Karen Bell, Jd, Sphr, Shrm-Scp Email & Phone Number

Cerritos, California, United States

Attorney-investigator focused on K-12, higher education and public sector labor and employment.

Long Beach, California, United States

Responsible for employee/labor relations, benefits administration, workers’ compensation, employee leaves, equal employment opportunity, performance management, training and development, and employee recognition/engagement programs. Served as Title IX Coordinator and Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Administrator.

Irvine, California

Conducted timely and effective workplace and Title IX investigations. Served as a mediator, restorative facilitator, arbitrator, and executive coach.

Led a team of 30 managers and staff. Responsible for employee and labor relations, staffing, classification, compensation, benefits and disability programs, training, organizational development, and human resources information management for the Court’s 1,500 employees. Responsible for an annual HR budget of $4.4 million. Helped develop and administer the Court’s strategic plan and annual budget ($200 million) as a member of the Court’s executive team. Served as a resource for the Presiding Judge and Assistant Presiding Judge on topics that may impact the Court’s judicial officers and staff.

Developed and managed the Human Resources Generalist Unit to assist with employee relations, benefits, and staffing issues, as well as training and development. Conducted recruitments, supervised classification studies, worked with managers on compensation determinations, and reviewed and revised policies and procedures. Provided employee relations advice to managers and supervisors in accordance with Court policies, procedures, and collective bargaining agreements.

Advised school districts and community college districts regarding public governance laws (e.g., Brown Act, Public Records Act, and Political Reform Act), student rights and responsibilities, and all aspects of labor and employment, including collective bargaining, discrimination and harassment claims, recruitment and hiring, wage and hour laws, employee discipline and workplace privacy rights. Served as a hearing officer in classified employee dismissal hearings and advised appointed personnel commissions concerning employee discipline.

As the founding attorney of this law firm, served as an independent fact-finder for numerous employers, including courts, municipal entities, school districts, community colleges and universities. Advised school and university administrators concerning legal issues, with a special emphasis on high-profile employment-related matters. Conducted trainings regarding discrimination and sexual harassment prevention. Developed online discrimination prevention training for all University of California faculty and staff.

Provided legal advice to the Chancellor and senior administrators on a wide variety of issues, including contracts, labor and employment, faculty conduct, and student rights and responsibilities. Worked with outside counsel in representing the University in litigation involving students and employees. Guided the campus Public Information Officer in responding to Public Records Act requests. Served as the campus Conflict of Interest Coordinator and advised the campus Whistleblower Investigations Work Group.

Established the Sexual Harassment Prevention/Title IX Office for UCI. Conducted training for the campus and medical center and investigated alleged discrimination and harassment.

Cerritos, California, United States

Served as legal counsel to school districts and community college districts concerning labor and employment, discrimination and harassment, and student discipline. Represented management in classified and certificated employee dismissals, grievance arbitrations, unfair labor practice charges and litigation. Successfully litigated the first reported case in California in which a school district terminated a teacher for sexually harassing his students, Governing Board v. Haar, 28 Cal.App.4th 369 (1994)

J.D., Law

B.A., Political Science