Mike Kun defends employers in high-stakes wage and hour, breach of contract, discrimination, and harassment cases. He has litigated more than 200 wage and hour class and collective actions nationwide and is an experienced trial lawyer.
Clients credit Mike’s ability to identify issues early. His creative strategies help employers dispose of claims and reduce their litigation exposure, with an eye toward efficiency and cost-savings. By focusing on the unique issues in each case, he regularly defeats class certification motions or obtains dismissal of proposed class claims.
Mike frequently defends employers in class and collective actions, as well as in single-plaintiff cases. He has taken numerous single- and multi-plaintiff cases to trial, defending claims of discrimination, retaliation, harassment, breach of contract, and defamation. He focuses on creating client-specific strategies and defenses.
Outside of his legal practice, Mike has published 12 books, including the Pulitzer Prize-nominated novel “You Poor Monster.” His novel “The Locklear Letters” was adapted for a 2021 movie titled “Eat Wheaties!” He also co-authored “We Are Still Tornadoes,” which was adapted into a play and is being developed for a movie.
- Prevailed in a two-week jury trial in California on pregnancy discrimination and defamation claims.
- Defeated class certification on claims that a national insurance company was the “joint employer” of its vendors’ property inspectors, did not pay for all time worked, denied them meal and rest periods, and provided inaccurate wage statements. After developing a creative strategy to show the plaintiffs could not establish the elements for class certification, Mike was able to reduce the case to just four plaintiffs and obtain an award of summary judgment as to those four individuals.
- Defeated class certification of claims brought against an ambulance industry client claiming it did not provide adequate meal and rest breaks to paramedics. Mike convinced the court to strike Private Attorneys General Act representative claims as unmanageable, and then persuaded the court of appeal to dismiss the plaintiff’s appeal of those rulings.
- Defeated class certification of claims for unpaid wages, missed meal and rest periods, and inaccurate wage statements brought against a residential housing industry client. By showing the plaintiff could not establish the elements of class certification, Mike reduced the matter to a single-plaintiff case, which he then convinced plaintiff to dismiss voluntarily.
- Obtained summary judgment in a class action brought against a temporary staffing company where the plaintiff claimed the temporary staffing company was vicariously liable for alleged wage and hour violations of its client. Mike’s creative arguments were upheld on appeal, establishing a precedent in California that alleged “joint employers” are not liable for each other’s alleged wage and hour violations.
- Convinced a federal judge to deny the plaintiff’s motion for class certification on claims that a staffing company did not timely pay final wages to more than 1,000 terminated employees in California.
- Successfully disposed of a 400,000-person class action for a temporary staffing agency in which the plaintiff alleged that the client did not pay California temporary employees for part (or all) time spent in orientation meetings.
- Obtained summary judgment on behalf of an insurance company in a wage and hour class action in which property inspectors for vendors the company contracted with were seeking more than $200 million. The inspectors argued the company was their “joint employer,” however, the court agreed they did not satisfy the standards for an employer-employee relationship.
- Prevailed in a jury trial in Kansas City on disability discrimination claims.
- Daily Journal 2024 Top Verdicts
- Chambers USA, California—Labor and Employment, 2009, 2012, 2013
- The Legal 500 United States, Labor and Employment Disputes (Including Collective Actions): Defense, 2012, 2013, 2017-2023
- The National Law Review, “Go-To Thought Leader,” Employment Law, 2019
- Southern California Super Lawyers, Employment & Labor: Employer and Class Action/Mass Torts: Defense, 2006 to 2020
- “Electronic Signatures: The Next Battleground for Employee Arbitration Agreements With Class Action Waivers”
Bloomberg Law, July 2024 - “Independent Contractor Classification: Evaluating a Worker’s Status as an Independent Contractor”
Practical Law, November 20, 2023 - “Independent Contractor Classification: Risks of Misclassifying Employees as Independent Contractors”
Practical Law, November 20, 2023 - Quoted, “Calif. High Court Sparks ‘Last Great PAGA Fight”
Law360, August 2, 2023 - Quoted, “Distinctions Among Class, Collective and Representative Actions Make a Difference”
SHRM, August 23, 2022 - Quoted, “How to Respond to Class Actions”
SHRM, August 22, 2022 - Quoted, “Trial Lawyers Vow to Take Sotomayor’s Advice to Get PAGA Fix at Legislature, State Justices”
Daily Journal, June 21, 2022 - Quoted, “Supreme Court ruling strikes blow to controversial California employment law”
L.A. Business First, June 16, 2022 - Quoted, “U.S. Supreme Court Appears Ready to Overturn California’s PAGA Law”
Daily Journal, March 31, 2022 - Quoted, “A Wage-Hour Atty’s Novel-Writing Side Gig Goes Hollywood”
Law360, June 9, 2021
I’ve been fortunate to have published 12 books, mostly fiction, during my legal career. I also enjoy reading and going to sporting events, movies, theaters, museums, and art galleries.