Anthony "Tony" J. Oncidi

Oncidi heads the labor and employment law group at Proskauer Rose's Los Angeles office, where he represents employers and management in labor relations and employment law, including litigation and employment counseling, wage and hour cases, class actions and other matters. He concentrates his practice in the entertainment, media and financial services industries.

In mid-June he said that lawyers and their clients were showing signs of getting back to business following the coronavirus shutdowns. "We're coming out of our crouch, though I have been amazed and surprised at how productive I could be at home. Litigation is picking up again as people are realizing they can't wait any longer."

He added that a major center of L.A.'s commerce is stirring, slowly. "The entertainment industry has taken a hit. Now production is being allowed to resume, but SAG [the Screen Actors Guild] and the screenwriters guild are being pretty protective of their members. I am getting daily inquiries about Covid accommodations."

Oncidi leads the representation of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Grammy Organization, in the ongoing high-profile dispute with its former president and CEO Deborah Dugan. In January 2020 Dugan in a discrimination complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused the academy of ousting her after she pushed back against what she called a "boys club" board of directors. She claimed that Greenberg Traurig LLP shareholder Joel A. Katz, long an outside counsel for the academy, made sexual advances towards her before she took the CEO job, a charge Katz denied. And she alleged there were voting irregularities with the Grammy Awards, self-dealing and conflicts of interest and overpayments to law firms including Proskauer Rose. The EEOC investigation is ongoing.

The academy, through Oncidi, struck back with claims against Dugan for breach of contract, breach of the duty of loyalty, conversion, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and its California counterpart and for declaratory relief. Those claims are in arbitration. Grammys v. Dugan, 01-20-0000-3932 (AAA, filed Feb. 3, 2020).

In a pending matter not yet filed, Oncidi said he's been retained by a national law firm to represent it in a threatened whistleblower complaint by a former administrative employee.

In December 2019, Oncidi obtained summary judgment for client Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in a wrongful termination and disability discrimination claim by a former patient access representative. The defense centered around the plaintiff's having committed a serious scheduling error for a cancer patient; Oncidi argued the plaintiff was terminated for a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason. Hernandez v. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, BC677372 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 26, 2017).

-- John Roemer