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Melis Atalay

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Employment Law, Litigation, Class Action, California Class Action and PAGA

Melis focuses her practice defending employers against putative class and PAGA representative actions.  She has successfully defended clients in a variety of industries—including retail, logistics, recreational establishments, construction, and healthcare—against off-the-clock, meal and rest break, expense reimbursement, overtime calculation, and FCRA claims. She also has substantial experience auditing companies’ timekeeping and pay practices and policies to enhance wage-and-hour compliance. Melis enjoys representing employers in contentious single-plaintiff matters pertaining to discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination. She has secured numerous walkaway resolutions with no client contribution, both in the wage-and-hour and single-plaintiff spaces.

Employment Law, Litigation, Class Action, California Class Action and PAGA
Learn more about Melis Atalay

Education

Admission to Practice

Professional Activities

  • National Association of Women Lawyers – Advocacy Committee
  • Muslim Bar Association of Southern California

Speeches

Insights by Melis Atalay

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California Court of Appeal Confirms Expansive Reach of Federal Meal and Rest Break Preemption

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulates the hours of service for drivers of certain property-carrying commercial motor vehicles. The FMCSA’s regulations include meal and rest break rules that generally prohibit drivers from driving if they have gone eight hours without a thirty-minute off-duty or sleeper-berth break. Drivers must also be provided with breaks any time they feel fatigued or are otherwise unable to safely drive.

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How California’s Expansion of Paid Sick Leave Impacts Food Sector Employers

On April 16, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order (EO) N-51-20, which imposes new obligations on employers to provide up to 80 hours of supplemental paid sick leave to certain food sector workers. The following overview provides answers to common questions, including: (1) which food service workers are covered by EO N-51-20; (2) what an employer’s obligations are to those covered workers; and (3) how EO N-51-20 interacts with other laws.

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California Employers’ Duties to Reimburse Employees Working From Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In response to “stay-at-home” orders issued by Governor Gavin Newsom and various California municipalities to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) employers have been asking or requiring employees to work from home. In this regard, there may be uncertainty about whether employers are required to reimburse employees for expenses incurred to perform remote work. It can sometimes be difficult to determine which expenses, if any, employers must reimburse, and the amount of such reimbursements. Must an employer reimburse remote workers for all cell phone usage since supervisors are calling employees at home? What about printer ink costs? How about internet service?

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California Worker’s Claim for Individual Damages in LWDA Filing Held Not Dispositive in Motion to Compel Arbitration Inquiry

Although the Supreme Court of the United States has not yet taken up the issue, California courts routinely hold an employee cannot be compelled to submit to arbitration an action seeking penalties under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA), although the employee may be compelled to arbitrate his or her individual wage claims. In determining whether a litigant seeks individual damages and therefore may be compelled to arbitrate wage claims, does the plaintiff’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) notice letter control?

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