Mani Sheik

It was a culmination of Peace Corps and research trips to West Africa while visiting more than 50 refugee camps and always hearing the question, “When can I go home?” It was this question gave then-community health worker Sheik the moment of clarity to enter the legal field.

“I can deal with health and sanitation issues, but obviously I can’t deal with that,” he said about himself back then. “It’s political and legal. It’s people suffering through no cause of their own, but usually it’s a breakdown of a political or legal situation there, and I felt like I could do more for them.”

In 2003, after having earned degrees in evolutionary biology at UC Irvine, a master’s degree of public health and international health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and working in that field abroad, Sheik enrolled into law school.

Today, he’s worked for about seven years in a broad range of labor and employment cases. Starting at Reed Smith LLP working in appellate law and general commercial litigation, Sheik eventually moved to another firm and began work on a couple of labor and employment cases.

“So when I was looking for a new position, I thought about specializing in labor and employment, and fell into it,” he said.

Three years ago on Fourth of July weekend, Sheik said he decided to take a leap and launch his own firm. Many colleagues told Sheik that attorneys they know who launched their own solo practices have no regrets.

“I totally echo that,” Sheik said. “I’m happier than I expected.”

Sheik maintains a “very active” caseload and represents both sides — companies and employees — depending on the facts of the case.

“I try, especially to my corporate-side clients, to provide soup to nuts pre-litigation through litigation and appellate, if need be,” Sheik said. “So, I spent a significant time advising corporate clients, preventing issues before it becomes litigation, as well as working with clients, especially on the human resources and business side, to address the issues and how to handle them.”

In Moore v. Regents of University of California, (2016) 248 Cal. App. 4th 216, Sheik represented the plaintiff on appeal and won, and created a new law. The plaintiff, an employee, sued the university system for claims under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, however, the review of the record showed that summary judgment was improperly granted with respect to the plaintiff’s several causes of action.

“This is a good example of perceived disability discrimination,” Sheik said. “The idea — that more than any other case that I’m aware of — breaks the ground on that. Even if you, as the employer, feel that the person is disabled, all the FEHA protections come with it. There’s also new law about employers’ responsibilities to communicate. It goes back to idea of treating people fairly and the same.”

Most companies have procedures in place for employees for wide variety of issues, said Sheik.

“But where [the] rubber meets road is how is it put into practice,” he said. “With Moore, it was communicating about accommodations. About the allegation, the UC never communicated with Ms. Moore about her rights, even though she said she didn’t need any [accommodations]. They made assumptions on behalf of her without communicating. That’s where the downfall was for UC.”

One change in labor and employment law that Sheik said he never anticipated when he first started is the growth of the use of social and electronic media to prove or disprove claims.

“It has been a surprise,” Sheik said. “More of a surprise than a challenge.”

— Matthew Sanderson