Overview
Yesenia M. Gallegos is the co-office managing partner for McDermott’s Southern California offices and a partner in the Firm’s Employment Practice Group. She has over two decades of litigation experience representing employers in wage and hour class actions, Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) class actions, California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) representative actions, embezzlement disputes, restrictive covenants, and also defends against discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims. She is also an experienced counselor who provides strategic advice to employers and the C-Suite on mitigating risk in mergers and acquisitions, pay equity, executive compensation and executive employment agreements, employment investigations, enforcement or avoidance of restrictive covenants, managing leaves of absence, and reductions in force.
Yesenia advises an array of domestic and international companies, from small business owners to Fortune 500 companies. She assists employers in establishing work rules and registering such with local labor regulatory agencies in Latin American countries. She also conducts and oversees workplace harassment and discrimination investigations and conducts wage and hour audits. Yesenia provides organizations with English and Spanish training on sexual harassment prevention; employment law for managers and supervisors; compliance with California wage and hour law; and the interplay between disability law, reasonable accommodations, and leaves of absence.
Yesenia is a frequent author and speaker on labor and employment topics, including those pertaining to the defense of wage and hour class actions and California PAGA representative actions and restrictive covenants. She also often speaks on diversity topics in the legal profession.
Results
- Defeated a nationwide class action consisting of thousands of job applicants who sought employment with a multi-national manufacturing employer and alleged that they did not receive clear and conspicuous notice that the employer would perform a background check and thereby violated their rights under the FCRA by successfully opposing class certification, and thereafter successfully opposing the class representative’s motion for leave to amend the complaint in an effort to revise his class claims, which resulting in a victory for the employer on all FCRA-related class claims
- Significantly reduced alleged exposure in a California wage and hour class action and PAGA representative action against a healthcare staffing company and its client, by promptly securing the dismissal of the staffing company’s client from the action, followed by the prompt dismissal of the class claims and prompt resolution of the remaining PAGA-only representative action consisting of the claims of only non-exempt workers in a narrowly tailored position who were employed with the healthcare staffing company in a limited period of time
- Obtained a court order dismissing a wage and hour class action after more than five years of litigation on the grounds that continued litigation would violate California’s five-year rule*
- Obtained a court order dismissing an employee’s claims for fraud and negligent misrepresentations with the use of a special motion to strike/anti- Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) motion after the employee was unsuccessful in obtaining a judgment for wrongful termination against the employer and sought to prosecute new claims*
- Obtained a court order dismissing a program director of a nonprofit academic organization when both she and the school were sued by a former employee alleging retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims*
- Obtained declaratory judgment in favor of a California technology company and successfully opposed its competitor company’s efforts to enforce a noncompetition provision that would have precluded the California company from employing an executive who had previously been employed by the competitor (a non-California based company)*
- Obtained a judgment in favor of a global commercial battery manufacturer and service provider in a disability discrimination and failure to accommodate case filed by a former employee pursuant to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act by establishing that the employee was terminated in compliance with the employer’s non-discriminatory leave of absence policies, and by demonstrating that the plaintiff could not meet his burden of establishing that the employer’s decision was motivated by discriminatory animus*
- One of two partners who represented CLS Transportation in the pivotal wage and hour class action Iskanian v. CLS Transportation Los Angeles, wherein the California Supreme Court held that Concepcion v. AT&T overruled the state’s supreme court decision in Gentry v. Superior Court, affirming the decision that class action waivers in employment arbitration agreement are enforceable*
- Successfully appealed the California Employment Development Department’s tax and penalty assessment levied against a California employer resulting in an 85 percent reduction in penalties*
- Obtained judgment in favor of a national retail corporation sued by a former employee claiming disability discrimination, failure to engage in interactive process and failure to accommodate*
*Matter handled prior to joining McDermott.
Recognitions
- Legal 500 US, Recommended, 2024
- Best Lawyers in America, Employment Law – Management, 2023-2025
- Los Angeles Business Journal, Women of Influence: Attorneys List, 2024
- Orange County Business Journal, Leaders of Influence: Women in Law, 2024
- Los Angeles Business Journal, “Leaders in Law” Award, Nominee, 2018
- Super Lawyers Magazine, Southern California Rising Star, Women’s Edition, 2017
- Super Lawyers Magazine, Southern California Rising Star, 2013 to 2014, 2016 to 2017
- Hispanic Lifestyle Magazine, Named among Latinas of Influence, 2016
- Los Angeles Business Journal, Named among “Most Influential Minority Lawyers,” 2016
- Latino Leaders Magazine, Named among 25 most influential Hispanic lawyers in the United States, 2015, 2016
- Hispanic National Bar Association, “Regional President of the Year Award,” 2014
- Los Angeles Business Journal, Women Making a Difference Award Nominee, 2013 to 2015
- Hispanic National Bar Association, Named a “Top Lawyer Under 40,” 2013
Community
- Hispanic National Bar Association, compliance officer, 2024 to 2025; former general counsel, 2023 to 2024; former regional president for Southern California, 2013 to 2014
Credentials
Education
University of San Francisco School of Law, JD, 2003
University of California, Los Angeles, BA, 2000
Admissions
California
Courts / Agencies
US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
US District Court for the Central District of California
US District Court for the Northern District of California
US District Court for the Southern District of California
Languages
English
Spanish
