Los Angeles
Tonette J. (Toni) Jaramilla opened the doors to her plaintiff-side labor and employment law firm in 1996, at a time when minority women sole practitioners were a rarity.
Today, Toni Jaramilla APLC consists of its founder and three associates. It has gained a strong reputation for litigating discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination claims plus civil rights violations.
Jaramilla came naturally to identify with plaintiffs who are wronged by employers or government agents. Her family brought her to the U.S. from the Philippines when she was three years old.
"My father had been in the U.S. Navy, but the only work he could find in California was in the fields as a farm laborer. America was not easy on him," Jaramilla said, adding that he experienced oppressive working conditions, low wages and blatant bigotry. Jaramilla was the first in her family to get a law degree.
"I was actually in pre-med at UCLA when I got swept up in student activism. I was sitting in the science lab when there was a big civil rights demonstration going on outside and I said, 'I got to join that.' It switched my trajectory to law."
Currently, Jaramilla is featured in a new Netflix documentary, "Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel," that spotlights her role in the downfall of founder Dov Charney amid workplace sexual misconduct allegations. Jaramilla represented one of Charney's employees, Marissa Wilson, in Lo et al. v. American Apparel Inc., BC457920 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed March 23, 2011).
"They compelled us to arbitration, but I filed for declaratory relief in Superior Court, and that got the allegations into the public domain," Jaramilla said.
Last year, Jaramilla and co-counsel Wendy E. Musell obtained a $1.2 million settlement, plus $235,000 in fees and costs and a stipulated judgment from the U.S. Department of Justice over sexual harassment claims against Los Angeles' assistant chief immigration judge Scott D. Laurent.
The judge told his female staff assistant — who is married to a woman — "Sit on my lap and I'll make you straight," among other alleged examples of workplace misconduct. Escoto v. Garland, 2:23-cv-03340 (C.D.Cal., filed May 2, 2023).
"When we subpoenaed his text messages and emails they cried uncle," Jaramilla said of the tactics that led to the settlement.
Early on in her career, Jaramilla achieved success for workers when she represented Jennifer Bellardine in a suit against an employment agency over sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination.
