Louise Ann "Luzann" Fernandez

Strategic Counsel to Managing Partners

Overview
Credentials
Experience
Insights
Publications

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Louise Ann “Luzann” Fernandez is Partner of the Labor and Employment Practice at Bartko Pavia LLP. Luzann is a fierce litigator with more than 30 years of experience who is retained by corporations, hospitals, and celebrities for high-profile, high exposure cases. Luzann tackles any challenges facing her clients head on and is known for developing novel and out-of-the-box theories to meet them.

Luzann is also active as an independent investigator, utilizing her litigation experience to investigate claims of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and other corporate compliance issues.

In addition, Luzann is a volunteer mediator for the Central District of California Mediation/Conciliation program where she leverages her extensive experience to resolve conflicts.

Prior to joining the firm, Luzann was the founder and Chair of the Labor and Employment practice group at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP. Luzann started her legal career as a field attorney at the National Labor Relations Board.

Credentials

Education

George Washington University Law School, J.D.
Stanford University, A.B.

Bar Admissions

State Bar of California

Court Admissions

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
United States District Court for the Eastern District of California
United States District Court for the Southern District of California
United States District Court for the Central District of California

Recognitions

Named as a Southern California “Super Lawyer” (2004–2025)
Recognized in Best Lawyers in America®, Labor and Employment Law – Management (2016–2025)
Recognized in “Best Lawyers in Southern California,” Los Angeles Magazine (2015–2022)
Recognized in “Women in Law,” Los Angeles Magazine (2017–2019)
Included in “Top Women Attorneys in Southern California,” Los Angeles Magazine (2014–2018)
Named by the Daily Journal as one of California Top Labor & Employment Lawyers (2010, 2013)
Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review, AV Rating, 5 Stars

Experience

Represented entertainment executive against false accusations of sexual assault. Obtained both a dismissal, seven-figure public settlement on a malicious prosecution case in favor of the executive, and a public apology in the New York Times.
Represented technology company in its litigation against C-Suite executives who misappropriated trade secrets and company resources to start a competing venture. Luzann was able to obtain jurisdiction over the foreign nationals which was pivotal to the case.
Defeated class certification on behalf of numerous clients.
Architect of strategy to hold a California executive of a global cosmetics company to his non-solicitation and non-compete.
Obtained judgment against a plaintiff’s lawyer on behalf of a technology company who failed to return documents to the Company post-litigation.
Obtained summary judgment on behalf of a global cosmetics company, thus eliminating the risk of class certification.
Argued en banc before the Ninth Circuit on National Labor Relations Act preemption issues.

Insights

Publications

30, January 2025

Client Alert: Increase in Salary Threshold for Administrative Exemption for Employees Working in New York City

Starting on January 1, 2025, the minimum salary for New York City employees to meet the salary threshold for the administrative exemption is $1,237.50 per week or $64,350 per year.

Honors and Awards

01, January 2025

Bartko Pavia Attorneys Recognized as Best Lawyers® Award Recipients

We’re proud to announce that four Bartko Pavia attorneys have been named in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected lawyer ranking service, using a peer-review process to ensure credibility and trust. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

Publications

01, December 2024

Labor and Employment Law Updates 2025

As with most legislative years, 2024 was a busy year for California employment law developments. Several important new laws and regulations were enacted that will affect the operations of California employers of all sizes for years to come. We have summarized in a client alert some of the more significant laws and regulations that may impact employers’ operations. The full client alert can be found here.

Honors and Awards

15, November 2023

Bartko Pavia Ranked by Best Law Firms® in 2024

Bartko LLP has been recognized in the 2024 edition of Best Law Firms®, ranked by Best Lawyers®, nationally in one practice area and regionally in eight practice areas.

Honors and Awards

10, November 2023

Five Bartko Pavia Lawyers Recognized as 2024 Best Lawyers® Award Recipients

Bartko LLP is pleased to announce that five lawyers have been included in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

Honors and Awards

18, November 2022

Five Bartko Pavia Lawyers Named to 2023 Best Lawyers® List

Bartko Pavia is pleased to announce that five lawyers have been included in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.

