Steven J. Kaplan, Esq., joins JAMS following a distinguished career practicing in all areas of labor, employment and employee benefits law, representing labor unions, employees, employers and employee benefit plans. His experience includes (i) state and federal court jury trial litigation of the full range of wrongful termination and harassment claims, representing both employees and employers; (ii) litigation of ERISA, WARN Act, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and wage and hour claims; (iii) negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, executive employment contracts and executive separation agreements; and (iv) scores of labor and employment law arbitrations. Mr. Kaplan practiced before a host of government agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board, U.S. Department of Labor and California Civil Rights Department (formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing).

Prior to joining JAMS, Mr. Kaplan served as an arbitrator for five years handling both employment and commercial matters with the American Arbitration Association. 

Respected for his analytic skills, Mr. Kaplan has handled important appellate issues, writes and speaks frequently on labor and employment law topics and taught an employment law course at UCLA School of Law from 2018 to 2023. 

Mr. Kaplan understands the pressures parties experience in litigation, and he brings a cool and phlegmatic temperament to his work as a neutral, both as an arbitrator or mediator.

Representative Matters

“Arbitrated” refers to matters in which Mr. Kaplan served as Arbitrator:

• Discrimination
• Arbitrated multiple disability discrimination and failure to accommodate claims in health care industry
• Arbitrated disability accommodation claim asserted by employee in health care industry involving refusal to take vaccine
• Arbitrated claim that employee was unlawfully included in mass COVID-based layoff on account of sex
• Arbitrated multiple discrimination and harassment cases involving employment agencies, franchises and joint-employer questions
• Arbitrated multiple cases involving claims under California Family Rights Act and FMLA
• Litigated constructive termination race discrimination claim against large health care industry employer
• Litigated claim that insurance industry employer refused to hire applicant because of race
• Litigated tenure denial claim based on allegation of religious discrimination
• Litigated claim that employer terminated employee for being a straight white maleLitigated claim that off-duty deputy who drew weapon on white supremacist was terminated because of her race
• Litigated claim by Jewish applicants denied employment because workplace was in Saudi Arabia
• Litigated claim that executive was terminated for taking FMLA-qualifying leave
• Litigated disability and FMLA discrimination claims asserted by employee with kidney disease
• Served as discovery referee for group of related discrimination cases
• Employee Benefits, ERISA and WARN Act Litigation
• Arbitrated claims for severance benefits by class of employees terminated due to major hotel closure
• Litigated COBRA and WARN class action claims against control group and affiliated service group entities
• Litigated California WARN claims arising from labor dispute lockout
• Litigated multiple ERISA executive severance claims
• Litigated multiple ERISA employee health benefit claims
• Litigated ERISA preemption issues involving California HIV privacy law
• Litigated ERISA breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits
• Harassment
• Arbitrated multiple sex harassment claims in health care industry
• Arbitrated claims that male employee was sexually and religiously harassed by female supervisor
• Arbitrated question whether claimant was coerced to make false sexual harassment claim
• Litigated claims of sexual harassment asserted against political party operatives
• Litigated claim by employee that co-workers and supervisors harassed him because of his disability
• Labor Law
• Litigated numerous labor arbitrations under collective bargaining agreements in entertainment, retail and commercial, construction, aerospace and printing industries
• Litigated injunction actions against strikers in entertainment, retail, printing and construction industries
• Litigated numerous actions before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) involving all aspects of the National Labor Relations Act
• Litigated claim by non-union employees before NLRB that arbitration agreement interfered with statutory rights
• Litigated objections to class action settlement involving claim for foreign royalties in entertainment industry
• Other Employment Matters
• Arbitrated claim by employer that employee unlawfully recorded conversation
• Arbitrated legal question whether employee may qualify as indigent consumer under California C.C.P. § 1282.5(b)
• Arbitrated business dispute between professional employer organization (PEO) and client regarding responsibility for wage and hour violations
• Arbitrated claim by employer against employee for breach of contract and negligence
