Madeleine (“Madi”) Lee represents employers across the full spectrum of workplace disputes, guiding clients from case strategy through discovery, motion practice, trial or arbitration, and counseling businesses on a multi-state basis.

Her practice centers on defending the class action, representative Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), collective action, and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) matters that carry the highest stakes for companies in California and beyond. Madi has defended more than 90 class and representative actions, including numerous overlapping and related suits brought against large California employers with tens of thousands of employees at issue. She defends these actions before state and federal courts throughout California, taking on the full range of wage and hour claims, including alleged violations involving minimum wage, overtime, regular rate, meal period and rest break, business expense reimbursement, and wage statement requirements, across a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, consumer products, transportation, logistics, communications, technology, agriculture, retail, infrastructure, hospitality, and government contracting, as well as matters involving unionized workforces. Beyond the courtroom, she partners with multi-state employers to design pragmatic workplace strategies that manage class litigation risk before it materializes, addressing meal period and rest break compliance, regular rate calculations, and arbitration agreements.

She also handles single-plaintiff and administrative matters involving discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, whistleblowing, leaves and accommodation, reductions in force, WARN/Cal-WARN, worker classification, and employee mobility issues, including trade secrets, unfair competition, restrictive covenants, and executive compensation disputes, resolving these disputes through arbitration, mediation, and negotiation as needed. She leads workplace investigations and wage-hour audits, counsels and trains businesses on the same issues, and drafts and reviews employment agreements and policies, including offer letters, handbooks, California handbook addenda, compensation plans, and separation agreements, consistent with federal, state, and local law.

Education

Madi earned her J.D. from Chapman University Fowler School of Law and her B.A. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego, where she developed a background in econometrics and game theory.

Madi served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; the Honorable Dean D. Pregerson, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California; and the Honorable Erithe A. Smith, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California. She also served as a volunteer deputy district attorney in the Trial Attorney Partnership Program of the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, where she conducted two jury trials.

Before joining Call & Jensen as a shareholder, Madi practiced employment law in the Los Angeles office of a global Am Law 100 labor and employment firm, where she was a member of the California Class Action and PAGA Practice Group; and an Am Law national full-service firm.

Bar Admissions

Madi holds admission to practice before all state and federal courts in California and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Representative Speaking Engagements

“The Top 8 Mistakes California Employers Make that Lead to Litigation,” CenterForce Employment Law Series (Webinar Broadcast), February 27, 2025

“Wage and Hour Basics,” California Lawyers Association Labor and Employment Law Section Conference (Webinar Broadcast), January 31, 2025

“Employment Law Lessons,” Terumo Neuro (Aliso Viejo, CA), December 4, 2024

“Proactive Strategies to Lower Wage-Hour Settlements,” CenterForce Employment Law Summit (Los Angeles, CA), September 12, 2024