Wendy Musell

Employment

Oakland

From a young age, Musell has been attuned to the struggles of working people, having worked herself since the age of 12 and witnessing her single mother juggle multiple jobs.

"I wanted to devote my skills and time to doing work that would make a difference and enforce civil rights for all workers," she said.

Musell is a recognized expert in representing federal, state and other public employees, including many high-profile whistleblowers who have called out government corruption.

Alongside co-counsel Toni Jarmilla, Musell secured a judgment in favor of a plaintiff on all counts of sex discrimination, harassment and retaliation, resulting in $1.2 million in damages and $235,000 in attorneys' fees and costs, as well as significant injunctive relief. Escoto v. Merrick Garland, Attorney General of the United States, Department of Justice. 2:23-cv-03340 (C.D. Cal., filed May 2, 2023).

This case, which involved severe sexual harassment of a staff assistant to an assistant chief immigration judge in Los Angeles, gained national media attention.

"For me, this case was particularly important to address discrimination, harassment and retaliation in the judiciary, where there are limited remedies generally to even bring a case and few attorneys willing to take a sitting judge and the Department of Justice on and win," Musell said.

In another impactful case, and in collaboration with Disability Rights Advocates, Musell took on the county of Los Angeles' hiring practices.

The case challenged the requirement of psychological testing for social workers and the non-selection of applicants with mental health diagnoses. The resolution brought county-wide injunctive relief, altering the hiring policies and practices, and awarded damages of $675,000 along with $2.2 million in attorneys' fees and costs.

She also represents a class of employee and former employees of NASA who are gay and lesbian and who have been denied benefits based on their sex and sexual orientation.

The EEOC appeal court, the Office of Federal Operations reversed dismissal of the action and ruled that the sole affirmative defense of NASA of the Defense of Marriage Act was deemed unconstitutional and not available to NASA as a defense in the action and ordered the Office of Personnel Management as the entity who has authority to grant relief sought by the plaintiff class be joined in the action and remanded for further proceedings.

"It took ten years for OFO to rule on this case that discriminating against employees based on their sexual orientation in benefits is not legal under the constitution," Musell said

Musell said cases against public entities and law enforcement agencies require an understanding of administrative processes not required in other cases, and limited remedies because they are public entities.

"On top of that, there are immunities issues and a seemingly unending defense budget often without reasonable resolution efforts," she said. "I particularly like taking on public entity cases, because no one is above the law, and we have to have public entities that comply with civil rights requirements for a functioning democratic system."