Samantha W. Zutler

Overview

Samantha Zutler provides labor and employment advice and litigation services to a broad range of clients, including the Santa Clara Valley Water District, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Clearlake Oaks Water District, Napa Sanitation District, and the cities of Cloverdale, Soledad, Greenfield, Long Beach, and Oakland. She regularly defends clients in matters involving claims of discrimination and harassment, wage and hour violations, and wrongful discharge. She works with clients at all stages of the disciplinary process, from drafting and implementing new policies to defending clients in disciplinary appeals.

Currently, Samantha is defending several clients against the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) “donning and doffing” claims that are sweeping California, in which police officers claim they should be compensated for time spent “donning and doffing” their uniforms and gear. Samantha is defending against, or has settled, such claims in Lemmon v. City of San Leandro, Rodriguez v. Daly City, Tonnacliff v. Union City and Edwards v. City of Long Beach.

Samantha also conducts personnel and internal affairs investigations into allegations of harassment and misconduct. She was recently part of the team of attorney investigators who completed a confidential internal affairs investigation of the officer-involved shooting death of Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART station in the San Francisco Bay Area. This New Year’s Day incident gained public attention throughout the Bay Area and the nation, and sparked protests that extended for a number of weeks following the shooting. The investigation reviewed the actions of the police officers who were involved in the incident to determine any potential misconduct.

In addition to advising and representing clients, Samantha is frequently called upon to conduct training courses for public agency employees and officials throughout California on a variety of topics. Her audiences range from individual and small group trainings to large audiences of 300 people and including police officers, firefighters, attorneys, city management, human resources personnel, board of directors and city councils. Recently, she has trained in the cities of Clearlake Oaks, Milpitas, Pinole, Union City, Rancho Cordova and Tracy, Alameda County, Northern California Power Agency, Oro Loma Sanitary District, Santa Clara Valley Water District, and Water Replenishment District of Southern California well as Sacred Heart Community Service.

Prior to joining Meyers Nave, Samantha was an associate at Moscone, Emblidge & Quadra,  where she represented public and private sectors clients  in areas such as class actions, wage and hour claims, and civil rights claims. Active in the community, Samantha provides pro bono legal services to La Cocina, a small business incubator located in San Francisco.