Senior Counsel, Employment & Labor

Requisition ID # 173843 

Job Category: Legal 

Job Level: Attorney

Business Unit: Gen Counsel, Ethics, Risk & Compliance

Work Type: Hybrid

Job Location: Oakland

Department Overview

The Law Department provides timely, efficient, and business-focused legal services to the company. It is part of a larger General Counsel, Ethics, Risk, and Compliance business unit within the company. The Employment & Labor section provides advice and counsel on all aspects of employment and labor and manages all pre-litigation employment disputes state and federal court litigation through trial and appeal, as well as mediation and labor arbitration. The team provides counsel on a wide variety of human resource issues including hiring, benefits, leaves of absence, accommodations, performance management, wage and hour, collective bargaining, discipline, and termination of employment.

Position Summary

PG&E is seeking a highly skilled Senior Counsel with a minimum of seven (7) years of substantive employment and labor experience to join our dynamic litigation team. The Senior Counsel provides legal advice and counsel to internal clients on a wide variety of employee matters and represents PG&E though all stages of employment litigation and labor disputes.

The successful candidate will be responsible for providing excellent client service to internal clients as well as partnering with outside counsel where appropriate. This position offers an opportunity to utilize your legal knowledge to contribute to making PG&E a great place to work for all our coworkers.

This position is hybrid, working from your remote office and your assigned work location based on business need. The assigned work location will be within the PG&E Service Territory.

Reporting

This Senior Counsel will report to the Managing Counsel, Employment & Labor.

Job Responsibilities 

• Provide advice and counsel to internal clients on all aspects of the employment experience, from recruitment and hiring to benefits, wage and hour, discipline, performance management, collective bargaining, labor law compliance, labor negotiations, and termination of employment.
• Manage employment litigation and pre-litigation matters and activities including preparing or reviewing motions, briefs, and pleadings, deposition preparation, court appearances, argument, mediation, and trial.
• Represent the Company in arbitration proceedings involving labor or employment disputes.
• Manage eDiscovery processes, including preservation, legal hold, and the use of eDiscovery platforms such as Relativity.
• Utilize approved AI tools to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of litigation and eDiscovery tasks.
• Select, supervise, and partner with outside counsel on select matters or issues.
• Collaborate and coordinate with broader legal team of attorneys, paralegals, claims investigators, and internal subject matter experts.
• Develop and manage legal matter budgets and costs for outside counsel, consultants, experts, and eDiscovery.
• Provide advice and counsel to business units on legal and litigation risks.
• Communicate with PG&E's management and leadership concerning key human resource legal issues and the strategy and status of litigation, disputes, and recommended resolution.
• Collaborate and assist other attorneys in the Law Department on complex legal issues and litigation matters.
• Identify and owns lessons learned from litigation to improve learnings within the company.

Background Qualifications

Minimum

• Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school
• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience
• Law Bar Admission, U.S.
• U.S. state bar active member in good standing
• Registered In-House Counsel permit, California
• Legal experience, post-JD-Juris Doctor, or other job-related, 10 years
• Experience as Attorney, 7 years

Desired

• Admission to the California Bar
• Litigation experience at the trial level and/or appellate level in state and/or federal courts
• Experience selecting and overseeing outside counsel, consultants, and/or experts.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, including competency in developing and delivering communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.
• Experience litigating employment disputes and responding to agency charges.
• Experience in providing advice and counsel on wage and hour issues, hiring, accommodations, performance management, labor negotiations, fitness for duty and other employment-related issues,
• Excellent interpersonal skills with an ability to provide sound, clear legal advice to management and other leaders.
• Competency in building strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.
• Desire and aptitude to work in a collaborative environment on a team of high-performing legal professionals.

Leadership Qualities

 PG&E expects its leaders to conduct themselves with the highest ethics and integrity and to embody specific leadership qualities.

Strategic Mindset

• Sees ahead to future possibilities and translates them into breakthrough strategies.
• Operates effectively, even when things are not certain, or the way forward is not clear.

A Leader in the Community and Industry

• Effectively builds formal and informal relationship networks inside and outside the organization.
• Anticipates and balances the needs of multiple stakeholders.

Demonstrates Safety Leadership

• A safety champion in words and deeds with respect to both employee and public safety.
• Creating and maintaining a speak up culture free of retaliation.

Influences and Inspires

• Using various- communications that convey a clear understanding of the needs of different audiences.
• Maneuvering comfortably through complex policy, process, and people-related dynamics.

Optimizes Team Performance

• Building teams with a strong identity that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.
• Creating a climate where people are developed and motivated to do their best to help the organization.

Values Inclusion and Respects Individual Differences

• Recognizing the value that different perspectives and cultures bring to an organization.

Fiscally Responsible

• Interpreting and applying understanding of key financial indicators to make better business decisions.
• Planning and prioritizing work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals.

Leads Ethically and in a Compliant Manner

• Sponsoring and sustaining a high integrity speak-up corporate culture which prioritizes safety, compliance, and ethics.
• Building on necessary level of industry, company, and subject-matter expertise, including laws and regulations.

Provides a High Level of Customer Service

• Building strong customer relationships and delivering hometown, customer-centric solutions.

Compensation

PG&E is providing the salary range that the company in good faith believes it might pay for this position at the time of the job posting. This compensation range is specific to the locality of the job. The actual salary paid to an individual will be based on multiple factors, including, but not limited to, specific skills, education, licenses or certifications, experience, market value, geographic location, and internal equity. 

We estimate the successful candidate hired into this role will be placed within the reasonable compensation range of $212K to $306K  The decision will be made on a case-by-case basis.  This leadership role is also eligible for an annual Short Term Incentive Plan (STIP) award, as well as the Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) grant.