Jacob is the managing partner of Rains Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver, PC’s (“RLS”) Southern California practice. Additionally, Jacob heads the Labor Litigation Group where he oversees the firm’s representation of public employee associations and individual clients in various types of civil litigation to enforce their contractual and statutory rights.

Jacob is an experienced labor negotiator, having negotiated numerous collective bargaining agreements to improve clients’ wages and working conditions. When agreement cannot be reached, Jacob has represented clients in factfinding pursuant to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. In addition, he represents unions concerning day to day labor matters, including “meet and confers” and the prosecution of grievances. Regardless of the forum, Jacob’s work is characterized by his creativity, clarity of thought and excellent persuasive writing.

Many of Jacob’s litigation matters involve challenges to the actions of government agencies that impair employees’ rights to retirement benefits. He is accomplished in matters involving the California Public Employees’ Retirement System as well as various retirement associations governed by the County Employees Retirement Law. He has obtained favorable administrative decisions and negotiated settlements on behalf of retirees preserving their benefits.

Frequently, Jacob is called upon to defend the rights of employees to the pay and benefits established in MOUs and statutes. In 2020, he obtained a judgment in favor of the Association for Los Angeles Deputies on behalf of members of the Special Enforcement Bureau requiring the County of Los Angeles to provide SEB members who perform explosive breaching duties with millions of dollars in back pay under the County Code. Jacob is also experienced in matters regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act, representing several clients in enforcing their rights as described in the Ninth Circuit’s Decision in Flores v. City of San Gabriel. He has obtained arbitration awards holding that employers have breached MOUs.

He also handles matters involving the privacy rights of public employees. He obtained a preliminary injunction against the Office of the Inspector General of Los Angeles County who was seeking to force deputies to reveal tattoos. Jacob was part of the team who obtained a temporary restraining order against the State Attorney General from requiring peace officers to reveal their gender identifies pursuant to the Racial Identity and Profiling Act.

Jacob has successfully prosecuted numerous writs of mandate on behalf of his clients setting aside discipline wrongfully imposed by employers. Notably, he represented the police officer in the published decision Pedro v. City of Los Angeles (2014) 229 Cal.App.4th 87, which broadened the applicability of the statute of limitations contained in the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act. Also in 2014, Jacob successfully defended an appeal of a judgment he obtained setting aside the termination of a Los Angeles Police Department Officer for illegally selling a firearm.

Prior to joining RLS, Jacob worked for Silver, Hadden, Silver & Levine. Jacob is licensed to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Northern, Eastern and Central Districts of California.
Disclaimer: Any results set forth herein are based upon the facts of that particular case and do not represent a promise or guarantee.