Press Release

09, November 2022

Bartko Pavia Secures Major Victory In Kalamas v. John Muir Health

Luzann Fernandez, Patrick Ryan, Chad DeVeaux, Kerry Duffy, and Lisa Ferguson secured a major victory in Kalamas v. John Muir Health. The Bartko Pavia team filed an anti-SLAPP motion seeking to strike substantial portions of the plaintiff-doctor’s 800-plus-page Complaint against our clients John Muir Health and Calvin Knight, and two other defendants. The Complaint seeks significant damages for employment retaliation, infliction of emotional distress, and breach of contract. In support of these claims, the Complaint targeted statements made during medical peer-review proceedings and academic critiques of medical protocols and scientific theories proposed by the plaintiff. Finding that these allegations targeted core speech and petition activities protected by the First Amendment, the California Constitution, and Civil Code § 47(b)’s litigation privilege, the Court granted Bartko’s motion, striking the plaintiff’s emotional distress and contract claims in their entirety, dramatically limiting the scope of her retaliation claims, and dismissing all the claims against the three remaining defendants. Please see the attached November 9, 2022 Order here. This sets up a motion for attorneys’ fees against a wealthy individual. This victory comes on the heals of a win in the Peterson v. Sutter Med. Found., No. 3:21-cv-04908-WHO, 2022 WL 2869531 (N.D. Cal. July 20, 2022)—an important anti-SLAPP decision decided last July in a case handled by Michael Abraham, Steve Steinberg, and Chad DeVeaux, leveraging Chad’s and Patrick’s prior anti-SLAPP work in numerous other cases. Patrick and Chad are leading practitioners in anti-SLAPP jurisprudence, having collectively prevailed in over 25 such motions across their career and working on some of the most important cases, including at the California Supreme Court level. In fact, this recent victory marked a “hat trick” for Bartko, as this was the third anti-SLAPP victory of the year.

Publications

02, May 2022

Multi-State Wage Transparency Laws Relating to Job Postings

Currently, Colorado is the only state that requires an employer who employs at least one employee in Colorado and posts an electronic job advertisement in Colorado (remote or otherwise) to also post a hyperlink on the advertisement that clearly provides (1) the hourly rate or salary, (2) general description of bonuses or other compensation, and (3) general description of benefits.

Publications

15, January 2020

Firm Expands Into SoCal With Preeminent Labor & Employment Group

San Francisco, January 15, 2020. Bartko Pavia is pleased to welcome a top-tier Northern and Southern California labor and employment practice with co-chairs Louise Ann Fernandez and An Nguyen Ruda joining the firm. Their clients following them to the firm include healthcare providers and media companies. Ms. Fernandez, Ms. Ruda and their group, including associate Elina Tilman, will complement and bolster Bartko’s complex litigation and real estate practices by providing additional vital services for corporate clients.

Press Release

17, January 2018

Employers’ Responsibilities under the New York State Paid Family Leave Benefits Law

On January 1, 2018, New York’s Paid Family Leave Benefits Law (“PFLBL”) became effective. The PFLBL provides eight weeks of total paid time off for employees who work for twenty or more hours per week (after twenty-six consecutive weeks of employment) and part-time employees who work less than twenty hours per week (after one hundred and seventy-five days of work, consecutive or otherwise). Below are a few key steps that New York employers should take to be compliant with the new law:

Publications

The 29th Annual Labor and Employment Law Symposium: Effective Advocacy in Employment Arbitrations: The Experts Tell You What Works and What Works Against You
Legal Update for the Professional and Human Resources Association: Contingent Workforce Issues
Presentation: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace – Louise Ann Fernandez
University of California Los Angeles Entertainment Symposium: Rush to the Future: New Rights and Wrongs in the Entertainment Industry
Labor & Employment New Year Round-Up: What to Expect in 2020
Labor & Employment 2018 Legislative Round-Up: What to Expect in 2019
New Law Prohibits California Employers From Asking Applicants About Salary History
CLIENT ALERT: 2017 Criminal Background Laws
Corporate Law Winter 2010 Newsletter: Employee Monitoring in an Electronic Age