Philip Horlacher is an experienced litigator who specializes in labor and employment matters. Mr. Horlacher feels passionately about standing up for workers’ rights and ensuring that each client feels in control and well informed throughout their lawsuit. Many of Mr. Horlacher’s cases are against large corporations and public entities. At Greenberg Gross, Mr. Horlacher champions the rights of employees across the spectrum, having represented executives, medical professionals, law enforcement personnel, engineers, educators, employees in the film and television and food service industries, and retail employees.
Prior to joining Greenberg Gross, Mr. Horlacher was a litigator at a boutique labor and employment law firm where he exclusively represented employees in trials and mediations. He routinely took and defended depositions, often cross-examining the perpetrators who violated his clients’ rights, as well as the human resources professionals and executives who failed to intervene.
Mr. Horlacher has litigated a wide range of labor and employment cases, representing whistleblowers who were wrongfully terminated for exposing misconduct, survivors of sexual harassment, and employees discriminated against due to disabilities, including those terminated for taking medical leave. He has also advocated for parents retaliated against for taking parental leave. In every case, Mr. Horlacher’s focus has been on achieving justice and closure for his clients through attentive representation.
Before practicing employment law, Mr. Horlacher litigated cases in Los Angeles’s Juvenile Dependency Court, where he represented hundreds of clients in cases involving serious allegations, including sexual abuse, domestic violence, and substance abuse. He also worked as an in-house attorney at a financial services firm in West Los Angeles, where he became well-versed in human resources and labor practices, as well as corporate compliance issues.
Practice Areas
- Employment Litigation
Education
- J.D., University of Southern California, Gould School of Law, 2017
- Student Clerk for Hon. Margaret A. Nagle (Ret.), United States District Court, Central District of California
- Student Clerk, Los Angeles County District Attorney, Organized Crime Division
- B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2014
- Major: English, Minor: History
Admissions
- State of California
- State of Nevada
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court, District of Nevada
Representative Matters
- La Vonya Price v. Victor Valley Union High School District (2022) 85 Cal. App. 5th 231: persuaded the California Court of Appeal to reverse summary judgment on a disability discrimination claim, where the trial court erroneously threw out the employee’s case. The Court of Appeal certified the case for publication on November 9, 2022, and the case was also highlighted in the California Lawyer’s Association’s California Labor & Employment Law Review.
- Rochella Brown v. The Walt Disney Co., et al. (L.A. Sup. Ct. Case No. 25STCV16575): represents a former human resources specialist against The Walt Disney Company and Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution LLC. The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff was wrongfully terminated after disclosing concerns about discrimination, including disproportionate layoffs of African American employees and preferential hiring of noncitizen workers on H-1B visas. The complaint also details unequal treatment of African American employees in the workplace. The case has been highlighted by Law360, a leading legal news publisher, as well as by The Atlanta Black Star, the largest African American owned digital publication in the United States.
Professional & Community Activities
- California Employment Lawyer’s Association
- California Lawyer’s Association
- Labor and Employment Law Section
- Los Angeles County Bar Association
- Labor and Employment Law Section
- Barristers Section