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| Patricia C. Perez |
| SPHR, Attorney at Law |
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Patricia C. Pérez is founder and President of Puente Consulting, Inc. Established in 2001 and boasting an impressive national client list, Puente has become a strategic business partner for companies of all sizes.
Ms. Pérez is a legal expert in the areas of employment law and human resource management. A graduate of the UCLA School of Law and a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources, Ms. Pérez has practiced employment law since 1992. She has worked in Mexico with judicial education programs, has trained thousands of HR, legal and other professionals, and has extensive work experience as an employment attorney and an HR executive.
In addition to her work at Puente, Ms. Perez is also a Commissioner on California’s Fair Employment and |
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Housing Commission (FEHC). Since being appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008, she has adjudicated matters brought before the FEHC, participated in drafting regulations clarifying the Fair Employment and Housing Act, mediated disputes, and participated in a series of presentations aimed at educating the public on how to comply with California’s civil rights laws.
Prior to working with Puente, Ms. Pérez practiced employment law at two San Diego law firms. She represented clients in all facets of labor and employment law, from counseling to litigation.
A former Project Director for a U.S. government-sponsored judicial exchange and education program in Mexico City, Ms. Pérez worked in collaboration with a judicial advisory board responsible for the design and delivery of educational conferences in the U.S. and Mexico. A native Spanish speaker, she is well versed in Mexican law, the nuances of the U.S.-Mexico relationship, and the Latino culture.
Previously the head of the Human Resources and Employee Relations Department for one of the world’s largest law firms (in the Washington D.C. office), Ms. Pérez provided advice and counsel on all areas of employment law to the firm's attorneys and staff managers. She developed and supervised training and was responsible for all facets of HR, including compliance, recruitment, conducting investigations of discrimination and harassment, policy development, compensation, and strategic planning.
Ms. Pérez is active in community and professional organizations, including the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) national and local chapters, the California State and San Diego County Bar Associations (she serves as Vice Chair for the State Bar Labor & Employment Law Section’s Executive Committee), the UCLA Alumni Association (she is a past member of its Board of Directors), San Diego MANA (she is an Advisory Board Member), and the National Association of Women Business Owners.
Additionally, Ms. Pérez has been featured in numerous publications, including the San Diego Business Journal and was profiled by San Diego Biz Magazine as a successful San Diego Businesswoman in 2008. She was recently awarded the 2007 Woman Business Owner of the Year Award by NAWBO San Diego and was also named one of San Diego Metropolitan Magazine’s “40 under Forty” – an award given to the region’s outstanding young business and civic leaders. She was recently awarded the Cesar Chavez Community Service Award at the 2006 Minorities in Business Foundation Awards in Los Angeles Ms. Perez was a nominee for the San Diego Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” Award in 2006 and a finalist for the ATHENA Pinnacle Award in 2007. Ms. Perez has also been a featured guest on KPBS radio in San Diego.
A much sought-after speaker, Ms. Pérez makes frequent presentations about HR and employment law topics, including recent speaking engagements for the American Bar Association, the California State Bar, the California Restaurant Association, the San Diego County Bar Association, and the Hospitality Human Resources Association, among others. She was also a featured speaker at SHRM’s 2006 Annual National Diversity Conference. Additionally, Ms. Pérez has taught employment law at UCSD.
With Puente, Ms. Pérez assists clients from a wide variety of industries in all areas of HR and employment law. She combines her legal expertise with her real world knowledge to provide clients with practical advice on all types of HR and employment law issues. She conducts investigations involving the entire gamut of employee misconduct, mediates employee disputes, advises clients on compliance and HR issues, and trains hundreds of HR and other professionals on a wide variety of topics.
Ms. Pérez has developed a particular expertise in conducting workplace investigations covering the entire gamut of employment law and HR matters. In addition to conducting investigations throughout California, Ms. Pérez has assisted clients in the resolution of workplace disputes in Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania, among several other states. She has worked with both the private and public sectors and with unionized and non-unionized work settings covering a wide array of industries. Ms. Pérez wrote Workplace Investigations: Seven Critical Steps to Success™ and trains HR professionals and line managers across the country on how to conduct fair, thorough and lawful workplace investigations. Ms. Pérez has also written a chapter on workplace investigations for “Advising California Employers and Employees” published by the California’s Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB).
Download a copy of Ms. Perez's CV.
