Teresa (Teri) Toffer is one of Employment Matters Counseling & Consulting LLP's Orange County partners. Teri’s practice at EMC² focuses on helping employers proactively manage all aspects of the employment relationship by providing day to day counseling on legal compliance issues and advising clients on preventative management practices. Teri represents a diverse variety of employers in the biotech, healthcare, hospitality, retail, banking and human resources sectors. In addition, Teri has extensive experience conducting workplace investigations as an independent investigator on behalf of employers and their litigation counsel for class action lawsuits, as well as individual civil and administrative claims. She has appeared in both state and federal court, as well as before various governmental agencies, including the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

Teri offers day to day legal counseling on all aspects of the employment relationship, with special emphasis on background checks, hiring, counseling and termination practices, wage and hour compliance, layoffs, and harassment issues. Teri has extensive experience helping employers comply with, manage, and strategically address employee leaves of absence pursuant to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), California’s Family Rights Act (CFRA), and California’s Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (PDL), along with any concurrent disability accommodation obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), and state Workers’ Compensations laws. Teri also has experience drafting employment agreements and policies, as well as conducting employment and payroll practices audits. She also regularly provides in-house management training seminars for executives, supervisors, managers, and human resources professionals, including sexual harassment prevention training pursuant to AB 1825.

Teri has published several articles in the Orange County Business Journal, including two articles on California’s Paid Family Leave Law. She has also given numerous presentations on proactive strategies for managing employee leaves of absence under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, California’s Family Rights Act, and California’s Pregnancy Disability Leave Act, as well as other state and federal leave laws. Teri recently presented "Untangling the FMLA, ADA and Workers’ Compensation Laws" for the Counsel on Education Management and has provided customized training on these issues to numerous groups of HR professionals.

Prior to joining EMC², Teri worked for the Orange County office of Fisher & Phillips LLP, one of the oldest and largest firms in the country practicing exclusively labor and employment law. Prior to joining Fisher & Phillips, Teri worked at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, LLP, where Teri’s practice concentrated on complex, multi-district litigation including class actions, toxic torts, products liability, securities litigation and employment litigation.

Before attending law school, Teri worked as a Consultant for ZS Associates, a global management consulting firm focused on sales force management and marketing issues. At ZS, Teri applied scientific methodology and quantitative analysis towards developing sales and marketing strategies for Fortune 500 companies.

Teri received her law degree from the University California, Davis School of law, and was awarded the American Jurisprudence Award for Tort Law. During law school, Teri clerked for the Honorable Frank C. Damrell of the United States District Court, Eastern District of California. In addition, she served as the Senior Articles Editor for the U.C. Davis Law Review, as well as a teaching assistant for Tort Law and Legal Writing. Teri authored the comment “Beyond the Name of the Game: A Framework for Analyzing Recreational Sports Injury Cases”, which was published in the U.C. Davis Law Review and was recently cited by California Supreme Court Justice Joyce L. Kennard.

Teri received her B.A. cum laude in political science and philosophy from DePauw University in Indiana, where she received the University’s highest distinction award for her senior philosophy thesis.

Teri is admitted to practice in California.

Teri may be reached at (949) 468-9959 or .