Background
Sarju Naran is an employment lawyer whose experience spans from representing small, family-owned businesses to multi-national and high profile publicly-traded companies. He has litigated a wide range of claims involving allegations of wrongful termination, sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wage and hour law violations, trade secrets misappropriation, breaches of restrictive covenants, and unfair competition. Sarju also counsels and advises employers with respect to employment classifications, employee mobility issues, sensitive departures, and other high risk matters.
While he is a zealous advocate for clients who find themselves needing to pursue or defend against litigation, Sarju appreciates that business owners generally view litigation as a course of last resort. He knows that litigation affects a business’s bottom line, is an unwelcome distraction to business operations, and often comes at a high financial and emotional cost. As such, Sarju is committed to representing his clients with an eye toward prevention, compliance, mitigation, and efficiency.
Because of his family’s long-time ownership and management of hotel properties in the Bay Area and Central Valley, Sarju is intimately familiar with the particular legal issues that arise in the hospitality industry, including franchise disputes, ADA compliance, management/personnel agreements, extended-stay guests, and choice of business entity. In addition to the employment law expertise Sarju brings to the table, he partners with other attorneys in the firm to comprehensively address issues pertaining to real estate, land use, landlord-tenant, commercial leasing, purchase/sale agreement, financing, tax, construction, green building, and wealth management for business owners in the hospitality industry and beyond.
Sarju is a frequent speaker, having presented seminars to clients, professional organizations, and trade associations on such topics as independent contractor classification, sexual harassment, performance evaluations, document management and retention, employee leave issues, workers’ compensation, employment terminations, exit interviews, and employment law updates.
After spending the first five years of his practice with Hoge Fenton, Sarju was an associate with Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker, LLP in Palo Alto for four years before rejoining Hoge Fenton in May 2010.
Professional/Pro Bono Activities
Sarju is an alumnus of the San Jose/Silicon Valley Community Leadership Program, and is a pro bono attorney for the Domestic Violence Clinic of Legal Aid of San Mateo County, which assists victims of domestic violence in obtaining restraining orders against their assailants.