Robert R. Roginson

Roginson's career is marked by firsts.

As a young associate at Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo in the 1990s, Roginson worked on what he said was "one of the first wage and hour class action lawsuits" in the nation -- one that involved attorney Daniel M. Petrocelli, famous for his involvement in a wrongful death case against O.J. Simpson.

Roginson would later help set a precedent for the state's meal and rest break laws. As chief counsel of the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement -- a position to which he was appointed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- Roginson wrote an amicus brief for a landmark state Supreme Court case, one that would help define the scope of an employer's obligations to provide employees with breaks. Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court, 53 Cal. 4th 1004 (2012).

In January, Roginson secured yet another first: a preliminary injunction for the California trucking industry against Assembly Bill 5, the controversial labor bill that automatically classifies workers as employees instead of independent contractors unless they pass a three-pronged "ABC" test. Since AB 5 went into effect on Jan. 1, the law has been challenged by numerous lawsuits -- many of which sought preliminary injunctions to stop it from going into effect. California Trucking Association v. Becerra, 18-CV02485 (S.D. Cal., filed Oct. 25, 2018).

"Several [lawsuits] have sought it, but I believe we're the only one that's gotten an injunction against AB 5," Roginson said. "That was a significant development in favor of the trucking industry." The success of Roginson and his team rested on a federal law they argued preempts AB 5, since it prohibits states from enforcing any law, regulation, or provision that might impact the services or routes of truck drivers.

It's an impressive series of accomplishments for someone who insists he was simply a philosophy major with "absolutely no qualifications to do anything" before he went into law. Now a managing shareholder at the Los Angeles office of Ogletree Deakins, where he's been since 2013, Roginson says he's spent the bulk of his career on wage and hour issues, with a focus on prevailing wage matters.

That won't be changing anytime soon. Moving forward, Roginson plans to continue working "to provide clear predictable wage and hour laws for California employers," he said, "And working to either get court decisions or some legislative developments that help make it clear what employers need to comply within such a way that it's good for the workers -- it's good for the companies."

-- Jessica Mach