Elizabeth L. Riles

Riles is a founder and the managing partner at Bohbot & Riles, specializing in employment and personal injury cases along with human resources consulting and mediation services. She is chair of the executive board of the California Employment Lawyers Association.

Working from home with two kids out of school and no summer school in sight, she's busy. "We're all playing it by ear and practicing in a virtual world," she said as she juggled childcare duties, her litigation practice and the effort to keep CELA members up to date on the speedily shifting legal developments associated with the coronavirus chaos.

Riles said she works closely with CELA's legislative policy director in Sacramento on the progress of legislation the group sponsors and has prioritized during the pandemic. "In Washington, Congress passed paid sick leave for workers at companies with fewer than 500 employees," she said. "In California, that leaves a lot of workers at big companies not covered." So AB 3216 would mandate emergency paid sick leave to all California workers and a right of recall and retention for workers in industries heavily impacted by Covid-19 such as hotels, event centers, airport hospitality operations, janitorial services, building maintenance services and security services.

Another bill, AB 1947, would extend the filing deadline for retaliation complaints from six months to a year for and would allow prevailing whistleblower plaintiffs to recover attorney fees. Other CELA-backed measures deal with domestic workers' health and safety, bereavement leave and other worker-friendly matters.

"When the courts were closing we worked hard to get information out to our members regarding the different situations in each of the 58 counties," Riles said. "That kept us busy. And we're working with the Consumer Attorneys of California on emergency court rules regarding electronic service and other matters. It's been a very tricky time. Our annual conference was going to be in San Diego, but now we're making it virtual, along with our seminars and our lobbying. We adapt."

In an ongoing sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation case, Riles represents a female former schoolteacher in Mountain View on claims that a male teacher harassed her and others "in a hostile, erratic, and aggressive manner" and was "violent and abusive," according to the complaint. After reporting the conduct she was allegedly retaliated against and her contract was not renewed. Flowers-Haywood v. Mountain View Whisman School District, 19CV347525 (Santa Clara Super. Ct., filed May 3, 2019).

"At one point the male teacher was arrested but ultimately wasn't charged," said Riles, who took over the case last year. Another teacher also sued. "When my client wasn't rehired we added the retaliation claim."

-- John Roemer