Cole Lewis

Cole Lewis is an associate in the Labor & Employment Department.

Cole graduated from UCLA School of Law, where he worked as a law clerk for Public Counsel of Los Angeles and advocated for benefit recipients in the Department of Public Social Services. He has also previously worked as a summer associate in Proskauer’s Labor & Employment Department.

Prior to law school, Cole received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism at Indiana University, where he graduated cum laude.

Firm/Organization: Proskauer Rose LLP

Blogs: California Employment Law Update, Privacy Law Blog, Proskauer on Class and Collective Actions

Latest Articles

California Employment Law Update

Two Important Stragglers Among California’s New Labor Laws

By Tony Oncidi & Cole Lewis

October 21, 2019

Last week, we blogged about the avalanche of new labor laws that California employers will face in 2020. Here are two late additions to the list — just in time for Halloween!: AB 61 (Ting, D-San Francisco) grants employers and coworkers the right to petition a court to issue a gun violence restraining order, which prevents an individual who presents a threat to him/herself or others from “having in [his or her] custody or control,…

California Employment Law Update

Take That, Employers! California is Done (for Now) with this Year’s Legislative Thrashing

By Tony Oncidi, Kate Gold & Cole Lewis

October 14, 2019

Here’s a comprehensive list of the new employment-related statutes enacted and signed into law in the Golden State (effective Jan. 1, 2020 unless otherwise specified): AB 5 (Gonzalez, D-San Diego) makes it extremely difficult for most California employers to hire an independent contractor and would convert such workers into “employees” in the eyes of the law. Read more here. AB 170 (Gonzalez, D-San Diego) exempts newspaper distributers and newspaper carriers until January 1, 2021…

California Employment Law Update

Stray Kitty Moonlights as Lawyer

By Tony Oncidi & Cole Lewis

October 1, 2019

Following passage of AB-5, the recent string of multi-million dollar employee jury verdicts, and other challenging developments, we concluded that our subscribers need some feel-good news every meow and then (sorry). An association of lawyers in Brasília, Brazil has hired Leon the cat as one of their new “attorneys” in order to lighten the mood around the office and to give Leon some refuge from busy city streets. When he was still just…

Privacy Law Blog

Employees Will Be Exempted from Most Requirements of the Amended California Consumer Privacy Act… For Now

By Anthony J. Oncidi & Cole Lewis

September 25, 2019

In an effort to give consumers more control over the data businesses collect from and about them, the California legislature passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in 2018 (and amended it a few months later). The CCPA gives consumers the right to know about and have deleted the data businesses have gathered about them, among other rights. However, the CCPA applies to “consumers” and defines “consumers” so widely that it would cover employees…

California Employment Law Update

Employees Will Be Exempted from Most Requirements of the Amended California Consumer Privacy Act … For Now

By Tony Oncidi & Cole Lewis

September 23, 2019

California Employment Law Update

Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash Pledge $90 Million To Fund Voter Initiative To Overturn Assembly Bill 5

By Tony Oncidi & Cole Lewis

September 4, 2019

close-up-rear-view-of-young-man-using-smartphone-for-searching-travel-picture-id1145791497

Assembly Bill 5, a proposed new law currently pending in the California legislature, would limit and codify last year’s California Supreme Court Dynamex opinion. If passed and signed into law by Gov. Newsom (he’s already said he’ll sign it), AB-5 would make it nearly impossible for most California employers to hire an independent contractor and would convert such workers into “employees” in the eyes of the law. Among the things the California…

California Employment Law Update

Public Employee Union Members Sue Over Forced Dues Payments

By Tony Oncidi & Cole Lewis

August 19, 2019

Five In-Home Supportive Service (“IHSS”) providers filed a class-action lawsuit last month challenging their union’s practice of deducting union dues despite their quitting the union. The workers allege their First Amendment rights are being violated by the union deducting dues from their paychecks and using it to subsidize union speech. Just one year ago, the United States Supreme Court held that it is a violation of the First Amendment to require public sector employees…

California Employment Law Update

California Law Requiring Female Board Members Challenged In Court

By Tony Oncidi & Cole Lewis

August 15, 2019

Earlier this week, three taxpayers sued California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to prevent enforcement of Senate Bill 826. Senate Bill 826, signed into law last year by former Governor Jerry Brown, requires that by the end of 2019, all publicly held foreign or domestic corporations whose principal executive offices are in California shall have at least one female director on their boards of directors. By 2021, such corporations are required to have…

California Employment Law Update

EEOC Has Begun Denying Employers’ Requests For Extensions Of Time To Respond To Discrimination Charges

By Tony Oncidi & Cole Lewis

August 9, 2019

What used to be a routine request – asking the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for an extension of time when responding to a charge of discrimination or harassment and assuming extra time would be granted – apparently is no longer such an automatic thing. In what may signal a broader shift in policy, the EEOC in Los Angeles recently denied an employer’s request for a brief extension of time to provide a position statement. …

California Employment Law Update

Proskauer Scores Two Summary Judgments for Large Southern California Hospital Within 48 Hours

By Tony Oncidi & Cole Lewis

July 17, 2019

We’re delighted to report that we secured two summary judgments in two separate alleged discrimination cases on behalf of a large Southern California hospital in matters that were pending in the Los Angeles Superior Court. In one case, decided on July 12, 2019, the Court agreed with our client that the former employee had failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination and, as a result, all of her discrimination and retaliation claims were…

Cole Lewis

Two Important Stragglers Among California’s New Labor Laws

Take That, Employers! California is Done (for Now) with this Year’s Legislative Thrashing

Stray Kitty Moonlights as Lawyer

Employees Will Be Exempted from Most Requirements of the Amended California Consumer Privacy Act… For Now

Employees Will Be Exempted from Most Requirements of the Amended California Consumer Privacy Act … For Now

Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash Pledge $90 Million To Fund Voter Initiative To Overturn Assembly Bill 5

Public Employee Union Members Sue Over Forced Dues Payments

California Law Requiring Female Board Members Challenged In Court

EEOC Has Begun Denying Employers’ Requests For Extensions Of Time To Respond To Discrimination Charges

Proskauer Scores Two Summary Judgments for Large Southern California Hospital Within 48 Hours

Stay Connected

Company

Support

New to the Network