BuildSmart Program: Construction Law Series

Robert Roginson is the managing shareholder of the Los Angeles office and Chair of the firm’s Trucking and Logistics Industry Group. His practice focuses on all aspects of California and federal wage and hour and pay practice counseling and class action defense. Mr. Roginson represents employers in administrative agency investigations and state and federal class action litigation. Mr. Roginson has defended dozens of employers, motor carriers, and other companies in class actions and PAGA lawsuits involving a variety of allegations ,including worker misclassification, meal and rest period violations, reimbursement claims, off-the-clock claims, and record keeping violations. He also counsels employers and companies on California and federal wage and hour and pay practice laws, federal preemption matters, prevailing wage laws, project labor agreements (PLAs), labor relations and union matters.

Mr. Roginson is regarded by clients as a trusted strategic advisor focused on developing effective and practical solutions to complex legal employment challenges. He is adept at developing compliant policies and practices to avoid and minimize litigation. From November 2007 until March 2010, Mr. Roginson served as Chief Counsel for the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement(DLSE). Appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr. Roginson represented and advised the California Labor Commissioner and her staff in all aspects of enforcement and interpretation of California’s labor and wage/hour laws, licensing requirements, and retaliation statutes. He also managed and directed the Division’s litigation and handled matters involving meal and rest period and wage and hour compliance and enforcement, public works and prevailing wage requirements, the Talent Agency Act, and the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA). As Chief Counsel, Mr. Roginson authored the DLSE amicus brief in the landmark California Supreme Court Brinker case, and his brief set forth the standard adopted by the Court for what constitutes lawfully providing a meal period under California law. Mr. Roginson also authored several significant DLSE opinion letters clarifying and explaining California law. They include opinion letters affirming California’s on-duty meal period requirements, affirming an employer’s right to take deductions for vacation and sick time for partial-day absences for exempt employees, affirming an employer’s right to implement proportionate salary and work schedule reductions for exempt employees, authorizing the use of debit pay cards and convenience checks, and approving temporary alternative workweek schedules. Mr. Roginson has also served as an expert witness and consultant in several wage and hour and public works matters.

Mr. Roginson focuses a significant portion of his practice to counseling and representing contractors, developers, and companies regarding state and federal prevailing wage laws, including the Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon Act. Mr. Roginson counsels national employers on steps to achieve multi-state compliance with state prevailing wage laws. Mr. Roginson regularly defends contractors and subcontractors against DLSE Civil Wage and Penalty Assessments, seeks public works coverage determinations, and analyzes and counsels clients on complex public works coverage issues. While Chief Counsel of the DLSE, Mr. Roginson co-wrote and edited the DLSE’s Public Works Manual. Before becoming an attorney, Mr. Roginson worked in the industrial relations department for a multi-employer construction trade where he represented construction contractors in labor grievance and arbitration matters in addition to the negotiation of the  Southern California building trades master labor agreements.