Nisha Verma
PEOPLE

Nisha Verma

Partner
verma.nisha@dorsey.com

Overview

Nisha is passionate about helping organizations avoid or minimize the distraction of litigation, so that they can focus on their core mission.

Nisha leads Dorsey’s California Labor & Employment group. She believes that a peaceful and productive employment relationship is always worth striving for, but understands those relationships can feel increasingly dysfunctional today, in the face of changing societal expectations of organizations, frivolous complaints, and abuse of California’s wage and hour regulations by the plaintiff’s bar. She works with her clients every day to manage through these challenges from a balanced perspective that keeps the organization’s goals and unique value proposition at the forefront. To that end, Nisha is always looking for the most innovative and efficient ways to provide solutions in response to her clients’ labor and employment needs.  

Nisha has delivered results for her clients with respect to all aspects of labor and employment law, including the following:

Advice and Counsel, Compliance Support, and Investigations: Nisha has a depth of experience in the most challenging issues employers face today, including sexual harassment or other sensitive investigations, employment terminations and severance negotiations, confidentiality, non-disparagement, and trade secret protections and limitations under state law, paid sick leave, kin care, and paid time off regulations, background check and drug testing requirements, regulatory filings including EEO-1, pay data, and affirmative action reports, leaves of absence including maternity and paternity leave, layoffs and closures, employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions and operational takeovers, prevailing wage, apprenticeship, and government contracting requirements, and several other complex matters. Nisha also advises physicians, attorneys, and executives with respect to their individual agreements or employment issues. 

Traditional Labor Negotiations and Disputes: Nisha has managed all aspects of union relations for employers, including organizing campaigns, representation petitions and related objections, unfair labor practice and other proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board, grievance administration and labor arbitrations, collective bargaining agreement negotiations and implementation, labor management meetings, picketing and strike mobilization, and other critical labor matters.

Employment Litigation, with an Emphasis on Wage and Hour Class and Representative Actions: Nisha is a seasoned litigator who has obtained results for clients through trial, arbitration, dispositive motions, and mediation. She handles a wide variety of litigation including single-plaintiff actions and contractual disputes, but specializes in managing complex wage and hour class actions and representative actions under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA), including matters relating to the effect of arbitration agreements on these claims.  In every case, Nisha conducts a thorough and in-depth evaluation early on and presents her clients with the full range of possible strategy options in order to ensure the litigation is handled in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

Prior to re-joining Dorsey’s Labor & Employment Group, Nisha served as Senior Legal Counsel at a multistate healthcare employer, where she implemented solutions to wide array of labor and employment matters, handled healthcare and government contract negotiation and dispute resolution, and obtained certifications as a compliance and privacy officer. 

Education & Admissions

DePaul University College of Law (Juris Doctor, 2009), summa cum laude, Order of the Coif

University of Nevada, Reno (Bachelor of Arts, 2005)

Admissions

  • California
  • Illinois
  • United States District Court for the Central District of California
  • United States District Court for the Southern District of California
  • United States District Court for the Eastern District of California
  • United States District Court for the Northern District of California

Languages

  • Hindi

Experience

Representative Experience

  • Obtained summary judgment in wage and hour class action concerning the employers’ wage statements and procedures for final pay, which decision was affirmed on appeal in a published case
  • Obtained summary judgment in a case of first impression regarding the effect of pre-litigation releases on PAGA representative actions
  • Obtained summary adjudication on case of first impression regarding an overtime exemption specific to the employer’s industry
  • Successfully defended action alleging retaliation and wage and hour claims by obtaining summary judgment on the majority of claims and an arbitration award on remaining claims
  • Dismissal of unfair labor practice charge relating to an employer’s obligations with respect to healthcare plans, which was affirmed by the National Labor Relations Board
  • Defended employer in arbitration involving sexual harassment claims, obtaining a complete defense decision for the employer
  • Successfully mediated numerous wage and hour class and representative actions based on off-the-clock, overtime, minimum wage, final pay, wage statement, regular rate of pay, and meal and rest period claims, obtaining a favorable settlement for the employer

