We are employer lawyers.
We counsel and defend businesses.
Our attorneys represent employers and business owners by providing legal advice relative to the myriad of employment-related requirements and rules that apply to employers under California labor law. We have represented employers before various courts as well as California and federal agencies in cases in a variety of cases. We also represent employers and employees in negotiating executive compensation and severance agreements.
Our firm handles numerous employment-related litigation matters including:
- Covid-19
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Counseling, advising, and defending employers on Covid-19 related matters. These include Covid-19’s impact on the workplace; drafting policies & protocols for businesses such as OSHA compliant Covid-19 response protocols, employee notifications, temperature protocols, Work From Home policies, liability waivers, and more
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Advise employers on the Families First Coronavirus Act and application to your business
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- Mediation, Arbitration, Litigation of all matters including
- Wage & Hour claims (for example: meal & rest breaks, overtime, split-shifts)
- Misclassification: Independent contractor vs. Employee analysis
- Sexual harassment claims
- Wrongful Termination
- Discrimination
- Retaliation
- Complaints before the DFEH, DLSE, OLSE, and other administrative agencies.
- Counsel employers on
- Compliance with all California and Federal Labor Laws
- Contract negotiations (including Executive Compensation Agreements)
- Confidentiality and trade secret clauses in agreements
- I-9 compliance
- Social Media Policies
- Employee Handbooks
- Advice regarding bullying in the workplace
- Employers rights to access employee e-commerce materials
- Healthy Care Security Ordinance (HCSO) (Healthy San Francisco program compliance and representation)
- Draft, negotiate and advise on severance agreements
Employee handbooks
There are no one-size fits all approaches to your business. Creating a comprehensive and customized Employee Handbook is a great way to ensure your company is California compliant. There are hundreds of laws that relate to employment practices in California. This can seem daunting and overwhelming to even the most sophisticated business owner. Creating an Employee Handbook customized to your business needs is a great way to organize all of your policies and obligations under California law in a digestible and common sense manner so you and all of your employees are on the same page.
Employee Handbooks can also serve as evidence of your knowledge and compliance with California employment regulations. These tailored documents decrease your risk of liability if an employee sues you for sexual harassment or discrimination by setting out a clear and progressive disciplinary system that can be uniformly applied to all employees for all types of issues that may arise.
Annual Employment Audits
California laws are constantly changing. Our attorneys make it a priority to keep up-to-date on these changes. We recommend an annual audit of your policies to make sure you remain code compliant. These audits are pressure checks, just like an annual physical, where slight changes and adjustments can be made to keep your policies and procedures lawful with minimal disruption to your employees work.
Employer Lawyers

April Glatt
Partner
About April
April is a seasoned litigator handling Employment, Real Estate and Business Law. Her expertise in Labor & Employment Law focuses on the employer-side from start-ups to medium size businesses to be California Labor compliant and minimize risk. April is experienced in compliance, legal counseling, business strategy & commercial lease negotiations, policy advising & litigation. April also advises employers in all aspects of the employer-employee relationship, including hiring, employment and on boarding documents and agreements, Handbooks, employee classification issues, reasonable accommodation and harassment advice to employee termination, and defending employers in all aspects of litigation with a proven ability to achieve results that work to support strategic objectives, values, culture and competitive edge of the organization. April is a strategic thinker and advocate who is focused on providing exceptional customer service while solving and preventing legal problems. April is a former prosecutor for the Assistant State's Attorney in Illinois and worked as a Staff Attorney for the 19th Judicial Circuit in Illinois. She also worked for the San Diego District Attorney's Office and Bay Area Legal Aid. April is also an advocate for bone marrow donation volunteering for Be The Match and other community organizations on the Peninsula.Practice Areas
Speeches and Presentations
- "2020 California Employment Law Updates", San Mateo County Bar Association (Redwood City, CA; January 2020) (presenter)
- "California Employment Updates for Employers", Boston Private Bank & Trust (San Mateo, CA; February 2019) (presenter)
- "2019 California Employment Law Updates", San Mateo County Bar Association (Redwood City, CA; January 2019) (presenter)
- “Wage and Hour Discovery: Common Privacy Objections from Employers and Employees”, San Mateo County Bar Association (San Mateo, CA; October 2018) (presenter)
Awards & Honors
- Selected to 2019 Northern California Top Women Lawyers list. (Super Lawyers™)
- Selected to 2019 Northern California Super Lawyers list. (Super Lawyers™; 2019)
Bar Admissions
- California, 1996
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, 1997
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, 1996
- Illinois, 1997
Education
- Juris Doctor, University of San Diego School of Law, San Diego, California, 1996
- Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 1992
- april@chauvellaw.com
- 650-573-9500

Nicholas Gioiello
Associate

About Nicholas
Nick is a Bay Area transplant originally from the Los Angeles area. Nick attended Occidental College for his undergraduate degree and earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Santa Clara. Nick’s focus is on employment (employer-side) from counseling and advising through litigation as well as general civil law and business litigation. Nick hails from the Family Law arena where he handled an array of cases from inception through litigation. In his spare time, Nick enjoys attending baseball games, exercising, and spending time with his rescue dog Turner.Practice Areas
Bar Admissions
- California, 2017
Education
- Juris Doctorate, Santa Clara University School of Law, Santa Clara, 2017
- Bachelor of Arts, Economics, Occidental College, Los Angeles, 2014
- nick@chauvellaw.com
- 650-573-9500

Natalia Canas
Associate
About Natalia
Natalia is a part of our Labor and Employment team. Her primary focus is working with employers to ensure California labor compliance in all aspects of the employer-employee relationship up and through litigation. As a native Spanish speaker, Natalia is available to serve Spanish-speaking individuals and businesses. Natalia, who has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside earned her Juris Doctorate with a certificate in High-Tech Law from Santa Clara University School of Law. In law school, Natalia received the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence for Legal Research and Writing, and actively participated in Moot Court as a participant and Assistant Director of the Honors Moot Court Competition, where she was able to fine tune her research, writing and oral advocacy skills.
In her free time, Natalia enjoys traveling, cooking and spending quality time with friends and family.Practice Areas
Bar Admissions
- California, 2019
Education
- Juris Doctor, the Santa Clara University School of Law
- Bachelor of Arts, University of California -Riverside
- natalia@chauvellaw.com
- 650-573-9500