Education

Mr. Eaton received his B.S. from Georgetown University in 1984 and received his law degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1989. 

Employment Background

Prior to joining Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek in 1998, Mr. Eaton was with Proskauer Rose in Los Angeles from 1995 to 1998 and with Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich from 1989 to 1995.  He teaches employment law for managers and business ethics at the San Diego State University Fowler College of Business.  From 1983 to 1986, Mr. Eaton served as an aide to Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Arlen Specter. 

Professional Affiliations & Admissions

• State Bar of California
• Southern, Central, and Eastern U.S. District Courts of California
• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Ninth Circuit Courts and Community Committee (2013-2017)
• Harvard Law School Association Executive Committee (President, July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2020) (Worldwide association of Harvard Law School alumni)
• Louis M. Welsh Inn of Court (Master) (Co-captained team that won national first prize for programming, 2017)
• Standing Committee on Discipline of the Southern District of California, (Member, 2008-present; in 2012, served as lead trial counsel in successful prosecution of a member of the District Bar for misconduct, the first such prosecution to go to trial in the Southern District in at least a decade)
• State Bar Second Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct (2015-2017)
• San Diego County Bar Legal Ethics Committee, Member (2002-2013); Chair (2004-2005)
• The Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association (Past President)
• Equal Justice Committee of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (Past Member)
• Lawyer Representative, Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference (2001-2003)

Community Affiliations

• Chair, Ethics Advisory Board for the City of San Diego (1993-1994)
• City of San Diego Civil Service Commissioner, where he heard and decided numerous disputes involving discipline of members of the City’s 11,000-member workforce (1995-2005; President, 1999 and 2003)
• Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service Board of Visitors (2000-2007)
• Harvard Alumni Association Board of Directors, Harvard Law School appointee (July 1, 2020 - June 30, 2023)
• University of California, San Diego Board of Overseers (2001-2010; Chair, 2009)

Publications & Speaking Engagements

• “COVID-Related Employer Obligations,” published in GPSolo Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 2, Health Care Law, March/April 2023
• Interactive presentation on the Top 2020 Cases for California Employers, presented at the San Diego Employers Association “California Legal Update” (January 20, 2021)
• Law at Work, bi-weekly column in San Diego Union-Tribune business section (October 2016-present)
• Longtime on-air legal analyst, San Diego TV and radio stations, including KPBS
• Interactive presentations on sexual harassment prevention training to San Diego Chamber of Commerce and other organizations
• Interactive presentations on AB 5 independent contractor law to numerous organizations, including San Diego and Escondido Chambers of Commerce
• Interactive presentation on workplace investigations and numerous presentations on legal ethics around the country to Defense Research Institute
• Ethics Quarterly (Lead Editor, 2004-2014)
• Additional publications:CNBC.com; Los Angeles Times; San Diego Daily Transcript; UCLA Entertainment Law Review; Cornell Hospitality Quarterly

Professional Awards & Honors

• Listed in “Best Lawyers in America”
• Recognized in San Diego Magazine as a “Top Lawyer”
• Recognized in San Diego Super Lawyers magazine for employment defense (2007-2009)

