Allison Riechert Giese

Talent Counsel

Silicon Valley Office

agiese@orrick.com

Read full biography at www.orrick.com

Allison Riechert Giese, a lawyer in the Silicon Valley office, is a member of the employment law group. Allison practices employment litigation on a variety of issues, including discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination claims. She also has experience in wage-and-hour issues, including class and representative actions, claims for overtime compensation, meal and rest period penalties and Section 17200 unfair competition claims.

Orrick’s Employment Law and Litigation group was recently named Labor & Employment Department of the Year in California by The Recorder, the premier source for legal news, in recognition of their significant wins on behalf of leading multinational companies on today’s most complex and challenging employment law matters.

Allison was a summer associate in Orrick's Silicon Valley office in 2008. Prior to joining Orrick, she interned in the San Mateo County Superior Court's legal research department.

Posts by: Allison Riechert Giese

Employers Left Hanging Again: Coates v. Farmers Reaches Settlement & Still No Answers on Interpreting California’s Fair Pay Act

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What many were hoping would bring clarity to California’s Fair Pay Act, further left employers in the dark on how to interpret the Act.

On April 29, 2015, Plaintiff Lynne Coates filed a class action lawsuit against Farmers alleging gender discrimination claims under Title VII and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, as well as violations of the federal and California equal pay acts and California’s Private Attorneys General Act.  Coates claimed that Farmers systematically discriminated against female attorney employees and that its “common compensation and promotion policies and practices resulted in lower pay and unequal promotions for female attorneys.”

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Time To Pay Up? California Adopts Stronger Equal Pay Protections

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With Governor Jerry Brown’s signature, California officially amended its equal pay legislation through the California Fair Pay Act (the Act) to include more employee-friendly provisions. The Act, which now creates the nation’s strongest equal pay protections, seeks to close the pay gap in California. The Act may serve as a model for legislation in other states and supporters are even hopeful the Act’s passage may finally push Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which has been introduced in Congress every year since 1994 and upon which California’s legislation was based.

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