Ackermann & Tilajef, P.C. is a California based law firm representing employees in individual and class action litigation, including sexual harassment, employee stock option, employment discrimination and wage and hour litigation.

Established in Los Angeles in 2004, the practice of Ackermann & Tilajef handles various areas of employment law, including but not limited to the list below:

• Employment law
• Class Action Law
• Collective Actions
• Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
• Employee Stock Option litigation
• Employment Discrimination
• Wage and Hour Litigation
• Breach of Employment Contract

The attorneys of Ackermann & Tilajef have developed real expertise in the areas of large-scale sexual harassment, discrimination and wage/hour cases, with an increasing focus on employee stock option litigation. These cases frequently involve breach of employee stock option agreements and stock plans or wrongful cancellation of employee stock options. The firm is committed to seeking redress for workers victimized by employee stock option fraud, breach of employee stock option agreements and/or wrongful termination to prevent vesting of stock options by use of the class action device.

Attorney Profiles

Craig J. Ackermann, Esq.
Craig Ackermann holds a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law. Before opening Ackermann & Tilajef, P.C. in Los Angeles, California Mr. Ackermann worked as an associate in the labor and employment law group of Jenkens & Gilchrist, P.C. (Texas) where he defended (as second-chair) numerous harassment, discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, breach of contract, and employee stock option lawsuits. Following this, Mr. Ackerman moved to New York City to pursue an L.L.M. degree in labor and employment law at New York University. During this time, Mr. Ackermann joined the plaintiffs'-side law firm of Arenson, Dittmar & Karban where he was part of a team of lawyers, including several nationally-renowned employment class action specialists, who represented 150 individually-named clients in a sexual harassment and discrimination collective action against a Fortune 100 company. He then moved to Los Angeles in 2003. Before starting Ackermann & Tilajef, P.C., Mr. Ackermann worked as an associate in the labor and employment law group of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, LLP, one of Los Angeles' premier management-side labor and employment law firms.

Yael Tilajef, Esq.
Yael Tilajef holds a BS from Sy Syms School of Business, a division of Yeshiva University and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School. Before moving to Los Angeles, California in 2003 and joining Ackermann & Tilajef, P.C., Mrs. Tilajef worked in New York City as an associate for the law firm of Rimberg & Associates, P.C., where she handled a variety of litigation matters on behalf of employers and small businesses. Prior to Rimberg & Associates, Mrs. Tilajef worked for Peter Axelrod & Associates, P.C., and served as a judicial intern to the Honorable Bernard J. Fried of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.

Chaim Woolf, Esq.
Chaim Woolf holds a BA from Yeshiva University and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School. Since August 2004, Mr. Woolf has been employed by Ackermann & Tilajef, P.C., initially as a law clerk and more recently as an associate. His practice has focused on wage and hour litigation and sexual harassment cases in state and federal court, and before arbitrators appointed by the American Arbitration Association.

Before joining Ackermann & Tilajef, P.C., Mr. Woolf represented low income taxpayers involved in disputes with the IRS as part of the University of Minnesota Law School's Federal Tax Clinic. Prior to this, Mr. Woolf served as a law clerk for Bet Tzedek Legal Services' Holocaust Restitution Project. He has also served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Marilyn Rosenbaum of the Minnesota District Court for the District of Hennepin County, Minneapolis, MN.

Achievements

Mr. Ackermann's greatest legal achievement to date was his participation (as second-chair) in the representation of a group of 150 individually-named plaintiffs in the second largest sexual harassment case in U.S. history in terms of the number of plaintiffs and the size of the settlement ultimately secured (the amount is confidential) brought against a Fortune 100 company.

Prior to this, Mr. Ackermann was involved in the litigation (on the defense side) in several cases involving claims for accelerated vesting of employee stock options brought by former senior executives of a large and well-known telecommunications company.

Publications by Craig J. Ackermann

Not Without Class: Test Cases in Lieu of Class Certification in Multi-Plaintiff Harassment Cases (with Steve Arenson, Esq.), presented by Mr. Arenson at the 56th Meeting of the NYU Annual Conference on Employment Law, May 8-9, 2003.

E-issues Take Center Stage: The 2000 SAG/AFTRA Strike, Villanova Sports & Entertainment Law Journal, Vol. VIII, Issue 2, pp. 293-314.

Employee Duty of Loyalty: A State By State Survey (BNA 1999) (Contributing Editor, Second Edition and 2000 Supplement).

When OSHA Knocks-Handling Federal Agency Inspections, The Texas Labor Letter (February 1998) (with Robert E. Sheeder).

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