News

• What Trump’s election means to California employers
• In California, employers must give you time off to vote. Here’s how that works
• 3 reasons San Diegans should care about the Prop. 32 minimum wage increase
• Mandatory employer meetings about employer’s religious, political views barred
• Talking politics in the office. What’s allowed under the law
• California voters to consider ending involuntary prison work
• What job-protected leave for school activities means
• SCMV Applauds the 12 Attorneys Honored by Best Lawyers 2025
• Coworkers one-time slur may be unlawful harassment
• AI vendor with biased algorithm may be liable for employment discrimination
• Citizen may challenge employer over preference for noncitizens
• California’s gig worker law survives court challenge
• A new obstacle for DEI programs?
• Updates on workplace violence prevention, AI rules, right to disconnect
• EEOC issues new workplace harassment guidance
• The Californization of federal labor laws
• Why a proposed California law that would give you the right to ignore your boss’ after-hours communications hours is flawed
• Must employees be paid for time spent undergoing exit security process?
• Six SCMV Attorneys Included on San Diego Super Lawyers 2024 Lists
• One step closer to student-athlete labor unions?
• 3 ways the pandemic left its mark on law in the workplace
• Employee claiming sexual misconduct can opt out of predispute artbitration agreement
• Is it unlawful discrimination to not promote an employee who works remotely?
• US Labor Department’s new independent contractor test
• New steps employers must take to prevent workplace violence
• New California workplace laws for 2024
• California employee’s off-duty cannabis use to be protected — to a point
• Should employers revise diversity programs in light of recent Supreme Court ruling?
• AI law and the workplace; also why CA’s measure on caste discrimination was vetoed
• New employee rights in the new year
• 9th Circuit: Indefinite furlough triggers right to immediate vacation payout
• Court won’t rewrite unenforceable noncompete
• State university faculty not entitled to reimbursement for pandemic-related remote work expenses
• Why employers must use AI carefully
• Employer not liable for take home COVID-19
• Employer must reimburse work-from-home expenses incurred during pandemic shutdown
• New federal pregnancy accommodation law
• What if whistleblower discloses employer misconduct to someone already aware of it
• ‘Motivational’ workplace music may motivate lawsuit
• EEOC issues ‘capstone’ COVID-19 guidance
• California moves toward outlawing caste discrimination
• Supreme Court considers employer duty to accommodate employee’s religious practices
• Recent developments in law of app-based drivers
• 3 questions key to Nathan Fletcher lawsuit
• PAGA plaintiff may represent claims of other employees in court, even if required to arbitrate own claims
• Avoid these common mistakes in conducting workplace investigations
• 9th Circuit invalidates law barring mandatory employment arbitration
• Employee’s handwritten signature makes arbitration agreement easier to enforce
• Legal consequences of resume fraud
• COVID-19 – and its workplace rules – still with us
• New state guidance on confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses
• The Law at Work: Employee as a Good Samaritan
• The Law at Work: Anatomy of a whistleblower claim
• California mandates bereavement leave
• 3 things to know about California’s expanded leave laws
• Updates on pay disclosure, minimum wage and Capitol riot wrongful firing lawsuit
• Employee who loses job after absence to care for sick relative may qualify for unemployment benefits
• Workplace violence restraining orders limited to threats against employees
• 12 SCMV Attorneys Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2023
• On the road again:  Compensating work related travel
• Employer’s duty to ‘provide’ employee seating
• What to do when on onsite employee tests positive for COVID-19
• No payment due for pre-employment drug test time and travel costs
• Consequences for employers that get employee breaks wrong
• COVID-19 infection may not be disability, says San Diego federal judge
• Deadline looms for small employers to establish retirement programs
• When it comes to religion and work, company policy a factor
• Best practices for new phase of pandemic
• Handle employee with caregiving responsibilities with care
• Does employer have duty to keep remote workplace safe from criminal conduct?
• Court: No right to immediate vacation payout where benefits continued during furlough
• What you need to know about new COVID-19 leave law
• Legal perils of workplace romance
• Making sense of recent rulings on workplace vaccination mandates
• 2 courts, 2 sets of COVID-19 emergency workplace rules, 2 different outcomes.  What it means
• Reason for employers to adopt strong COVID safety rules: Potential liability for nonemployee infections
• CAL-OSHA, EEOC update COVID-19 workplace law
• Dan Eaton Again Recognized as San Diego Influential Leader
• Employer risk after holiday party ends
• With fed vaccine mandate on hold, what now?
