Joanna Weiss Is Self Funding Her Campaign With Money Made Representing Corporations For “Smuggling Illegal Immigrants,” “Discrimination,” “Wage Theft,” and “Union Busting”

While her campaign professed support for workers’ rights, this contradiction in values and action strikes at the heart of the Weiss candidacy–  casting a serious shadow over her integrity and authenticity.  The news comes as MAGA Republican donors continue to flood Orange County with millions of dollars in dark money supporting Weiss, raising serious questions about who Weiss is and why so much right-wing money is behind her.
Several Examples of the Weiss’s Legal Work Against Workers, Their Wages, and Their Discrimination Claims

Joanna Weiss Represented Tyson Foods Subsidiaries. 
Tyson was Indicted For ‘Conspiracy To Smuggle Illegal Immigrants’ To Work In Its Southern Poultry Plants.

• In 1999, Joanna Weiss represented H&M Food Systems, a subsidiary of Tyson Foods, in a contract case against the Dairy Farmers of America. Dairy Farmers of America v. H & M Food Systems, et al.  [US District Court, California Central, Case No. 2:98-cv-10689]
• Tyson Foods was indicted for conspiracy to smuggle illegal immigrants’ into the United States to work in its poultry plants and accused of bribery.

Jason Weiss Is A Leading Attorney For One Of The Top Union-Busting Law Firms In America.

• Jason Weiss, Joanna’s husband, is a partner in Sheppard Mullin’s labor and employment practice, where he earns an estimated $1.2 million a year, which appears to be the sole or primary source of funding for the more than $230,000 that the Weiss family is pouring into this campaign.
• As the firm itself describes, “Sheppard Mullin offers clients one of the largest and most experienced Labor and Employment practices in the country.” This practice group was named one of the top 3 management-side labor and employment practice groups in the state of California by The Recorder.
• According to Sheppard Mullin’s own website, Weiss’s Labor and Employment Practice Group “regularly assists employers in resisting unwelcome labor union organizing drives [utilizing] an aggressive, practical and tactically sound approach to organizing drives and labor disputes in a broad variety of industries.” Sheppard Mullin boasts that “our attorneys have been extremely successful in keeping many organizations union free…”
• While most anti-union activities happens behind the scenes, Sheppard Mullin’s major role in preventing unionization has played out publicly in several recent high profile cases, including representing Tesla in that company’s efforts to prevent unionization, and representing a group of local government officials who sought to overturn a California law prohibiting public employers from deterring unionization.

Weiss Represented High-Light Electric In A Lawsuit Brought By The Trustees Of The IBEW Declarations of Trust Alleging That High-Light Violated Collective Bargaining Agreements And Violated ERISA

• In 2009, Jason Weiss represented High-Light Electric in a lawsuit brought by The Trustees Of The IBEW Declarations of Trust alleging that High-Light withheld payments owed to IBEW members in violation of their collective bargaining agreement and violated ERISA. [US District Court for the Central District of California, Case #5:09cv1903, 10/9/09; US Department of Labor ]

Weiss Represented Alorica In A Class Action Wage Theft Lawsuit That Settled For $9.25 Million
“Alorica ‘Created A Company-wide Pay Roll Scheme Whereby It Treats Any Break In Time Of Less Than Twenty Minutes As Uncompensated Time, Regardless Of The Reason For The Break In Time In The Customer Service Representative’s Login/logout Data,’ A ‘Direct Violation’ Of Rest Time Standards Set By The Fair Labor Standards Act.”

• From 2013-2016, Jason Weiss represented Alorica, Inc. in a class action alleging that the company had implemented a company-wide wage theft scheme to deprive employees of federally required rest breaks and to steal their earned wages. .
• According to to the plaintiff’s complaint, Alorica ‘created a company-wide pay roll scheme whereby it treats any break in time of less than twenty minutes as uncompensated time, regardless of the reason for the break in time in the customer service representative’s login/logout data,’ a ‘direct violation’ of rest time standards set by The Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Alorica agreed to pay $9.25 million in the settlement, with up to 120,000 individuals covered by the class.
• This representation is consistent with Sheppard Mullin’s broader defense of wage theft by big corporations. As the law firm itself boasted, Sheppard Mullin is “the preeminent employment law firm and subject-matter expert on wage and hour issues,” and was recently retained by employer advocacy groups to draft an amicus brief in support of Home Depot’s efforts to overturn existing law and allow “wage rounding,” a form of wage theft in which employees are “rounded” to the nearest 15 minute increment, rather than their actual time worked.

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California’s 47th is an open Congressional District in Orange County that includes the Cities of Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach, and Seal Beach, and portions of Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, and Laguna Woods. Incumbent Katie Porter is vacating the seat to run for U.S. Senate. In 2022, Porter defeated former Assemblymember Republican Scott Baugh by 3.44% in this “toss-up” district. State Senator Dave Min currently represents over 80% of Congressional District 47 in Sacramento. In 2020, Min received over 158,000 votes within CA-47, defeating incumbent John Moorlach by 5.15% in this area. 19% of the registered voters in CA-47 are of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, including one of the largest Korean-American populations in the country.