been nationwide in scope.

Hulteng represents a wide range of employers, both union and nonunion, and works closely with companies to develop personnel policies intended to avoid litigation.

When Hulteng started at Littler, there were “roughly 20 employees” and “everything they did was traditional labor law,” primarily dealing with unions, collective bargaining and administrative proceedings.

Although Hulteng still does traditional labor work sometimes, the bulk of his recent cases pertain to legal issues surrounding the “gig economy” and raise questions regarding the definition of independent contractors in California versus company employees, which Hulteng said is a “hot issue right now because of the youth of independent contractors” due to the national growth of app-based companies.

“An advent of the gig economy, where transactions are done over an app has caused tremendous expansion over litigation for independent contractor status,” Hulteng said.

This has transformed the traditional ways in which people provide service, for individuals who support themselves by driving for companies like Uber, Lyft and Postmates. “You just work when you feel like it,” said Hulteng. “It’s a very different way of working.”

— Skylar Dubelko