• New guidance on religious exemption to workplace vaccine mandates
• 3 things departing employee must receive when terminated
• 9th Circuit reinstates law barring employers from conditioning employment on employee agreement to arbitrate
• 10 SCMV Attorneys Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2022
• To require employee to arbitrate dispute, employer must prove agreement signed
• Court holds homeowner Johnny Mathis not liable for injuries to independent contractor window cleaner
• Columnist:  Emerging patchwork of workplace vaccination mandates
• Column: Revisiting topic of mandatory vaccines in workplace
• Beyond masks: L.A. court faces CAL/OSHA fine for COVID-19 safety violations
• Column: Paying student-athletes for play
• Column: Employers may allow fully vaccinated employees to unmask
• Column: CAL/OSHA adopts updated COVID 19 workplace rules — for now
• Shifting law on masks and physical distancing in workplace
• Applying California COVID-19 rules to vaccine developments
• State and city enact new rehire rules in hospitality industry
• Alternative to ABC independent contractor test is no safe haven
• Three recent rulings show why it matters PAGA plaintiff is stand-in for the state
• State Supreme Court rules on rounding errors
• Court confronts ‘undeveloped’ independent contractor rules for app-based drivers
• Can a worker be fired for participating in controversial protest?
• ABC independent contractor test rule retroactive
• 4 ways Biden wants to remake labor law
• New family leave rights incorporates former CFRA and adds protections
• The Law at Work: Key developments in 2020
• Dan Eaton and Andrea Myers Named Among SD500
• Employers have new emergency safety rules to follow for COVID
• Private employers have qualified right to mandate employee COVID-19 vaccination
• SCMV Named to 2021 “Best Law Firms” List
• Proposition 22 and evolving law governing California contractors
• Voting and the law of the California workplace
• Prop. 22 would create new kind of independent contractor
• Pandemic related legal developments
• Is a home tutor an employee or independent contractor?
• A persistent pandemic and the law’s next moves
• Supreme Court narrows gap between federal, California discrimination laws
• Federal Coronavirus Aid to Independent Contractors
• Coronavirus and the Workplace: What You Should Know About Your Rights
• Employment Law and Workplace Information Regarding the Coronavirus Pandemic
• SCMV Attorneys Named Among San Diego’s Top Lawyers
• The Law at Work: AB 5 and the out-of-state worker
• The Law at Work: Promise not to compete against current employer enforceable
• The Law at Work: Legislature could clarify, modify and San Diego court takes on trucking industry
• Dan Eaton Joins Harvard Law School Shield Working Group
• Escondido Chamber Invites Dan Eaton to Speak on AB 5
• The Law at Work: Time to submit discrimination/harassment claims tripled
• The Law at Work: Lessons from botched termination of employee on disability leave
• The Law at Work: New law adds obstacle to arbitration agreements
• The Law at Work: One job, two employers - or not
• The Law at Work: Live-in personal attendants: When the law at work hits home
• The Law at Work: ABCs of AB5, independent contractor law
• The Law at Work: Restrictions on recruiting former colleagues may be void in California
• The Law at Work: College football players not NCAA employees
• Eleven SCMV attorneys Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America© 2020
• The Law at Work: Why otherwise defective arbitration agreements may be enforced against high-ranking executives
• The Law at Work: Restaurant need not reimburse employees for cost of slip-resistant shoes
• The Law at Work: Women soccer players’ discrimination lawsuit against U.S. soccer federation
• The Law at Work: Must a whistleblower identify law he complains was broken?
• The Law at Work: Conservative applicants’ challenge to Google hiring practices clears one hurdle, faces others
• The Law at Work: Employer may identify itself by recorded fictitious business name on paystub
• The Law at Work: Clarifying whether a worker is a true independent contractor
• 2019 Annual Income Tax Seminar
• The Law at Work: How much freedom do religious employers have from employment laws?
• The Law at Work: Distinguishing an enforceable employment arbitration agreement from an unenforceable one
• The Law at Work: Foreign trainer qualifies as temporary business visitor under uncapped visa program
• The Law at Work: Who is joint employer under federal employment discrimination law?
• Dan Eaton Featured in Harvard Law Today
• The Law at Work: Employee selection an artistic expression in Eddie Money case
• The Law at Work: Employer that misclassifies employee as exempt faces liability for overtime pay based on employee’s estimate of hours
• The Law at Work: Must you tell a prospective employer that you fired a former employee for sexual harassment?
• The Law at Work: Officer of Employer May Be Liable for Unpaid Wage Penalties and Fees
• The Law at Work in 2018
• The Law at Work: What every California employer must do at the start of 2019
• The Law at Work: What are ‘hours worked’ that must be paid?
