Michael Rubin

Rubin has helped gain relief for Californians who lost their jobs during the pandemic. “Over many years, lawyers who do impact litigation try at the outset to get injunctive relief to fix the problem. Yes, we’re impatient, and it’s often best to start out with a quick strike. You put the defendant on notice that you’ve caught him at what he’s doing. Injunctions and quick settlements can result.”

In late July, in a groundbreaking settlement negotiated by Rubin on behalf of the Center for Workers’ Rights, the state’s Employment Development Department agreed to immediately pay millions of dollars in conditional unemployment insurance benefits to many who have been waiting months to receive the money.

The affected claimants were approved to receive the benefits, but had their payments frozen without explanation while EDD worked through a huge backlog of eligibility determinations. The class action settlement, announced the day the case was filed, included an agreement to make changes in how it processes unemployment insurance claims. Center for Workers’ Rights v. California Employment Development Department, RG21106525 (Alameda Co. Super. Ct., filed July 22, 2021).

The filing and settlement followed months of negotiations, in which Rubin and colleagues argued that prolonged delays in paying claimants who were in continuing claims status violated the Social Security Act.

Attacking the issue from a different quarter, Rubin is co-lead counsel in multidistrict litigation in federal court in San Diego based on Bank of America’s failure to properly secure the debit card accounts of individuals due EDD unemployment insurance and pandemic unemployment assistance benefits.

The suit, in which a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction and conditionally certified the plaintiff class within weeks of filing, blasted the bank’s practice of depriving claimants of access to their benefits accounts if they contacted the bank to report an unauthorized transaction. In re: Bank of America California Unemployment Benefits Litigation, 21-md-02992 (S.D. Cal., MDL order June 4, 2021).

In April, Rubin and colleagues obtained injunctive relief and a settlement in a disability rights case for a statewide class of the deaf or hard of hearing who contended a sports retailer’s Covid-19 mask policy for store personnel made it difficult to communicate with customers. The deal requires the defendant to supply transparent face masks to its clerks. Bunn v. Nike Inc., 4:20-cv-07403 (N.D. Cal., filed Oct. 22, 2020).

The positive outcome came just four months after the suit was filed, Rubin noted.

- John Roemer