• Arbitrated claim by app-based transportation service driver for wrongful termination under California Proposition 22
• Arbitrated claim by employer that employee violated duty of loyalty and engaged in diversion of corporate opportunity
• Arbitrated executive’s good-cause termination claim in hospitality industry
• Arbitrated executive’s severance pay claim and employer’s fraud and misrepresentation affirmative defenses
• Under delegation clauses, arbitrated multiple cases involving question whether arbitration agreement was unconscionable or illegal
• Litigated claim asserted by university provost for breach of contract
• Litigated claim by employees that employer falsely imprisoned them and violated their privacy rights by searching cars in company parking lot
• Litigated malpractice claim by employees that their attorneys mishandled discrimination claims
• Litigated allegation of wrongful discharge by real estate executive and investment manager involving claims for carried interest
• Retaliation and Wrongful Termination in Violation of Public Policy
• Arbitrated claim that employee was terminated for demanding compliance with COVID protocols
• Arbitrated claim that employee was terminated for requesting disability accommodation
• Arbitrated retaliation claim by employee alleging retaliatory discharge for complaining about Medicare fraud
• Arbitrated constructive discharge claim that employee was forced to quit because of unsafe working conditions
• Arbitrated claim by discharged employee that poor performance was caused by psychological disability
• Litigated claim by whistleblower that he was terminated for complaining about defective X-ray scanners
• Litigated claim that employer terminated journalist because of his political opinions
• Litigated claim by employee that she was terminated for complaining about violations of federal anti-kickback statute in health care industry
• Litigated claim that employer terminated employee for reporting sex discrimination in aerospace industry
  Litigated claim by employee that he was terminated for complaining about financial improprieties
  Litigated claim against public sector employer that applicant was denied employment because of her pre-employment free speech activities
• Trade Secrets
• Arbitrated claims by employer that former employee violated state and federal trade secrets laws
• Litigated claim that employee wrongfully deleted trade secret data from company server
• Litigated claim that executive misappropriated trade secrets in hospitality industry
• Wage and Hour
• Arbitrated multiple cases involving claims that employer misclassified exempt employees
• Arbitrated issue of collective bargaining exemptions under California wage orders
• Arbitrated multiple cases involving claims that employer misclassified independent contractors
• Arbitrated claims involving Labor Code § 2802 and training repayment agreement
• Arbitrated claims by employee that he was entitled to wages for on-call time spent not working
• Arbitrated multiple cases involving claims for violation of meal and rest period requirements, defective payroll statements, unpaid minimum wage and overtime, and late payment of final paychecks
• Arbitrated multiple individual wage and hour claims asserted under construction industry collective bargaining agreements
• Arbitrated wage claim under FLSA and Nevada law
• Arbitrated construction industry Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) exemption questions
• Arbitrated pre-Proposition 22 misclassification claims against app-based transportation service company
• Arbitrated claims that employer engaged in improper rounding
• Selected as arbitrator for mass arbitration claims
• Litigated numerous individual and class action wage and hour claims
• Litigated PAGA and class action claims involving unpaid tips

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

• Fellow, College of Labor & Employment Lawyers, 2010–2025
• Fellow, American Law Foundation
• Recognized as Super Lawyer, 2005–2025
• Member, Labor & Employment Law Section, American Bar Association
• Past Co-Chair, Committee on Union Administration & Procedure
• Past Member, International Labor and Employment Law Committee

• Past Member, California Bar Association, Executive Committee, Labor and Employment Law Section
• Member, Labor & Employment Law Section, California Lawyers Association
• Member, Labor & Employment Law Section, Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA)
  • Executive Committee, 1996–2025
  • Chair, 2002–2003
• Member, California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA), 1992–2019
• Member, American Constitution Society
• Past Member, Lawyers Coordinating Committee, AFL-CIO (now the Union Lawyers Alliance)
  
  

Civic and Community Activities

• New Jewish Narrative (formerly Americans for Peace Now)
• Member, Executive Committee
• Founder and Past President, Progressive Jewish Alliance
• Recipient, Isaiah Award, 2007
• Past President, Pacific Southwest Region, American Jewish Congress
• Former Member, Los Angeles Jewish Community Relations Committee
• Co-Chair, Los Angeles Jewish Commission on Sweatshops, 1997–2000
  