• The Law at Work: Is California’s strong policy against enforcing non–compete agreements less than meets the eye?
• The Law at Work: Stringent independent contractor test limited to claims based on wage orders
• The Law at Work: New principles to help courts clarify sexual harassment laws in California
• The Law at Work: Questions and answers about new law requiring women on corporate boards
• The Law at Work: Right to Severance Pay Depends on Contract
• SCMV Attorneys Named Among The Best Lawyers in America
• SCMV Litigation: Success Through Preparation and Persuasion
• The Law at Work: Legal Checks on Background Checks
• The Law at Work: Employers generally must allow employees time off to participate in school activities
• The Law at Work: The consequences of not paying an employee who resigns all wages due within 72 hours
• The Law at Work: Court rules former Indianapolis Colt ineligible receiver of California workers comp
• The Law at Work: U.S. Supreme Court says no to union fees in government workplace
• The Law at Work: When is an employer liable for an employee’s auto accident
• The Law at Work: Not every workplace complaint is legally protected whistleblowing
• The Law at Work: Salaried workers entitled to overtime pay unless exempt
• The Law at Work: Don’t adopt English-only workplace policy without clear business need
• The Law at Work: California Supreme Court defines independent contractor narrowly
• The Law at Work: Employers Can’t Use Salary History to Set Salary
• The Law at Work: Secret Sexual Harassment Settlements and Taxes
• The Law at Work: New state law limits employer cooperation with immigration officials
• The Law at Work: OT rate for flat bonus must be based on non-overtime hours worked
• The Law at Work: Lessons from Google Engineer’s Round One Loss in Dismissal Fight
• The Law at Work: The ABA’S Nine Features of a Highly Effective Workplace Sexual Harassment Policy
• The Law at Work: Pot and the California Employer Post-Prop. 64
• The Law at Work 2017
• The Law at Work: What to watch as the Google memo writer’s lawsuit unfolds
• The Law at Work: Is terminating a severely overweight employee disability discrimination?
• Dan Eaton published in the LA Times
• The Law at Work: Pilot-employee returning from service entitled to bigger bonus from Federal Express
• Dan Eaton: Can better policies prevent workplace sexual assault?
• The Law at Work: Holiday Party Rules for Managers
• The Law at Work: New law to ban inquires into salary history
• The Law at Work: What do employers need to know about the ‘ban the box’ law
• The Law at Work: Distinguishing between employees and independent contractors
• The Law at Work: Is firing an in-law marital discrimination?
• The Law at Work: What does the law require of you? Accommodating employees’ religious practices and beliefs
• The Law at Work: When Accommodating One Employee’s Disability Triggers Another Employee’s Disability
• SCMV Attorneys Named to Best Lawyers List
• Gig Economy Creates Legal Puzzles for the Courts
• The Law at Work: May an Employer Delay the Start of Paid Vacation Benefit?
• The Law at Work: What is a work uniform and why does it matter?
• The Law at Work: Expense check: Answer these 3 questions to determine whether to reimburse an employee’s claimed work expense
• The Law at Work: Employers are entitled to their employees’ loyalty – to a point
• Dan Eaton speaks on ethical issues at State Bar Conference
• Dan Eaton to Serve as President of Harvard Law School Association
• The Law at Work: Endless summer: Rewards and risks of unlimited vacation policies
• The Law at Work: Shifting Reasons for Dismissing Employees Can Cause Employer Legal Headaches
• The Law at Work: Could a Progressive Discipline Policy Undermine an Employer’s Right to Fire at Will?
• Proposed Rules of Professional Conduct
• The Law at Work: Court says employer can refuse to allow an employee to withdraw a voluntary resignation
• SCMV 2017 California Super Lawyers
• The Law at Work: What to say – and not to say – about an employee’s termination
• 2017 Martindale Hubbell A-V Preeminent Rated Attorneys
• The Law at Work: When employer secrets aren’t really secret
• Dan Eaton Quoted in The Christian Science Monitor
• The Law at Work: Don’t Go There on Job Applications
• Dan Eaton’s “The Law At Work” Columns Continue into 2017
• 2016 Law at Work Columns
• Dan Eaton Discusses New CA Laws on KPBS Radio
• The Law at Work
• The Law at Work: What Do Employers Owe Returning Service Members?
• The Law at Work: The Ins and Outs of Paid Vacation Time
• The Law at Work: Halloween Can Be Scary for Employers
• Dan Eaton: The San Diego Union Tribune’s New Columnist
• SCMV Martindale Hubbell A-V Preeminent® Rated Attorneys
• New York Attorney General Will Likely Lose His Bet on Fantasy Sports
• Adapting to shifting workplace
• Deflategate appeal: Tom Brady loses no matter what
• State Bar launches survey of client bank accounts
• Deflategate: What did Tom Brady know?
• Deflategate: Brady appeal won’t be easy
• Three SCMV Attorneys Named Best of the Bar
• High Court Looks at Cellphone Searches
• What OT hike could mean in California
• Social Media and the Changing Workplace