Sarju A. Naran

“At the heart of every company are its employees. Employees can be a company’s greatest asset and also its greatest source of legal risk. The risks can be particularly challenging in California, where the cards appear to be stacked against employers and the technical ‘gotchas’ and penalties are abundant. I collaborate with employers to shape their employment practices, help develop and maintain a positive corporate culture, address compliance issues strategically, and navigate through disputes that are often nuanced and emotionally charged.” —Sarju Naran

Background

Sarju Naran is a zealous advocate for his clients, and approaches litigation with creativity and strategy. Chair of the Employment Law Group, Sarju’s experience spans from representing middle-market and family-owned closely held businesses to large multi-national companies. He regularly litigates and provides advice and counsel to companies on:

Wage and hour issues
Trade secret misappropriation
Employee mobility
Wrongful termination
Performance management
Leaves of absence
Other high risk matters

Sarju appreciates that litigation can be an unwelcome distraction to business operations, and often comes at high financial and intangible cost. As such, Sarju is committed to representing his clients with an eye toward prevention, compliance, mitigation, and efficiency.

Sarju spent his first five years of practice with Hoge Fenton, then was an associate with Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker, LLP in Palo Alto for four years before rejoining Hoge Fenton in May 2010.

Sarju was named a “Northern California Super Lawyer” from 2016 – 2023. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. He also received the 2023 Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent Attorney Award and received the Avvo Top Attorney Rating.

Practice Areas

Education

J.D., University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, with distinction
B.A., English and Philosophy, Santa Clara University

Admissions

California
U.S. District Court, Eastern & Northern Districts of California
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Professional & Community Activities

Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley, Board Member
Rotary Club of San Jose, Board Member
San Jose Downtown Association, Board member and Committee chair
ProVisors (San Jose 1), Executive Committee and Host
San Jose/Silicon Valley Community Leadership Program, Alumnus
Downtown Community Development Corporation, Board Member and Treasurer
Firm Pro Bono Chair
San Jose Downtown Association, Former Board Member
YMCA of Silicon Valley, Former Board Member

Awards

Sarju was named a “Northern California Super Lawyer” from 2016 – 2023. Each year, no more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. He also received the 2023 Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent Attorney Award and received the Avvo Top Attorney Rating.

Representative Matters

Obtained temporary injunctive relief to prevent a Fortune 100 employer from interfering with a Chief Technical Officer’s new position with another Fortune 100 employer by attempting to enforce an out-of-state non-compete agreement in California
Settled—through direct negotiations, mediation, and often pre-litigation—dozens of employee claims for alleged overtime violations, exemption misclassification, missed meal and rest break claims, disability discrimination, age discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and unfair competition
Advised and counseled an international company through the one and one-half year-long process of closing one of its California plants, including guidance through WARN compliance, and drafting retention agreements, relocation agreements, and separation agreements
On the eve of trial, successfully resolved a highly contentious lawsuit for nuisance value, where a former employee sued for alleged unpaid commissions and the client employer filed a cross-action for trade secret misappropriation based on documents uncovered through litigation
Favorably resolved numerous sexual harassment lawsuits based on uncovering damaging and provocative employee information through inexpensive computer forensics and informal investigation of publicly-available social media postings
Obtained a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction preventing a former sales employee of a franchisee business from unlawfully competing through the use of his former employer’s client lists, pending and completed transaction lists, and other confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information
On behalf of a prominent national Silicon Valley-based company, conducted HR investigations of complaints lodged against a Vice President for alleged disability discrimination and retaliation

Speaking Engagements

Co-Presenter, 2024 Employment Law Update, January 18 & 24, 2024
Co-Presenter, Don’t Get Sued: Labor & Employment Law Landmines, December 11, 2023
Co-Presenter, If Knew Then What I Know Now – Wage & Hour Webinar, September 26, 2023
Co-Presenter, Deciphering the Alphabet Soup of Leaves of Absence Laws, May 17, 2023
Co-Presenter, Constant Change is the Norm. – How Are You Keeping Up?, February 28, 2023
Co-Presenter, 2023 Employment Law Update, January 17, 2023
Co-Presenter, Supervisor Training: Managing Employees & Timekeeping, September 28, 2022
Co-Presenter, Wage & Hour – Back to the Basics, May 10, 2022
Co-Presenter, 2022 Annual Employment Law Update, January 11, 2022
Co-Presenter, Employers’ Hard Lessons Learned Through Wage & Hour Lawsuits, September 22, 2021
Co-Presenter, Reopening California – What Employers Need to Know, July 15, 2021
Co-Presenter, Reopening California – What Employers Need to Know, June 16, 2021
Co-Presenter, Legal Issues Committee Q2 2021, June 8, 2021
Co-Presenter, California Employers’ Obligation to Recall Laid-Off Employees First, Hoge Fenton, April 28, 2021
Co-Presenter, Hiring: First Impressions Matter…and So Does Not Getting Sued, Hoge Fenton, April 7, 2021
Co-Presenter, CA Labor Law Discussion, California MBA, January 12-13, 2020
Co-Presenter, 2021 Annual Employment Law Update, December 15, 2020
Co-Presenter, Litigation in Reverse, October 27, 2020
Co-Presenter, Return to work… or Not?, October 8, 2020
Co-Presenter, Employee Lawsuits on the Rise: What You Can Do, September 23, 2020
Co-Presenter, Best Practices for Managing a Remote Workforce, September 2, 2020
Co-Presenter, Reopening California: PPP Forgiveness & Return to Work, July 14, 2020
Co-Presenter, Reopening California: PPP Forgiveness & Return to Work, June 30, 2020
Co-Presenter, Round Table: Schools Returning to the Workplace, June 25, 2020
Co-Presenter, Returning to Work, May 26, 2020
Co-Presenter, Tactics and Traps in Deposing and Defending Business Representatives Under FRCP 30(b)(6) and CCP 2025.230, May 19, 2020
Co-Presenter, Employment Issues, Relating to COVID-19, May 7, 2020
Co-Presenter, How Manufacturers are Taking Care of Business Amid COVID-19, April 30, 2020
Co-Presenter, Your COVID-19 Funding & Employment Questions Answered, April 23, 2020
Co-Presenter, The FFCRA and CARES Act Update, April 7, 2020
Co-Presenter, Human Resources Compliance – AB5, March 26, 2020
Co-Presenter, COVID-19 Update: New Paid Leave Benefits for Employees, March 20, 2020
Co-Presenter, Small Mistakes, Major Consequences…Let’s Hit Rewind, July 27, 2018
Co-Presenter, Wage and Hour Law Update, November 15, 2017
Co-Presenter, Employment Law 101, Financial Poise November 18, 2016

Sarju is a frequent speaker, having presented seminars to clients, professional organizations, and trade associations on such topics as wage and hour compliance, overtime exemptions, independent contractor classifications, performance management, leaves of absence, sexual harassment (AB 1825 training), social media and technology in the workplace, document management, and retention, trade secret audits and protection, employment terminations, and annual employment law updates. Sarju has also been a panelist on electronic discovery issues for the Santa Clara County Bar Association. For a list of these and other trainings offered by Sarju, please click here.

Shareholder, Chair - Employment Law

Main Bio

Background

Practice Areas

Education

Admissions

Affiliation & Awards

Professional & Community Activities

Awards

Representative Experience

Representative Matters

Speaking & Publications

Speaking Engagements

Publications

Peninsula

Peninsula

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley

Tri-Valley

Tri-Valley

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