News & Resources

Articles

Tensions Continue to Rise as Labor Organizing and Enforcement Both Increase Going in to 2023
Updated Leave Laws Reflect a Changing Environment for Employers Navigating a Post-Pandemic Economy in 2023
California Governor Gavin Newsom Signs Update to State’s Pay Transparency Law, Setting Out New Pay Disclosure Requirements
Job-Protected Leave Under the California Family Rights Act Expands to Apply to Employers with Five or More Employees Effective January 1, 2021
Five FAQs: Paid Sick Leave for COVID-19-Qualifying Reasons Available to All California Employees Under New Law
California Cities and Counties Issue Orders and Recommendations on Use of Face Coverings in the Workplace
How to Quell the Overwhelm: Using Organization and Self-Care to Manage Stress
In Remarkable Reversal, California Supreme Court Takes a Broad View of Standing Under PAGA
California Supreme Court Rules that Employees Must be Paid During Mandatory Security Searches
Court Temporarily Halts California’s New Ban on Mandatory Employment Arbitration Agreements
Five FAQs on California’s New Ban on Mandatory Arbitration Agreements
Five FAQs on California’s New Ban on Mandatory Arbitration Agreements
What Do Employers Need to Know Following the Passage of California’s New Law on Independent Contractor Misclassification?
FAQs for Employers Following the Passage of California’s New Law on Independent Contractor Misclassification
Weed & Work: As Legalization Spreads, So Does Uncertainty Over Employers’ Duty to Accommodate Marijuana Use
Ninth Circuit Weighs in on California De Minimis Standard, Finding that Troester Requires Compensation for Even “Seconds” of Time Worked on a Regular Basis
3 Takeaways From Google’s Harassment Policy Overhaul, Law 360
California Governor Signs Spate of #MeToo Era Bills Into Law
Which Provisions of California’s So-Called ‘Sanctuary State’ Legislation Affecting Employers are Currently in Effect?
California High Court Confirms Written Authorization Required For Most Employer Background Checks
California High Court Rejects De Minimis Standard, Requiring Employers to Account for and Compensate Even Small Increments of Time After Clocking Out
In a Common Sense Decision, Appellate Court Clarifies Deadline for Employers to Issue Wage Statements under Labor Code Section 226

News & Press Mentions

The New Trap Doors in Employment Litigation
Dorsey Partner Nisha Verma Comments on California's Fast Food Worker Pay Deal
Dorsey Partners Heather Dillion and Nisha Verma Featured in Orange County's Labor Law Roundtable 2023
Addressing Litigation Risks Unique to the New Realities of Remote Work
Dorsey Partner Nisha Verma Discusses COVID-19 Leave Policies
Dorsey Partner Nisha Verma Recognized in United Way Annual Report
Verma Weighs in on California Legal Trends for 2023
Verma Comments on Push for Unionization
Experienced Labor & Employment Attorney Nisha Verma Rejoins Dorsey & Whitney
Verma Featured in OCBJ Special Report: Women in Business Awards
Dorsey Attorney Nisha Verma Discusses Youth Career Connections First Responder Academy
Dorsey Attorney Nisha Verma: United Way Pandemic Relief Fund
Dorsey Attorney Nisha Verma Comments on #MeToo State Laws
Nisha is Doing More through Women United
Dorsey Attorney Nisha Verma Discusses Gag Orders
Dorsey Attorney Nisha Verma Comments on New State Workplace Harassment Laws
Dorsey Attorney Nisha Verma Comments on New CA Workplace Laws

Podcasts

The New Trap Doors in Employment Litigation
Addressing Litigation Risks Unique to the New Realities of Remote Work

Events & Speaking Engagements

Industries & Practices

  • Banking & Financial Institutions
  • Class Action Litigation
  • Government Contracts Counseling & Litigation
  • Healthcare & Life Sciences
  • Labor & Employment
  • Labor & Employment Guides
  • Public-Private Partnerships
  • Technology

Professional & Civic

Professional Achievements

  • Orange County United Way
    • Women United Council (Member 2013 to present; Co-Chair, 2019 to present)
    • Committee, Women’s Philanthropy Breakfast, 2020, 2022
    • Board of Directors, 2021-2022 
  • Autism Speaks
    • Committee, Orange County Walk, 2022
    • California Executive Leadership Committee, 2022-2023
  • Legislative Coalition, Orange Unified School District, 2022-2023
  • Attorney Coach, Constitutional Rights Foundation Mock Trial Program, 2015 to present
  • Pro Bono Attorney to Victims of Domestic Violence, Laura’s House, 2013-2020 
  • Co-Chair, Orange County Coalition for Diversity in the Law, 2014-2015

Accolades

Diversity Inclusion Recognition 2023

  • Contributed more than 50 Diversity hours, 2023
Nisha Verma