Robert (Bob) Cocchia

Robert (Bob) Cocchia concentrates his practice on employment litigation and employment counseling, consumer class actions, and complex business/commercial disputes.

Mr. Cocchia has over 25 years of experience successfully representing businesses in a wide range of employment disputes including employee misclassification, wage and hour claims, breach of employment contracts, theft of trade secrets, employee non-compete agreements, discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, disability and harassment claims.

Mr. Cocchia was trial counsel for the defendant in Goldman v. Radioshack Corporation, a class action case in federal court in Pennsylvania involving alleged wage and hour violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The case resulted in a complete defense verdict after a three-week jury trial. Bob was also lead trial counsel for defendant in Huston v. Battelle Memorial Institute, a discrimination and whistle-blower retaliation case that was tried in federal court in California resulting in the jury awarding no damages to Plaintiff.

While Mr. Cocchia has developed substantial experience guiding clients through California’s complex employment laws, both in litigation and counseling, he has also defended employment claims for clients under both federal and state law in throughout the country, and before government agencies (EEOC, DFEH).

In addition to litigation, Mr. Cocchia advises clients throughout the employment process including employee onboarding, determining exempt or non-exemption classification, drafting employment agreements, confidentiality and proprietary rights agreements, separation and release agreements, employment policies and handbooks; advising on employee leaves of absence and requests for accommodation; and conducting internal investigations.

Mr. Cocchia has also successfully defended numerous manufacturers, retailers and service providers in consumer class actions involving claims brought under California Business & Professions Code Sections 17200 and 17500 for unfair competition (UCL), false advertising (FAL) and deceptive pricing, and Civil Code Section 1750, the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA).

Prior to joining Rimon, he was general counsel of a software development company and coordinated the company’s intellectual property strategy, contract formation, and licensing agreements.