Maurice Mandel II

Greetings and Welcome!
My practice has focused on EMPLOYMENT LAW cases in Federal and California Courts for 40+ years. I am a trial attorney, and have handled employment and housing cases involving race, age, gender, and physical disability harassment and discrimination and cases involving sexual harassment and discrimination.
I also handle WAGE AND HOUR matters involving the wrongful theft of wages, including class actions. I have represented both the employee and employer although I predominately represent the employee. Sometimes, I accept cases on a negotiated contingent fee.
I associate with specialists in Worker's Compensation matters, as well.
But I do more than just try cases, I am a professional ARBITRATOR and MEDIATOR and I have also served our Courts as a Court appointed mediator for many different types of cases. Housing discrimination, contract, personal injury and more. COUNSEL, I AM AVAILABLE TO SERVE AS A MEDIATOR FOR YOUR CASE, you really want me as your mediator. Not only will you get a highly trained and dedicated Mediator to help you resolve your case, you will get ADR services at a great rate.
One of my interests is speaking other languages, because you learn about other cultures that way. I have received training in many of the subtle differences in cultures that we deal with in day to day contacts. If you need someone to be sensitive to the needs of another culture, I either have experience or understanding.
I have consistently received the highest peer rating from Martindale-Hubble, an “AV” rating meaning that I had reached the highest of professional excellence and am recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity.
I look forward to hearing from YOU about YOUR situation and whether you need an advocate, an arbitrator or a mediator to help you resolve your difficulties. (It is an old photo, I have grey hair now!)

• Wage and Hour law- employee or employer
• Sexual Harassment or Discrimination including Gender inequity
• Employment Harassment/Discrimination- Race, Handicap, Age, Medical Condition, Pr

• Free Consultation
  Usually if you can provide a summary of your situation by email with attached documents in pdf format, this will work best. Free consultations are not for the purpose of receiving free legal service. A consultation is not the retention of an attorney, which is only by written retainer agreement or engagement letter, signed by all. Opinions given during the free consultation would only be based on the information provided, and newly discovered or additional information may create a substantial change. In any litigation, where the ultimate determination is made by a stranger or strangers, no attorney can guarantee any particular result. Please be very wary of any attorney who says he can.
• Contingent Fees
  Contingent fees are accepted in an appropriate case, which is determined by the Attorney. Contingent fees are not set by law and are subject to the negotiation between the attorney and the client. Costs and expenses incurred are not a part of the contingent fee, and they will be explained in detail before retaining the attorney.
• Rates, Retainers and Additional Information
  Your contract with an attorney is called a retainer. We will only work for you when we have a written retainer agreement with you, signed by everyone, that sets forth what we are supposed to do and how much it will cost you. It may be very difficult to estimate in advance the amount of fees, costs or expenses to resolve your case if you retain us as trial attorneys. That may be likewise if you retain us as a Mediator or Arbitrator. We will try our best to provide you with a reasonable estimate, but it is predicting the future. We accept payments via electronic transfers using ZELLE, an interbank transfer system.

California

ID Number: 98593

Since 1980

9th Circuit

Since 1982

U.S. Supreme Court

Since 1982

USDC/ Los Angeles- since inception of committee

Court Appointed Mediator

1986 - Current

Handling numerous Federal cases, particularly ADA Accessibility cases, as a Court Appointed Mediator in Conjunction with Court's ADR program.

Trial Attorney- lead counsel

Solo Practitioner- 1980- present

1980 - Current

Presiding Arbitrator

OCBA- Mandatory Fee Arbitrator

1986 - 2005

Served both as sole and presiding arbitrator in 3 arbitrator panels; handled numerous cases involving attorney fee disputes. Attended numerous MCLE presentations re: adjudicating fee disputes and ethical concerns for attorneys. Authored opinions.

Professor of Legal Studies- Paralegal Certificate Program

Coastline Community College- Orange Coast Comm. College District

1986 - 1999

dates approximate. Coastline is located throughout Orange County with classes held at various locations. The Paralegal Certificate Program was developed by Margaret Lovig in the 1980's and I was a Professor of Law for that program for a number of years. Originally I developed and taught a course on Federal Civil Procedure in California, then I took on teaching Civil Litigation, Legal Research and Business Law. I really enjoyed working with all the students at Coastline, but I had a reputation of being the "Kingsfield" (from Paper chase) of the program. I also taught remotely through a program we had with the USMC to students that accessed the class via computer- JUST LIKE WE ARE DOING TODAY WITH COVID!!! But this was more than 20 years ago.

Professor of Law- lower and upper division courses

Irvine University College of Law

1991 - 1995

dates approximate. Irvine University College of Law was a private Law School located in Irvine, CA at which I was a professor of law for several years. I taught Contracts, Civil Procedure and other Courses. I enjoyed the practice of teaching law very much.

Western State University College of Law

J.D. (1979) | Law

1979

Activities: Surviving law school

University of Southern California

M.S. (1972) | Education

1971 - 1972

Honors: numerous honors at graduation

Activities: Student Council member during turbulent era of student strikes in protest of Vietnam War, other duties. Recognized by Dean of Students and College President with awards.

