Frances Rogers
Partner | San Diego
[email protected]
Tel: 619.481.5905
EXPERIENCE
Frances Rogers provides representation and legal counsel to public agency clients in all matters pertaining to
labor, employment and municipal governance. In addition to extensive litigation, arbitration, and administrative
hearing experience, Frances is also experienced and knowledgeable on matters including, harassment and
discrimination, employee misconduct/discipline, leaves, performance management, workplace safety, wage and
hour, the Public Records Act, Ralph M. Brown Act and ethics in public service. Frances is also an experienced
administrative investigator on matters of employee misconduct. Frances advises and represents law
enforcement and fire agencies on employee discipline, internal affairs investigations, disability, the Peace
Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act and the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act.
Frances also represents and advises community college districts and school districts in several areas including
student discipline, campus safety and police, teacher/faculty/classified discipline, reduction-in-force, merit
system, hiring, leaves, Title IX, Clery Act, FERPA, Brown Act, ethics and governance. In 2008, Frances served as
Interim General Counsel for a California community college district.
Frances has extensive experience advising and advocating for local government agencies on retirement issues
involving CalPERS, '37 Act county retirement systems, STRS, and other local municipal pension systems.
Frances has advised and represented clients on matters including reduction in retirement costs, pensionable
compensation, retirement system membership, employer and employee contributions, U.S. and State
Constitution vesting issues, disability retirement, post-retirement employment limitations, and retiree health
insurance.
Frances has experience in labor negotiations and matters involving labor relations, specifically with respect to
the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act and the Educational Employees Relations Act. She has negotiated collective
bargaining agreements on behalf of public agencies and handled and advised on other labor relations matters
including, PERB complaints, unfair labor practices, unilateral implementation, labor grievances and litigation,
and decertification/certification.
Frances is also a contributing author to the firm's California Public Agency Labor & Employment Blog.
Prior to joining Liebert Cassidy Whitmore Frances worked for a Central Valley firm handling a variety of civil
litigation.
EDUCATION
JD, Santa Clara University School of Law
BS, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Frances Rogers | © 2017 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. All rights reserved.
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LEGAL EXPERTISE
Affordable Care Act
Employment Law
Investigations
Labor Relations & Collective Bargaining
Litigation Services
Public Education
Public Safety
Retirement, Health & Disability
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
LITIGATION
Scarpino v. City of Perris and County of Riverside (2017) - Plaintiffs alleged the County’s CalPERS
retirement benefit formula should apply to their years of service at a prior CalPERS agency. The Court
granted summary judgment in favor of the client, the county, on the grounds the Plaintiffs failed to exhaust
their administrative remedies before CalPERS.
South Pasadena Police Officers Assn. v. City of South Pasadena (2015) - California Court of Appeal
upheld judgment in favor of the City upon labor unions' petition for a writ of mandate to compel the City to
revoke its change in contributions to retiree medical insurance. The Court found no violation of the U.S. or
California Constitutions when, after exhausting meet and confer processes, the City unilaterally imposed a
change in the City's contribution to the retiree medical insurance for current employees. The Court held the
MOU's promise of retiree medical contributions was only binding until the expiration of the MOU. Employees
who did not retire during the term of the MOU had no vested right to any level of City contributions to retiree
medical after the MOU expired and another MOU entered into or an imposition of terms and conditions of
employment after impasse.
San Bernardino County of Public Attorneys Association (SBCPAA) v. County of San Bernardino,
et. al. (2014) - Successfully defended the County of San Bernardino against SBCPAA's challenge to the
County, eliminating its pick-up of a portion of the employees' contribution to the retirement system. SBCPAA
argued that a statute enacted as part of the PEPRA actually required the County to continue the pick-ups
absent the employees' agreement to a change in the employer contribution.
Orange County Attorneys Assn. v. County of Orange (2014) - Defended the County against a petition
for writ of mandate brought by the labor organization seeking to compel the County to continue picking up
employee member contributions to the county retirement system. The court held that the County did not
violate Government Code section 31631 when, after the MOU expired, it unilaterally imposed a
discontinuation of the County's pick-up of member contributions and a continuation of the employees'
obligation to pay the "past service liability" occasioned by the adoption of an enhanced benefit formula.
Chidester, et. al. v. Rancho Santiago Community College District (2012) - This was a successful
outcome of part-time employee's suit to be reclassified as a full-time contract employee. The court ruled
against the employee based the doctrine of laches. The Orange County Superior Court held that 13 years
was per se an unreasonable delay in seeking relief.
IAFF, Fresno City Firefighters Assoc., Local 753 v. City of Fresno (2010) - Labor union filed a
petition for temporary restraining order and permanent injunction to block the City's intended work
furloughs. We successfully defeated the petition for temporary restraining order and the union thereafter
Frances Rogers | © 2017 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. All rights reserved.
