Deposing & Examining Employment Witnesses

About the Author

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Tod F. Schleier is a partner in the law firm of Schleier Law Offices, P.C. (www.azworklaw.com) in Phoenix, Arizona. He has practiced as a plaintiff’s employment lawyer for nearly three decades.

Mr. Schleier graduated from Brown University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa and with honors in 1973, with a B.A. in Political Science and Religion. He then graduated from Arizona State University Law School in 1976 and was a member of the Arizona State University Law Journal.

Mr. Schleier has litigated virtually every type of employment case against private employers and public entities in the state and federal courts of Arizona. He has handled: wrongful discharge, whistleblowing and statutory retaliation claims; Title VII claims for sexual, racial, and ethnic harassment and constructive discharge; gender, religion, age and disability discrimination claims; First Amendment free speech and due process claims; and disputes concerning noncompetition covenants, trade secrets, wages and executive employment contracts. Mr. Schleier has fifteen years’ experience as a mediator and arbitrator in employment disputes and is listed on the American Arbitration Association’s mediator/arbitrator panels.

Mr. Schleier obtained one of the largest employment jury verdicts in Arizona on a sexual harassment claim, in December 1991, for $2,385,000, in Schallock v. Heinze et. al, which was televised on Court TV. He handled the landmark case of State of Arizona v. Schallock, 189 Ariz. 250, 941 P.2d 1275 (1997), which established legal principles for vicarious liability of employers in sexual harassment and employment cases. In May 1999, Mr. Schleier obtained a jury verdict against Best Western International, Inc. in a whistleblower claim, for $1,750,000; the verdict was upheld in Murcott v. Best Western International, 198 Ariz. 349, 9 P.3d 1088 (App.2000), which clarified legal principles for whistleblowing in Arizona.

Mr. Schleier has been recognized continuously by Best Lawyers in America since 1989, and was named "Phoenix Best Lawyers Labor and Employment Lawyer of the Year" for 2010. He has been recognized by Chambers as one of the top employment lawyers in Arizona, has an AV rating in Martindale Hubbell and was ranked as one of Arizona’s Top 50 Super Lawyers in 2009. In 2001 he was inducted as a Fellow in The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers for his career-long achievements as an employment lawyer.

Mr. Schleier is a frequent presenter at seminars and conferences on topics of wrongful discharge, sexual harassment, and retaliation claims to public entities, human resources organizations, bar associations (including the American Bar Association Mid-Winter Employment and Civil Rights Conference 2002) for the past fifteen years. He is a member of several labor and employment law organizations including the National Employment Lawyers Association and the Arizona Employment Lawyers Association. Mr. Schleier has been licensed to practice in all Arizona state and federal courts since 1976, as well as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. He was the first Chairman of the State Bar of Arizona Sub-Committee for Employment Law Jury Instructions.

He lives in Phoenix with his wife Lisa and two dogs, and is an avid sports fan and marine aquarium hobbyist.

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