University of Southern California

B.S. (1971) | Business Administration

1968 - 1971

Honors: Honored Senior at Graduation, numerous certificates and awards

Activities: Tommy Trojan- rode the school Mascot at games and in Rose Parade, 1969

Orange County Trial Lawyers Association

Member

Current

Federal Bar Association

Founding President/Orange County Chapter

Current

California State Bar  # 98593

Member

1980 - Current

Orange County Bar Association- Mandatory Fee Arbitration Committee

Member of Committee and Fee Arbitration- Handling attorney fee disputes

2006

Activities: Served as sole arbitrator and as Presiding Arbitrator on 3 member panels.

Presenter, California MCLE program, Sexual Harassment in Employment, Costa Mesa, CA

1989

Orange County Bar Association

Chairman and creator of a multi attorney panel to discuss impact of new sexual harassment cases as a Continuing Education of the Bar series for OCBA.

Q. Can I sue my employer in California for not firing an employee who sexually assaulted me?

May 17, 2025

A: Your feelings of being abandoned and not protected by your employer are completely normal and understandable. While an employer has no legal obligation to fire that employee and you cannot force them to, the failure to fire the attacker can make the employer liable in damages to you for failing to provide you a safe workplace, and even more, by fostering a sexually hostile environment- if you are female and attacked, we won't do anything to the man.

The Courts will not force a firing, when the employer won't do the right thing, it is viewed as improper interference with the employer's discretion. And this happens all the time.

On the other hand, the employee is not really the person who can respond to you in damages to compensate you for your distress and other injuries. It is the employer, and the employer may be setting themselves up for a wrongful constructive termination claim by allowing the attacker to remain at work.

You really need to retain a good attorney who has handled sexual harassment and discrimination claims and who knows what you need to do before you file a lawsuit. Don't rely on what advice you receive on bulletin boards and try to handle it for yourself, you would be your own worst attorney. ... Read More

Q. Do I owe penalties for delayed payment due to holiday postal delay to a temporary worker in California?

May 17, 2025

A: It is a common error for employers to believe they can mail a final payment, NOT SO FAST! If you hire an employee who YOU terminate- for cause or for the end of the temporary work, you have to pay them right then. In person. Or before. (no one pays before because few workers would return for the last day.)

It is only if the employee QUITS- that the EMPLOYEE initiates the separation, that the 72 hour rule goes into effect.

Make him an offer for a part of the penalty because if it goes to a labor commissioner, they may agree with you and he would get nothing.

Consult a wage expert with all the facts.

Q. Am I compensated fairly as a property caretaker with 18-hour days and no overtime pay?

May 17, 2025

A: Exemption from being paid hourly overtime on either a daily or weekly basis is based on being in 1 of 3 categories. It sounds like you fall into the "Executive" category because you "manage the clubhouse" which I assume means that you have management responsibilities over other employees. You do not lose the exempt status (which requires that you get paid at least double minimum wage for a 40 hour week) just because you do SOME non-exempt (hourly) duties. BUT these non-exempt duties cannot become the PRIMARY FUNCTION of your job or the employer loses that exemption and owes you for your time. Consider this: you work 12 hours a day, of which 4 hours (half a regular 8 hour day) is for supervising other employees, paperwork, etc. The remaining 8 hours is for landscaping, cleaning, cooking and other non-exempt duties. IMO you are a non exempt employee because your PRIMARY FUNCTION (and more than 50% of your time) is done on non-exempt work.

A big issue is how do you prove that you spent that time on the non-exempt work? A contemporaneous notebook with the hours and jobs noted, or your wall calendar at home, can be very persuasive evidence in a case like this.

You could be sending emails to your boss telling him "I worked from 2pm to 8pm cooking and cleaning up after the hunters today, I barely had any time to supervise any employees after doing the landscaping from 8AM to 12PM" This would show not only that you had done that work but also that the employer knew.

Wage claims like these add up to really large amounts of money. Go to the Labor Commissioner website in the DIR and find a DLSE 55 form. To figure out what your hourly wage is you use 1.5 times the minimum wage, this is regular time, then 1.5 times regular is OT, and 2 times regular is DT. If you worked a 16 hour day, you would have 8 hours regular, 4 hours OT and 4 hours DT. or the equivalent of 22 hours of regular time.

This adds up very fast, you must subtract what you are paid, but what they are not paying for is your DT and OT. You are also entitled to an hour pay if denied a LEGAL meal periods, and an hour pay if denied one or more LEGAL rest periods a day.

If you worked without being paid at least minimum wage, you are also entitled to LIQUIDATED DAMAGES equal to the unpaid hours times minimum wage. There is also interest and other penalties.

You should consult with an attorney who specializes in Wage Claims, there are other penalties available. Don't rely on the information on bulletin boards because the answers only know what you have written and other factors may have a substantial effect on any claim you have. ... Read More