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dismissed the petition for permanent injunction.
Santa Maria Police Officers Association v. City of Santa Maria (2010) - Police Officers Association
(POA) filed a petition for writ of mandate to block the City's enforcement of a police officer shift bidding
system, alleging the City's action violated the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. After hearing on the petition, the
court decided in favor of the City.
Ellis v. City of Reedley (2007) - (Not Reported) Former police officer sued City-employer for several
claims relating to his termination, including disability discrimination and failure to provide reasonable
accommodation and engage in the interactive process under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). We
successfully obtained summary judgment in favor of the City on all three ADA causes of action.
NEGOTIATIONS
City of Vista - Fire Negotiations.
City of Pico Rivera - Negotiations for Four Different Bargaining Units.
City of El Cajon - Non-Safety Negotiations.
Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District - Faculty Negotiations.
Orange County – Deputy Sheriffs Association Contract Negotiations
AFFILIATIONS
San Diego County Bar Association
AWARDS
Selected for inclusion in Northern California Rising Star in the field of Employment & Labor Law, (2010)
Selected for inclusion in Northern California Rising Star in the field of Employment & Labor Law, (2009)
PUBLICATIONS
Retirement for Disability – Latest Developments in CalPERS’ Requirements, Apr 28, 2017
CalPERS Explains Impact to Employer Contributions Due to Reduction in the Assumed Rate of
Return, Jan 23, 2017
CalPERS Poised to Lower Discount Rate Again, Increase Employer Contributions, Dec 20, 2016
Liebert Cassidy Whitmore Announces Melanie Chaney, Heather DeBlanc, and Frances Rogers
Named Partners, Press Release Sep 14, 2015
LCW's Frances Rogers Quoted in a Quartz's Article on Affordable Care Act, Press Release Aug 26,
2015
M&G Polymers May Impact Private And Public Sector, Jan 30, 2015
Frances Rogers | © 2017 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. All rights reserved.
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Making Promises We Can't Keep, Dec 3, 2014
Court Rules That ‘37 Act Employers Retain The Right To Discontinue Paying Employee Member
Contributions After PEPRA, Aug 13, 2014
Liebert Cassidy Whitmore Adds A San Diego Office, Press Release Feb 4, 2011
PRESENTATIONS
Labor Negotiations from Beginning to End, North San Diego County ERC, Vista, Jul 18, 2017
FLSA at the Collective Bargaining Table, North San Diego County ERC, Vista, Jul 18, 2017
Keenan SWAAC Training: Supervisory Investigation, Keenan, San Diego, Jun 23, 2017
Hiring CalPERS Retirees: Doing It Right, Jun 14, 2017
Keenan SWAAC Training: Supervisory Investigation, Keenan, Lemoore, Jun 6, 2017
MOU Auditing and The Book of Long Term Debt, San Diego ERC, Encinitas, May 11, 2017
Labor Negotiations and PERB: Five Common Errors that Lead to Unfair Practice Charges, San
Diego ERC, Encinitas, May 11, 2017
A Supervisor's Guide to Labor Relations, Imperial Valley ERC, Imperial, May 4, 2017
MOU Auditing and The Book of Long Term Debt, Imperial Valley ERC, Imperial, May 4, 2017
Ethics in Public Service, Imperial Irrigation District, El Centro, Apr 26, 2017
Employment Law, Finance and Professional Relations for Water Managers California State University - San
Marcos, San Marcos, Apr 25, 2017
CalPERS Disability Retirement - Everything You Always Wanted to Know, San Diego Fire Districts,
Bonita, Apr 18, 2017
Prop. 64 Effects: Enforcing Drug Policies in a World of Legalized Recreational Marijuana, Public
Agency Risk Managers Association (PARMA) San Diego/Imperial Valley Chapter Meeting, San Diego, Mar 29,
2017
Avoiding Clouseau: Your Guide to an Effective Outside Investigation, Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
2017 Annual Conference, Anaheim, Mar 9, 2017
Trends at the Table – Negotiating Retirement & Retiree Health Benefits, Public Retirement Journal
(PRJ) Seminar, Lakewood, Mar 2, 2017
Performance Management: Evaluation, Documentation and Discipline, ERMA - City of La Mesa, La
Mesa, Feb 9, 2017
Human Resources Academy I for Community College Districts, SCCCD ERC, Anaheim, Jan 20, 2017
Post-Election Issues for Community College Districts and other Public Educational Institutions,
Jan 10, 2017
The Art of Writing the Performance Evaluation, City of Murrieta, Murrieta, Dec 16, 2016
Frances Rogers | © 2017 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. All rights reserved.
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Frances Rogers | © 2017 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore. All rights reserved.
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