Maria C. Rodriguez

Rodriguez advises U.S. and international corporations on employment law compliance and mergers and acquisitions; she also defends employment cases and class actions. Many of her clients are in the media and entertainment industry along with others in sports, technology, food and restaurant, transportation, health care and fashion sectors.

The pandemic increased calls for her services. “We were so busy I felt like I was a first-year associate again or in trial prep. Now the focus is on return to work, with nonstop vaccination questions and the prospect of new litigation over Covid issues. It’s been nuts.”

Her innovative practice also includes a major anti-harassment program for the seven major Hollywood studios and other members of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Clients include ViacomCBS Inc., Paramount Pictures Corp., Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Apple Content and Endeavor, formerly known as William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

“We just revised that training for all employees,” she said. “It lived on during the pandemic as the training continued by Zoom for studios and streamers for each live production. The basic idea is simple: it’s workplace respect training that focuses on anti-harassment, anti-bullying and anti-discrimination.”

The program has drawn praise from Time’s Up and the Anita Hill Commission. “We have added conversations about gender identity, unconscious bias and trans issues,” Rodriguez said. “Companies and their legal departments have pushed for this. They and their executives take it very seriously. It is really a zero tolerance approach.”

In her litigation work, Rodriguez and her McDermott team have worked with longtime client Circle K Stores Inc., an international convenience and fuel store business with more than 100,000 employees, on significant matters.

She and the team won summary judgment in a national Fair Credit Reporting Act class action that plaintiffs originally valued at more than $150 million. Limon v. Circle K Stores Inc., 1:18-cv-01689 (E.D. Cal., filed Dec. 11, 2018).

The issue for plaintiffs was whether Circle K violated the FCRA in its background check disclosure for job applicants. Rodriguez lost the first round when the court denied summary judgment. Then, three months later, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided Ruiz v. Shamrock Foods Co., which clarified that, contrary to earlier case law, plaintiffs in such cases had to demonstrate they would not have signed an FCRA authorization form had it contained a sufficiently clear disclosure.

Rodriguez moved for reconsideration and prevailed. “From the first, this was a lawyer-generated lawsuit,” she said. “The named plaintiff knew his background check would be pulled—he said so in discovery. He got the job. He was just mad about his treatment by his supervisor. It’s amazing how often a plaintiff’s gripe really has nothing to do with the substance of a lawsuit.”

She added that she loves her work. “It’s fun. Our clients are nice people who want to get it right, and it’s my honor to serve them.”

— John Roemer