Photo of Samuel S. Hyde

Samuel S. Hyde is a member of the Labor & Employment and Litigation practices in Greenberg Traurig's Sacramento office. He assists clients with general labor & employment and general litigation matters.

Prior to joining the firm, Samuel served as a law clerk for the Honorable Dale A. Drozd for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, where he worked on a variety of civil cases including trade secret matters, employment disputes, property disputes, breaches of contract, civil rights, and habeas.

Sam has also acted as Special Counsel to the General Counsel for the National Security Agency (NSA). He provided legal and policy advice in direct support to NSA’s General Counsel. He drafted formal and informal legal briefings, defending the Agency’s positions in the interagency process, to Congress, and to the public. Through his work at NSA, Sam obtained a top-secret security clearance with access to sensitive compartmented information.

By now, it’s a familiar maxim: when an employee brings an action under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), “the state is the real party in interest.” Iskanian v. CLS

Continue Reading Whose Case Is It Anyway? Trial Court Orders State of California to Pay Court Costs in PAGA Action

Employers seeking to challenge California’s stringent independent contractor misclassification laws may have found an opening. On March 17, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that plaintiffs could proceed in

Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Revives Claim That A.B. 5 Violates Equal Protection Clause

While perhaps overlooked in favor of other high-profile rulings (we’re looking at you, Viking River Cruises), the California Supreme Court’s decision in Naranjo v. Spectrum Security Services, Inc.

Continue Reading Meal And Rest Break Claims Now Pose High Financial Risks to California Employers

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in Kim v. Reins International California, Inc. and unanimously reversed the California Court of Appeal. The Court held an employee does not lose standing to pursue claims under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (“PAGA”), Cal. Lab. Code § 2698 et seq., even when that employee settles his individual Labor Code claims asserted in that same action.

In Reins, the plaintiff claimed his employer had misclassified him as an exempt employee. He alleged the usual panoply of Labor Code claims (failure to pay overtime, failure to provide meal and rest breaks, failure to provide accurate wage statements, waiting time penalties) and sought civil penalties under the PAGA. The plaintiff later settled all of his individual claims, but not the PAGA claims.
Continue Reading PAGA Plaintiffs: No Injury, No Problem, Says Unanimous California Supreme Court