Education and Certifications - University of California, Los Angeles, Bachelor of Arts in English, 1989
- UCLA School of Law, JD, 1992
- Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI) Senior Professional in Human Resources, 2000
Industry Affiliations - California Fair Employment and Housing Commission, Vice Chair
- California Bar Association, Chair of the Executive Committee of the Labor & Employment Law Section
- American Bar Association, Member of the Labor and Employment Law Section
- San Diego County Bar Association, Member of the Labor and Employment Law Section
- Society for Human Resource Management, national and local chapters
- San Diego Lawyers Club
- San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association
- American Society for Training and Development
Community Affiliations - UCLA School of Law Alumni Association, Member, Board of Directors
- MANA, a national Latina organization (former Board member)
- UCLA Alumni Association (former Board member)
- National Association of Women Business Owners
Publications - Workplace Investigations (Chapter 16A), Advising California Employers and Employees, published by Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB)
- Workplace Investigations Toolkit: Seven Critical Steps to Success, Puente Consulting, Inc. reference manual for conducting workplace investigations
- Practical Ways to Deal with Workplace Bullies, California Labor and Employment Law Review, Volume 22 No. 3, May 2008
- Employers Face a Hobson’s Choice Under DOJ’s McNulty Memo, contributing author, ABA Labor & Employment Law Section’s Hot Topics Newsletter, May 2007
- Five Steps to Updating Sexual Harassment Prevention Training: Educating Supervisors is Key to Complying with State Law AB1825, San Diego Business Journal, February 2007
Speaking Engagements - Guest lecturer at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Employment Discrimination, San Diego, Fall 2009
- How to Conduct Employment Investigations, panelist at the California State Bar’s Labor and Employment Law Section’s 2009 Annual Meeting, Berkeley, California, October 2009
- So Much to Talk About, So Little Time: Recent Developments in the Area of Disability Discrimination, panelist at the California State Bar’s Labor and Employment Law Section’s 2009 Annual Meeting, Berkeley, California, October 2009
- The Nuts and Bolts of the DFEH Administrative Process, panelist at the California State Bar’s Labor and Employment Law Section’s 2009 Annual Meeting, Berkeley, California, October 2009
- Latest Developments at the Fair Employment and Housing Commission, presenter at Jones Day’s Employment Law Update, Irvine, California, October 2009
- The Importance of Compliance Training, California Chamber of Commerce (webinar), July 2009
- How to Prevent Harassment, panelist, program presented by the California State Bar’s Labor and Employment Law Section, Los Angeles, California, June 2009
- Jerks at Work: Practical Tips for Working with Workplace Bullies, co-presenter at the California Public Employers Labor Relations Association’s 33rd Annual Training Conference, Monterey, California, November 2008
- Ethical Issues in Workplace Investigations, co-presenter at the California State Bar’s Labor and Employment Section’s 2008 Annual Meeting, San Diego, California, November 2008
- Employment Law Issues in the Biotechnology Industry, co-presenter, Presented by the California State Bar and San Diego County Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Sections, March 2008
- Ethical Issues in Workplace Investigations, co-presenter at the California State Bar’s Section Education Institute Meeting, San Diego, California, January 2008
- Crisis Management During Corporate Scandals-An In House Perspective, co-presenter at the California State Bar’s Labor & Employment Law Section Annual Meeting, October 2007
- Guest speaker on sexual harassment training, These Days with Tom Fudge, KPBS San Diego, January 2007
- Ethical Issues in Class Action Matters, co-presenter at the American Bar Association’s Labor & Employment Law Section’s Ethics Subcommittee Midwinter Meeting, Manzanillo, Mexico, February= 2007
- Beyond Harassment and Discrimination: Getting to the True Meaning of Diversity, Presenter, Society for Human Resource Management National Diversity Conference, Los Angeles, October 2007
- Finding the Right Balance in Your Diversity Initiative by Including Your Allies and Opponents, Society for Human Resource Management National Diversity Conference, Los Angeles, October 2007
- An Introduction to Employment Law, speaker, California State Bar Labor & Employment Law Section Annual Meeting, San Jose, California, October 2006
- Esquire, Private Eye: Ethical Dilemmas in Workplace Investigations, California State Bar Labor & Employment Law Section Annual Meeting, Anaheim, California, October 2005
- Sex, Sex, Sex: Everything You Wanted to Know About Gender in the Workplace, California State Bar Section Education Conference, January 2005
- Managing a Diverse Workforce, California State Bar Section Education Conference, January 2005
- Preparing for 2005: An HR Professional’s Guide to a Successful New Year, Hilton Cluster Group, November 2004
- Things that Keep In-House Counsel Up at Night, California State Bar Labor & Employment Law Section Annual Conference, November 2004
- Cross Border Employment Law, California State Bar Annual Convention, October 2004
- The Essentials of Wage & Hour Law, Hospitality Human Resource Association, October 2004
- Resolving Wage & Hour Legal Issues: A Practical Approach, presented in conjunction with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, July 2004
- Avoiding Lawsuits through Effective Employee Discipline & Dispute Resolution, San Diego SHRM Law Day, January 2004
- Top Ten Issues Corporate Counsel Face, California State Bar Labor & Employment Law Section Annual Conference, October 2003
- Instructor, Employment Law (part of the HR Certificate Program at UCSD Extension), Fall 2003
- Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll: The Legal Limits of Workplace Behavior, California State Bar: Section Education Institute Conference, January 2003
Expert Witness Work
Ms. Perez has been designated as an expert involving numerous employment law issues including: - The extent to which a company had an obligation to conduct an investigation
- The adequacy of workplace investigations
- Whether companies provided employees with reasonable accommodations for their disabilities
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