  

Publications

• “Overcoming Third-Party Privacy Objections: Getting the Records You Need,” with Erin M. Kelly, CAOC Forum Magazine, January-February 2020
• “Racism Allowed on Movie Sets?” Los Angeles Daily Journal, March 13, 2017
• “Closer Look at Discrimination Ruling Raises Some Concerns,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, May 3, 2016
• “NLRB Ruling Is a Market Correction, Not a Market Crash,” Los Angeles Daily Journal, Sept. 3, 2015
• “Black v. Brown: Immigration Reform and African-American Employment,” Sh’ma Journal, April 2007
• “Under Suspicion,” Los Angeles Lawyer, June 1998, Vol. 21, No. 4
• “Industrial Dystopia: Richard Vigilante, Strike; The Daily News War and the Future of American Labor” (Book Review), 9 California Labor & Employment Law Quarterly 13 (1995)
• “Injunctions,” Chapter 39, California Civil Procedure Before Trial (Continuing Education of the Bar, 1990)
• “John Deklewa & Sons: The Great Leap Backward,” 6 California Labor & Employment Law Quarterly 9 (1987)
• “Statutory Protection Against Wrongful Termination,” The Employee Termination Handbook (Wiley Interscience, 1986)
• “The Protection of Employee Privacy,” The Employee Termination Handbook (Wiley Interscience, 1986)
• Injunctions (Continuing Education of the Bar, 1985)
  
  

Selected Speaking Engagements

• Los Angeles County Bar Association 43rd Annual Labor & Employment Law Symposium
  Feb. 23, 2023, Los Angeles
  Subject: 50 Ways to Leave Your Employer

• College of Labor & Employment Lawyers
  Sept. 9, 2022, San Diego
  Subject: Impact of Dobbs on Labor and Employment Law

• Los Angeles County Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Section Retreat
  April 26, 2015; Ojai, California
  Subject: The New Frontier: Ethical and Other Emerging Issues in Social Media

• Los Angeles County Bar Association 34th Annual Labor & Employment Law Symposium
  Feb. 25, 2014, Los Angeles
  Subject: When the Accuser Becomes the Accused: Harassment, Defamation Claims and California SLAPP Law

• Western Conference of Locals, American Federation of Musicians
  Feb. 22, 2014; Universal City, California
  Subject: Current Issues in Symphonic Negotiations

• Beverly Hills Bar Association
  July 30, 2013, Beverly Hills
  Subject: The NLRB: Current Issues for Union and Non-Union Workplaces

• Los Angeles Bar Association Advanced Class Action Seminar, Loyola Law School
  June 15, 2013, Los Angeles
  Subject: Releases and Res Judicata in Class Action Litigation

• International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM), 2012 Annual Conference
  Aug. 24, 2012, Chicago
  Subject: Best Practices for Symphonic Negotiations

• Los Angeles County Bar Association 31st Annual Labor & Employment Law Symposium
  March 31, 2011, Los Angeles
  Subject: Wait, Wait! Don’t Rule Against Me!

Background and Education

• Principal, Law Offices of Steven J. Kaplan, Los Angeles, 2009–2025
• Lecturer, UCLA School of Law, 2018–2023
• Principal, Rottman•Kaplan, Beverly Hills, 2001–2009
• Partner, Krakow & Kaplan, Los Angeles, 1993–2001
• Partner, Gilbert & Sackman, Los Angeles, 1981–1993
• Associate; Musick, Peeler & Garrett; Los Angeles; 1979–1981
• Field Attorney, National Labor Relations Board, Region 32, Oakland, 1978–1979
• J.D., University of California, Berkeley School of Law (formerly known as Boalt Hall, now known as Berkeley Law), 1978
  • Research and Development Editor, Industrial Relations Law Journal (now the Berkeley Journal of Employment and Labor Law), 1977–1978
• B.A., History, University of California, Berkeley, 1974
  • With Great Distinction in General Scholarship
  • Phi Beta Kappa