Jennifer M. Martinez

Jennifer represents private and public employers in federal and state court litigation and before administrative agencies regarding discrimination (including race, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, and disability), harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, wrongful termination, and numerous other types of employment law matters. Jennifer also handles complex wage and hour class action litigation (including off-the-clock claims, meal and rest period violations, exempt misclassification, and contractor misclassification) in both federal and state courts, as well as other representative and collective actions under the California Private Attorneys General Act and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Within the past year, Jennifer second chaired a state court jury trial, obtaining a complete defense verdict for her client on a claim of disability discrimination and failure to accommodate. In addition to her litigation practice, Jennifer counsels employers on a wide variety of employment issues, such as hiring practices, employment policies, disability accommodations and leave administration, employee and contractor classification issues, employment contracts, enforceability of covenants not to compete, leaves of absence, terminations, and reductions in force. She specializes, in particular, in advising start-ups, early stage companies, and technology companies. In addition to general advice and counseling, Jennifer handles sensitive harassment and whistleblower investigations. Jennifer also has considerable merger and acquisition experience, assisting clients in structuring corporate transactions to minimize employment-related risks and maximize the value of the transaction from an employment perspective. Jennifer assists clients with post-transaction issues as well, including integration, policy compliance, employee leveling, and restructuring.
Prior to joining Hanson Bridgett, Jennifer practiced in the employment litigation and employee mobility practices at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto.