Maria Adrianne de Castro

As an associate at Desai Law Firm, P.C. in Orange County, my practice focuses on plaintiff-side employment and consumer class actions. I have extensive experience representing workers in employment discrimination cases on account of age, pregnancy, disability, gender, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation, and wage and hour claims. I have helped to successfully resolve numerous cases on behalf of employees at various stages of the litigation process, including just weeks before trial.

Over the last three years, I have devoted significant time to litigating wage and hour class actions on behalf of truck-drivers, leading to a published decision advancing the rights of truck drivers in the state of California. See Cardenas v. McLane Foodservice, Inc., 796 F. Supp. 2d 1246 (C.D. Cal. 2011) (granting truck drivers’ motion for summary judgment of pre and post-shift claims under California Labor Code where employer paid with piece rate wages and denying defendant’s motion for preemption under FAAAA).

Prior to joining the Desai Law Firm, P.C., I was an associate at the law firm of Mower, Carreon, and Desai LLP where I litigated wage and hour and consumer class actions on behalf of restaurant workers, home health care workers, and California consumers. I have also worked as an associate at the law firm of Rudy, Exelrod, Zieff, and Lowe in San Francisco where I focused on individual employment discrimination cases and wage and hour class actions. I began my career as the Ruth Chance Law Fellow at Equal Rights Advocates where I spent two years representing low-wage women workers in sexual harassment and discrimination cases.

I am a 2005 graduate of U.C. Berkeley School of Law andan active member of the California Employment Lawyers Association, the premier organization in California of employee rights advocates.