Jeffrey S. Sloan

Education:

• Stanford University (A.B.)
• UCLA School of Law (J.D.)
• Cornell University (M.M.H.)

Bar Admissions:

• California
• New York
• Washington, D.C.

Memberships:

• The California State Bar
• California Lawyers Association, Labor & Employment Law Section
• The New York State Bar Association
• New York State Bar Association, Labor & Employment Law Section
• The DC Bar

Employment Law Counseling & Preventive Advice

• Advise a biotech company that discovered its HR Director had implemented non-compliant wage and hour policies for its employees; conduct an HR audit and perform calculations of back-due wages, statutory/civil penalties, premium pay for missed meal and rest periods, reimbursements, and interest owing to all affected employees; guide employer through the process of notifying and paying all affected employees all sums due; draft final agreements confirming the resolution of all issues for all affected employees and ending the matter without litigation.

• Manage all employee performance, discipline, leave of absence, and termination issues and strategies for a transportation company; work with company executives to develop strategic coaching and performance improvement plans (PIPs); draft final agreements ending the  employment relationship of under-performing employees without litigation.

• Advise a law firm client through the “interactive process” and other sensitive disability and employee privacy issues when a senior firm manager stopped coming into the office and began communicating only through doctors; draft final agreements ending employment relationship and resolving the matter without litigation.

• Manage the reclassification of employees for a property management company that had inadvertently misclassified dozens of employees; perform proper “exempt” vs. “non-exempt” analysis for each employee and calculate back-due wages, penalties, and interest for those who were misclassified; guide client through the process of paying each misclassified employee in full and securing release agreements to resolve the matter without litigation. 

• Advise a medical group through complex shareholder-physician discipline matters, bonus disputes, and eventual separation negotiations; draft final agreements ending the employment relationship, forcing the sale of the employee’s shares back to the group, and resolving the matter without litigation.

Employment Agreements:

• Design a new incentive compensation plan and draft employment and bonus agreements for a law firm creating a new class of attorney-employees called “non-equity partners.”

• Draft AB 5-compliant consulting services agreements for a remote digital marketing firm that utilizes specialized workers who have their own businesses.

• Design a new incentive compensation plan and draft bonus agreements for commission-eligible employees of a national importer and wholesaler of exotic foods.

• Draft company vehicle and employee privacy policies for a construction firm that provides vehicles to its employees equipped with sophisticated GPS and driver/vehicle monitoring software.

• Draft Prop 22-compliant independent contractor agreements for a rideshare services company that wanted to convert its app-based drivers from employees.

Executive Severance:

• Advise the Chief Marketing Officer of a publicly traded technology company through their termination; coach client on how to self-negotiate the terms of their deal, given client’s longstanding tenure and friendship with the company’s original founder; draft final separation documents resulting in a multi-million-dollar severance deal for client.   

• Advise the Chief Technology Officer of a national investment management firm through their termination; conduct negotiations with the firm’s General Counsel; draft final separation documents resulting in a multi-million-dollar severance deal for client.

• Advise the Chief Financial Officer of a publicly traded biotech company through their termination; conduct negotiations with the company’s General Counsel; draft final separation documents resulting in a substantial cash payment plus accelerated vesting of then-unvested RSUs and stock options worth millions of dollars.  

• Advise the Chief Strategy & Artificial Intelligence Officer of a publicly traded clothing company through their termination; conduct pre-litigation negotiations with partners from the company’s retained outside law firm; draft final separation documents resulting in a multi-million-dollar severance deal for client. 

HR Audits, Infrastructure & Strategy:

• Advise a California-based consulting firm on its multi-state expansion; conduct an HR Audit of the firm’s existing HR policies and agreements; work with the firm’s HR team to re-classify independent contractors as employees, convert improperly designed “exempt” employees to “non-exempt” status, and design a new multi-state HR infrastructure consisting of a multi-state employee handbook, proprietary information and innovation assignment agreement, and mandatory arbitration agreement.

• Assist a startup with no employees on the design and implementation of an HR infrastructure to allow them to start hiring employees; advise the company’s founder on payroll issues, employee benefits, the use of independent contractors vs. employees, and proper wage and hour policies; draft new HR infrastructure consisting of offer letter templates, an employee handbook, confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement, and mandatory arbitration agreement, and performance review templates (for employes) and consulting services agreements (for independent contractors).

• Perform an HR audit for an interior design firm who had previously used HR “consultants” to create their workplace policies and agreements; coach the firm’s founder and HR team on proper, compliant wage and hour policies, employee vs.contractor classifications, the difference between “exempt” and “non-exempt” employees, and handling employee leave of absence requests; design a new HR infrastructure for the firm, with a new employee handbook and multiple new policies and agreements, and guide the firm through the announcement and rollout of its new HR infrastructure to employees.

• Design a new HR infrastructure for a growing law firm with multiple offices following an HR audit; advise the firm’s partners on hiring, compensation, and employee benefits issues; design a new bonus plan for attorneys that rewarded teamwork, originations, productivity, and specific career milestone achievements; lead rollout meetings with firm employees to announce and explain the firm’s new HR infrastructure.

Workplace Investigations:

• Conduct a 12-witness workplace investigation for a California sporting goods company whose Vice President had been accused of sexual assault and harassment by another employee; interview accuser, accused, and all relevant witness; draft extensive investigatory report summarizing witness statements and reaching findings and conclusions on all allegations.

• Conduct a workplace investigation for a restaurant whose employee was suspected of theft and embezzlement; review sales records, time cards, and other materials and conduct witness interviews; draft investigatory report summarizing evidence and statements obtained and reaching findings and conclusions on all allegations.

Advise a healthcare company whose Chief Executive Officer was accused of sexual harassment on investigation issues and strategies; interview investigator candidates; conference with the chosen investigator on key facts and issues as they arose during the investigation; make recommendations to the General Counsel on the company’s formal response to the investigator’s findings and conclusions.

• Northern California “Super Lawer” in Employment Law (Super Lawyers magazine) 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

• National “AV Preeminent” Rating in Employment Law (Martindale Avvo) 2013-2025

• National “Top Rated Lawyer” in Employment Law (American Lawyer magazine) 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024

• “Best Lawyers in America” in Employment Law (U.S. News & World Report magazine) 2020 

• “Best Employment Lawyers in San Francisco” (Expertise.com) 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025