Top employment Lawyers in Santa Barbara | 4 available

4 employment lawyers are available in Santa Barbara, california, including James Reed Rosen, Kristi Rothschild, Virginia Fuentes, and William Hunt. These lawyers are rated between 4.8/5 to 5.0/5 and 51% provide free consultation.

James Reed Ros

Kristi Rothsch

Virginia Fuent

William Hunt

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James Reed Rosen

15 W. Carrillo St., Suite 100 , Santa Barbara , California 93101

Practice Areas: Employment, Litigation, Personal Injury, Ethics, Life Insurance, Medical Malpractice, Sexual Harassment, Business, Lawsuits & Disputes, Wrongful Termination, Civil Rights, Defective Products, Discrimination, Wrongful Death

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Kristi Rothschild

27 W Anapamu St Ste 289 , Santa Barbara , California 93101

Practice Areas: Employment, Class Action, Wrongful Termination, Sexual Harassment, Discrimination, Employment & Labor

No matter the social setting, be it work or play, 90% of the people I've met introduce themselves and then identify what they do. They don't identify the number of kids they have, or whether they are married or single. They identify their jobs, their careers, or their line of work.. For better or for worse, our jobs and our careers define our lives. It's where we spend most of our waking hours.. When something negative happens at work, it has a profound affect. Many people live paycheck to paycheck, and any disruption at work can affect our ability to support our families. It can also have a shocking affects on our view of ourselves. Our jobs are deeply personal.. This is why I practice employment law.

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“Kristi has always gotten me out of a jam. No matter the situation her advice and experience has help”

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Yelp Review

“I work in California, for the state. I am in a contract situation, limiting my options to bring workplace charges based on my union's binding arbitration...”

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Lawyers.com Review

“I have the highest regard for Kristi's legal skills and ethics. As a mediator, I work closely with a large number of attorneys and I have no reservations in refering clients to Kri…”

Google Review

“Kristi is genuinely fighting the good fight. She is extremely knowledgeable, straightforward, compassionate, and went above and beyond for me. I am grateful for her service.”

— Lacey H

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Virginia Fuentes

1117 State Street , Santa Barbara , California 93101

Practice Areas: Estate Planning, Business, Contracts, Corporate, Employment

Virginia focuses on supporting individuals, families, and small business owners through financial and legal decisions (including employment decisions). My mission is to empower clients to reach their goals by using the best legal strategies available. My core competencies include estate planning, small business, employment law, human resources management, workplace investigations, sexual harassment and more. As part of my practice, I dedicate much of my time towards educating the community on issues related to family asset protection, Kids Protection Planning, “LIFT” (Legal, Insurance, Financial and Tax) issues related to running a small business, and creating and preserving a lasting Legacy that includes more than just money.

Avvo Review

“We contacted Virginia to help us with our family's estate planning needs. She was amazing to work w”

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Google Review

“Virginia was kind, patient, and very thorough with our estate planning. Communication from the very beginning consultation all the way to handover of the finished documents was fan…”

— Matt Coy

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William Hunt

5276 Hollister Ave Ste 262 , Santa Barbara , California 93111

Practice Areas: Antitrust, Employment, Chapter 7

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Recent Q&As in California (employment)

