Tonette J. “Toni” Jaramilla

Jaramilla, a seasoned plaintiff’s labor lawyer, is taking her fight to end harassment and discrimination in the workplace to the courts and the Capitol.

With a full plate of lawsuits against companies alleging a host of employment law violations, Jaramilla has made time twice this year to make it to Sacramento and testify before the Legislature in favor of SB 1300, a bill that would curb employer’s ability to make non-disparagement agreements a condition of employment.

“My experience litigating numerous cases involving sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace and seeing how employers utilize this tactic, which is, under the current law, enforceable...compelled me to want to help make positive changes in the law,” she said.

Jaramilla’s practice is wide, covering the gamut of labor disputes, but the cultural shift that is the #MeToo movement has put a spotlight on gender-related cases, she said.

Currently, she’s pursuing discrimination and unfair termination claims for an Asian-American female executive who claims the leadership of a professional sports management company she worked at for a decade failed to give her bonuses and unfairly compensated her despite her strong work performance in the company’s basketball division. Jaramilla has widened the scope of the lawsuit, turning it into a Private Attorneys General Act case after learning that women in other wings of the company experienced similar treatment. Li v. Independent Sports & Entertainment LLC, BC660219 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed May 4, 2017).

Jaramilla is also pursuing claims against a hotel management company in a lawsuit alleging that co-workers of a young employee assumed she had slept with the property’s owner in order to get a job. The company’s owner repeatedly propositioned her, took her out for ostensible work meetings, and tried to pursue a romantic relationship, according to the complaint. But Jaramilla’s client said no to him every time. Villavicencio v. Westlake Properties Inc., BC710531 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed June 16, 2018).

“They’ve stereotyped my client because she’s young and she’s beautiful,” Jaramilla said.

— Nicolas Sonnenburg