Lois M. Kosch (photo/alandeckerphoto.com)

Attorney Lois M. Kosch keeps with her the advice given many years ago by mentor Claudette Wilson to a group of women lawyers. “They were along the lines of, if you think you are hitting a glass ceiling, then make your own ceiling,” says Kosch. “In other words, pave your own road instead of following someone else’s.”

Kosch, a partner in the Downtown law firm Wilson Petty Kosmo & Turner — formed by Wilson and Regina Petty — has certainly created her own path, first as a college journalist and now as a seasoned lawyer, with significant success.

Kosch, 46, practices in the complicated and sometimes controversial field of employment and labor law and, to a lesser extent, in First Amendment issues. At Wilson Petty, she regularly counsels employers on such matters as the hiring and firing of employees, wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment and wage and hour matters. “Part of what I do is working with employers doing day-to-day problem solving, writing and reviewing policies, audits and other preventative measures to hopefully keep them out of court,” says Kosch. One of her major responsibilities is overseeing employment litigation nationwide for San Diego-based Petco Animal Supplies Inc.

“I originally planned to be a journalist,” says Kosch. “I was editor-in-chief of my college newspaper (The Delphian at Adelphi University). Then the paper got into a legal dispute with the college. I started working with lawyers and the Student Press Law Center.”

The experience gave Kosch a taste for law that she has never lost. She set aside the pursuit of a journalism career, enrolled in Rutgers University School of Law, graduated cum laude, left her New Jersey roots and made her way to San Diego. She landed a summer associate position at Gray Cary (now DLA Piper) worked some with Petty, who had become a partner there, and was invited to join Petty and Wilson when they launched their own firm. She became an associate in 1994 and a partner in 2000.

Kosch says she became interested in employment and labor law through courses she took in law school, and especially because of a professor, Pam Perry, who taught employment discrimination. “I took every labor or employment case I could,” she says.

Although she gave up a journalism career, Kosch continues to write. She has been on the editorial board of the California Labor & Employment Law Review for the past six years and was the chief editor for two years. She writes a regular column on wage and hour issues for the publication and has penned more than a dozen articles — some with co-authors Wilson and Petty — on employment law. She was managing editor of San Diego Lawyer magazine for a few years and continues to write for the publication.

Kosch sometimes yearns for the career she left behind. “I had wanted to be a foreign correspondent and had romantic notions about it,” she says. “But I’m fortunate to be able to keep a little toe in the industry. I don’t intend to give it up completely. It’s still nice to see my byline. I don’t really have any regrets about going into law.”

A resident of Encinitas, Kosch enjoys photography, swimming, hiking and raising two dogs — Chip, a golden retriever, and Cocoa, a shepherd mix — in life after work. Her office in the 550 Corporate Center is peppered with photographs of family and her pets, besides her framed professional degrees.

Kosch’s take on employment law matters:

• Wage and hour issues:
  
  “We continue to see large numbers of wage and hour class actions on a whole range of issues including allegations of misclassification of exempt employees, to failure to reimburse employee expenses, improper administration of California meal period rules, violation of tip-pooling rules and many others…Some experts are saying that between two and 10 class actions are filed every day in California on wage and hour issues.
  “Another indication that wage and hour cases are both a huge trend and a hot button legal issue is the fact that there were four California Supreme Court decision on wage/hour issues in 2007.”
  
  
• Are employers better today at anticipating workplace legal issues?
  
  “Certainly, headline-grabbing employment cases, like some of the high-dollar wage and hour cases, including the recent large judgment against Starbucks, help employers realize the need to audit their own employment practices. A good human resources department can really help a business to stay on top of this dynamic area.”
  
  
• When employers need to downsize, what steps should they take to limit retaliation from an employee who is being let go?
  
  “To eliminate potential discrimination claims from those laid off, the employer will want to be sure there are objective criteria for the process of those selected for layoff and analyze those slated to be laid off to be sure the selection criteria do not appear to unfairly single out any class of protected worker.
  
  “There are other strategies the employer can take to reduce the likelihood of litigation, but I don’t want to give away all of my trade secrets for free!”
  
  
• What is important for employers to understand in terms of protecting themselves from future employee lawsuits?
  
  “Wow, this is a super broad question. I would say have good human resources staff and treat employees fairly. If you have to terminate, consider providing severance pay in exchange for a release of claims.”
  
  
• How complex are the rules in California for paying employees?
  
  “The rules can be very complex and often catch out-of-state employers off guard. California’s laws can be very different from the rest of the country. For instance, California has daily overtime, meaning overtime must be paid after eight hours of work in a day and double time must be paid after 12 hours of work in a day. In most states, overtime is not owed until after 40 hours of work in a week, which provides both employers and employees much more flexibility in setting alternative work schedules, such as a work week of 4-10-hour days.
  
  “In California, to set up that kind of work schedule without having to pay daily overtime involves compliance with a rigorous set of guidelines and rules on alternative workweek schedules.”
  
  

  Lois Kosch enjoys a day at dog beach in Del Mar with Cocoa, a shepherd mix she got from a North County shelter. She owns another dog, Chip, a golden retriever.

• What is happening with “caregiver” discrimination cases, those where employees (usually women) are discriminated against because they’ve had to take time off to care for either children or elderly or ill parents or spouses?
  
  “In 2007, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidance on the disparate treatment of workers with caregiving responsibilities seeking to provide guidance on employment decisions that affect caregivers. The guidance did not create a new protected class of working moms and dads or other caregiving employees, but sought to illustrate the circumstances in which stereotyping or other forms of disparate treatment of those with family responsibilities may violate the law.
  
  “I have not yet seen any cases of caregiver discrimination. My understanding is that the cases are on the rise outside of California, so it is probably just a matter of time before they start showing up here.”
  
  
• Do most labor law cases turn out well (for the employer)?
  
  “Depends on how you define ‘well.’ As a defense attorney, I obviously prefer when cases are dismissed on summary judgment and never go to trial — in other words a complete victory for the employer. But other times you have difficult circumstances where sometimes the best result is one that resolves the issues quickly and efficiently.”

Last year, Kosch was named one of the top employment litigation defense attorneys in San Diego by Southern California-San Diego SuperLawyers. In 2002 she received the YWCA’s Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) award. That same year, she was named Petco’s Human Resources Provider of the Year.

For three years, Kosch worked on the executive committee of the labor and employment section of the California State Bar and now is an adviser to the section. She also belongs to the San Diego County Bar and the San Diego Lawyers Club.