Is my company discriminating against pregnant women? (CA, USA) | Aug 25, 2026 | Sourced from Reddit
Location: California, USA Hi all, in the state of California, you are considered disabled at 36 weeks of pregnancy. I had an approved disability claim with the state of California with paperwork from my doctor stating my disabling condition was pregnancy. I filed paperwork with my work for a pregnancy disability claim and twice they denied my short term disability leave stating “being 36 weeks pregnant is not sufficient information. your doctor must provide specific information as to why you cannot work”. To get the documentation exactly how they wanted I would need to schedule an appointment and tell my doctor what to write on the form which didn’t seem right to me either. Going back and forth and going to my doctor was frankly exhausting especially when the baby was expected any day at that point so I told them to forget it and I would take unpaid pregnancy leave. I find it seriously legally questionable that the state of California could find me disabled but my work (or rather the 3rd party representing my work) said I was not disabled and refused my claim. I spoke to other women and they experienced the same. They were not paid disability until the baby was born. Are pregnant women being denied disability illegally? or is this something my work is able to do? I live and work in California, the other women I asked live and work in California. Thank you in advance.
California payroll issue: missed paycheck, $2,000 Zelle, and incorrect final paystub — what should I do? | Aug 24, 2026 | Sourced from Reddit
I recently left my MDS LVN position at a SNF due to management is really bad and I feel sorry for the resident that is currently admitted. My agreed rate was $52/hr. Payroll schedule was 1st–15th paid on the 25th, and 16th–end of month paid on the 10th. I worked 40 hours from 7/27–7/31. My iSolved account wasn’t set up correctly, so I completed a paper timecard and gave it to the facility administrator. The administrator was the person responsible for entering my hours into iSolved. Those July 27–31 hours should have been paid on 8/10, but I received no paycheck. On 8/3, I reported COVID exposure, worked about 3 hours, was sent home, then tested positive. I did not work [8/4–8/12](tel:8/4-8/12) while isolating unpaid since I’m new. After following up about the missing 8/10 paycheck, I spoke with my administrator demanding my check so my administrator sent me $2,000 via personal Zelle on 8/13 as advanced since he admitted that he deaden a mistake and did not process my hours. No paystub was provided for the Zelle payment. At the time I understood it to be connected to the missed payroll. Now that I’ve left, he was asking me for the $2,000 back and he says it was his personal money to help me with rent. I dispute that characterization and I also have the texts/Zelle record that indicated that money was sent to cover his mistakes from the corporate HR but he did not expect that I would…
21, first job in California employer made this 2-year non-compete a condition of employment. Is this legal? | Aug 23, 2026 | Sourced from Reddit
Location: California I’m 21 and this is my first job in California. When I was given my employment contract, I was also given this separate non-compete agreement and told it was part of what I needed to sign for the job. I’ve heard they are illegal now. For more context,I’m an hourly, at-will employee in a real estate/property-management support role. I’m fine with reasonable confidentiality and trade-secret protections, but this seems extremely broad. Is this legal in California? And what rights do I have if signing this was made a condition of employment? Should I just sign and deal with it later? NON-COMPETE AGREEMENT This Non-Compete Agreement (this “AGREEMENT”) is made _________ by and between [COMPANY], (the “COMPANY”) and [EMPLOYEE] (the “EMPLOYEE”). WHEREAS, the parties hereto recognize and agree that the services of the Employee are special and unique and that he/she has special fiduciary duties to the Company as an Employee; WHEREAS, for the foregoing reasons, a covenant on the part of the Employee not to compete during his employment and for a reasonable period after the termination or expiration of his/her employment is essential to protect the business of the Company; NOW, THEREFORE, it is hereby agreed by the Company and the Employee as follows: 1. NON-COMPETE. During the period of the time that the Employee is employed by the Company and for a period of two (2) years after the termination or cessation of employment for any reason (both periods of time, taken together, being referred to…
Wage Theft in San Francisco and my Options? | Aug 23, 2026 | Sourced from Reddit
Location: San Francisco, CA i live and work remotely in San Francisco for a corporation based in SoCal (but recently moved its HQ to another state for tax reasons but idk if that's relevant) and have been on-call 24/7 (not allowed to leave the house at all unless I'm going somewhere with secure wifi because I handle medical data) every 4-6 weeks (108 hours a week) for the past six years. I have been desperately asking my now-former manager about standby or on-call pay the entire time because I have never received it and he and our CIO ignored me completely until I was being moved to a new team with a new manager and he finally told me to ask HR. To be fair, I should have thought to do that myself, but I have had only negative experiences with HR thus far. After SEVERAL months of requesting updates and sending case after case of the exact same complaint that went to the California Supreme Court and did NOT find in the company's favor, HR got back to me that I was indeed correct and am owed three years of backpay (the statue of limitations for wage theft is three years) but it's been over a month since I was notified and whenever I request an update of when I can expect said backpay and how much it will be, I am told it's "still in the works." I am concerned that they are trying to wait out the…
just looking for general California workers’ comp advice from people who have dealt with something similar. | Aug 20, 2026 | Sourced from Reddit
Posting for someone close to me because we’re not sure what the best move is. He was recently injured while working in California. He was performing a physical job when a piece of work equipment struck him around the head/ear area. The injury was significant enough that he went to the ER and needed treatment. He has also had some concerning symptoms afterward and has had to miss work while recovering. The employer knew the injury happened at work. What makes the situation more concerning is that immediately after it happened, there were comments made about removing work clothing/not making it obvious that the injury happened while working. There is evidence/documentation of some of these conversations. Since then, his boss has been repeatedly pressuring him to come back to work even though he is still recovering. The boss has made comments along the lines of, “You need to come to work or I’ll replace you.” He hasn’t officially filed a workers’ comp claim yet. He is basically stuck between two options in his mind: Not filing workers’ comp and hoping his boss/company will privately cover his medical expenses, missed work, and compensate him for the injury. Filing workers’ comp, but he’s scared that his employer will replace/fire him or make things difficult for him afterward. He’s also considering going back to work because he’s afraid of losing the job. He seems to think that if he returns to work, then he shouldn’t/can’t file workers’ comp anymore. My questions are: Does…

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Disclaimer: This content is based on aggregated public information and estimated market trends. It is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.