California Public Sector Employment Law

The California Lawyers Association (CLA) is a member-driven, mission-focused organization dedicated to the professional advancement of attorneys practicing in the state of California. CLA’s Labor and Employment Law Section furthers the knowledge of its members in labor law and employment issues by providing a forum for California’s labor lawyers and non-lawyers with an interest in labor relations and employment issues. The mission of the Labor & Employment Law Section is to provide diverse educational opportunities and perspectives regarding labor and employment issues to section members, the bar, and the general public.

Dale Brodsky retired as a partner and is now of-counsel at Beeson Tayer & Bodine, a Union-side labor law firm with offices in Oakland and Sacramento. Except for a brief stint as a deputy public defender and five years as a high school teacher, she has focused her practice on the representation of educators and other public and private sector employees in employment-related matters including, discrimination, workplace harassment, disciplinary and termination proceedings, and licensing and credentialing defense.

From April 2012 through February 2023, Dale served on the Fair Employment and Housing Commission and its successor bodies, the Fair Employment and Housing Council and Civil Rights Council. During her terms, she worked with her colleagues to draft, review, and promulgate regulations interpreting the State’s civil rights laws, and to support community organizations fighting discrimination and hate violence.

Dale is a member of the California Employment Lawyers Association, (CELA) and the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Council. She serves on the board of the Contra Costa County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), and was a founding member of the Advisory Committee that helped establish the Contra Costa County Behavior Health Court. Dale has been a speaker on panels hosted by the Labor and Employment and Public Sector sections of the California Lawyers Association, the California Teachers Association, CELA, and other organizations. From 1999–2002, she was an associate editor of the California Public Employee Relations Journal (CPER). Her publications include: Pocket Guide to Dismissal Procedures Affecting Permanent, Certificated Employees (CPER, updated 2020); Layoff Rules Affecting Certificated Employees (CPER, updated 2014); and articles published in CPER and California Labor & Employment Law Review. She also co-authored an article in The California Psychologist (“New Legislation Offers Hope for People Whose Mental Disorder Is a Factor in the Commission of a Crime” (Spring 2019).) Dale received her B.A. in English and political science from Stanford University and J.D. from the University of San Francisco.

Katherine Thomson has been a neutral arbitrator and mediator of labor and employment disputes since 1997. She is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators. She arbitrates and mediates in many industries, including construction, communications, correctional officer, education, federal public sector, healthcare, hotels/casinos, hospitals, police and fire, transit, nursing homes, utilities, and broadcasting. Katherine is an advisor to the Executive Committee of the labor and employment section of the California Lawyers Association.

From 1989 to 1996, she practiced public sector labor law with the Law Offices of Robert J. Bezemek in Oakland, California. Prior to 1989, she litigated employment discrimination and wrongful termination cases with Allred, Maroko & Goldberg in Los Angeles. Katherine served as co-director of the California Public Employee Relations program and editor of its journal, California Public Employee Relations from 2011 to 2013.

Katherine co-authored Pocket Guide to Just Cause: Discipline and Discharge Arbitration with Bonnie Bogue and Pocket Guide to Public Sector Arbitration: California with Ms. Bogue and Frank Silver. She has written several articles, including “Arbitrator May Rule on Legal Defense to Grievance,” 180 California Public Employee Relations 28 (2006), “Expired Personnel Records: Can They Be Revived?” 133 CPER 3 (1998), and “Retirement Health Benefits: Gratuity or Guarantee?” 121 CPER 20 (1996). She is the editor of Arbitration 2015: Privacy, Transparency, Legitimacy, Proceedings of the Sixty-Eighth Annual Meeting, National Academy of Arbitrators.

Katherine received a B.A., summa cum laude, in quantitative psychology from UCLA and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Alex Wong is an attorney with the law firm of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, a labor and employment firm that represents public entities, public educational institutions, private schools, and nonprofit organizations.

Alex has been a litigator for more than 20 years, concentrating on employment-related matters including discrimination and harassment lawsuits, wage and hour collective actions, as well as administrative cases such as disciplinary appeals, grievance arbitrations and unfair practice charges before the Public Employment Relations Board. In addition to his litigation practice, Alex regularly advises public safety and public education clients on navigating employee disciplinary matters. Alex also has extensive appellate experience and has authored briefs in a number of cases with important policy ramifications for public safety departments including Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs v. Superior Court (2019) 8 Cal. 5th 28, and Oakland Police Officers’ Association v. City of Oakland (2021) 63 Cal. App. 5th 503. Prior to becoming an editor, Alex was a contributing author for the California Public Sector Employment Law treatise published by LexisNexis.

Alex received his B.A. in Psychology and Economics from UCLA and J.D. from USC Law School.