
Pablo has extensive experience litigating class and collective actions in federal and state courts across the country—particularly in California, where he started his career. He understands the intricacies and nuances of complex litigation and is adept at navigating through the processes and strategies involved in class and collective actions.
Pablo also has experience counseling technology startups and emerging businesses on how to develop a lean, flexible, and cost-effective workforce. He understands that young companies must devote their energy and resources to grow, and works with new employers to develop a long-term strategy that can lower costs, protect brand identity, and avoid litigation.
He is also passionate about providing resources to minority law students and disadvantaged youth, but especially Latino lawyers—as Pablo originally hails from Colombia, which is why he’s active in several organizations devoted to increasing diversity in the legal profession.
Key Practice Experience
Litigation
- Nationwide complex litigation, including class and collective actions
- MDLs
- Arbitration agreements
- ERISA compliance, counseling, investigations and class litigation
- Wage-and-hour disputes (state law and FLSA claims)
- Discrimination, retaliation, and whistleblower claims
- Defamation claims
- Consumer fraud and unfair competition litigation (including UCL, CLRA, and FAL)
Counseling
- Key compliance issues for emerging businesses and startups
- EEO presentations
- California employment law compliance
- Equal pay audits, counseling and defense
- Internal investigations
- Employee training in Spanish
Administrative Agencies
- Administrative Agency charge responses (EEOC and state equivalents)
Key Industry Experience
- Financial
- Emerging businesses
- Technology
- Transportation
- Retail
- Franchises
Representative Matters
Litigation
- Favorably settled putative class of 600+ healthcare workers alleging violations of California meal and rest break, overtime, and timely wage payment requirements.
- Successfully litigated case venued in Pennsylvania involving allegations that a nationwide class of at-the-elbow support healthcare consultants were improperly classified as independent contractors.
- Litigated case venued in the Northern District of California alleging that defendants’ social media advertising policies discriminated against a class of thousands of older job applicants.
- Conducted successful “Pick Up Stix” campaign in connection with multi-state class allegations of unpaid minimum wage and overtime.
- Favorably settled several class action cases venued in California state and federal courts concerning allegations that transportation companies failed to pay hundreds of truck drivers minimum wage and provide adequate meal and rest breaks.
- Litigated and successfully settled several class and collective action cases venued in Missouri state and federal courts arising from allegations that software company misclassified thousands of consultants as exempt from applicable overtime wage requirements.
- Litigated nationwide EEOC pattern-and-practice case alleging that employer discriminated against hundreds of retail executives on the basis of age.
- Litigated several class action cases venued in California state courts alleging that a health care provider’s pricing policies amounted to unfair competition and consumer fraud.
- Favorably settled multi-state class action case alleging that a foreign car manufacturer violated numerous unfair competition statutes by selling products that did meet their advertised qualities.
- Successfully settled nationwide class action case venued in California federal court alleging that bank and mortgage servicing company defrauded customers by conducting improper property inspections.
Counseling
- Counseled prominent technology startup based in San Francisco regarding potential misclassification issues involving hundreds of sales associates and advising it on proper methods for future compliance.
- Counseled local startup on anti-discrimination policies.
Courts
- Participated in cases pending before federal and state courts in California, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, and Missouri
Recognition and Honors
- Listed in Rising Stars, Super Lawyers, Class Action/Mass Torts and Employment Litigation
- Externship: U.S. District, Court Central District of California, Hon. Christina A. Snyder, 2010
- Managing Editor, Chicano-Latino Law Review
- Chief Comments Editor, Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs
Publications and Presentations
- “Trying Class Cases and Wage & Hour Hot Topics,” National Employment Law Council (NELC) Annual Conference, San Diego, CA, April 2019
- Moderated, “Practicing Labor & Employment Law,” MHBA Practical Law Series, September 18, 2018
- Quoted in “How external forces are reshaping FLSA compliance,” HR Dive, January 7, 2019
- “The CFPB’s New Rule on Arbitration: What It Is and What Comes Next?” HCBA Debtor Creditor and MSBA Consumer Litigation Sections, September 19, 2017
- “First Things First: Establishing the Business and the Brand” (compliance issues for emerging businesses), 2017 Business Law Institue, Minnesota CLE, May 2017
- “11th Circuit Ponders ADEA Claims for Job Applicants,” Minnesota Lawyer, November 17, 2016
- “Case Rules Arbitration and Class-Waiver Agreements Unenforceable,” Corporate Compliance Insights, August 2016
- “The Tyson Foods Ruling: Guidance for Employers on Representative Evidence,” The Corporate Counselor, July 2016
- “Hope VI Housing Policy & Gang-related Crime,” 30 Chicano-Latino Law Review 217 (2011)
Professional Associations
- National Employment Law Council
- Co-Chair, Regional Conference Subcommittee
- Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association
- Board Member and Chair of the Membership Relations Committee
- Hispanic National Bar Association
- Federal Bar Association
Community Involvement
- Pro Bono Asylum Assistance, December 2016-Present
- Small Claims Clinic, 2012-2013
- Immigrant Detention Center Clinic, 2007-2008
- The State of Pay Transparency Laws
- Covered Employers in Illinois and California Must Soon Report Their Pay Equity Data to the State
- Under the California Equal Pay Act, Incentive Programs Create Disparities
- Sixteen NJL Lawyers on 2021 Super Lawyers Lists
- Seventeen NJL Lawyers Listed in Super Lawyers and Rising Stars
- COVID-19 Creates Additional Risk of Gender-Based Imbalance
- California Limits Wage Statements to California Employees
- Employers: Watch Out for ERISA Lawsuits During Pandemic
- NJL Names Pablo Orozco as Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellow
- California Employers: CA Supreme Court Takes Aim at Wage Laws, Contradicts Federal Law
- Adding More Deep Expertise, Nilan Johnson Lewis Welcomes Largest Group of Laterals in History, Promotes Experienced Associates to Shareholders
- Simplistic Pay Equity Analyses Doing More Harm Than Good
- EEOC Finds Age-Restricted Advertisements Violate ADEA
- AI & “Algorithmic Bias” in Hiring
- Ninth Circuit Applies Dynamex Retroactively
- The Class Action Waiver Loophole in Arbitration Agreements That Employers May Miss
- Employers Should Immediately Review Recruitment Ad Practices Due to Facebook Class Litigation
- Supreme Court Gifts Employers with Big Arbitration Win
- Did the California Supreme Court Instantly Poison the Gig Economy?
- Court Rules Unintentional Age Discrimination Can Occur During Application Process
- Ninth Circuit Rules that Salary History Cannot Justify Pay Disparities
- Top Ten Laws Affecting California Employers in 2018
- Proposed Legislation May Limit Size of Class Actions
- SCOTUS to Sort Out Class-Action Waiver Conundrum
- Dispute Over Arbitration Agreement Deepens Wedge Between Circuit Courts. Supreme Court Next?
- Eighteen Nilan Johnson Lewis Attorneys Named to 2016 Minnesota Super Lawyers & Rising Stars Lists
- Circuit Split May Invite U.S. Supreme Court Review of Age Discrimination in Hiring
- Ruling Arbitration and Class-Waiver Agreement Unenforceable, 7th Circuit Creates A Circuit Split
- Supreme Court Takes Narrow Road in Decision on Tyson Foods Class Action Status
- Nilan Johnson Lewis Welcomes Attorney Pablo Orozco