Danielle Fuschetti is a Partner in the Palo Alto and San Francisco offices of Sanford Heisler Sharp and a Co-Chair of the firm’s Discrimination and Harassment Practice Group. Danielle’s practice focuses on asserting the rights of individual workers and classes of employees in their wage and hour, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and retaliation claims. Her deep knowledge of employment law, commitment to social justice, and dedication to advocating for individuals who have been wronged have led to many successful outcomes in cases against corporations, large universities, and tech companies.
Danielle has negotiated million-dollar settlements on behalf of female attorneys who faced discrimination in pay and promotions; represented multiple employees in retaliation and discrimination cases against large healthcare systems; and reached a multimillion-dollar settlement on behalf of a female employee at a tech company who was terminated in retaliation for complaining about her employer’s hostile work environment.
Danielle has succeeded in not only winning large monetary settlements for her clients, but also getting defendant companies to institute programmatic relief to change workplace culture. She helped secure a $19.5 million dollar settlement on behalf of a class of women at Qualcomm based on claims of sex discrimination and unequal pay that also required the tech giant to institute comprehensive reform to ensure that female employees working in STEM and related positions enjoy equal opportunities at the company. She also represented a class of 1,863 female employees alleging sex discrimination and unequal pay at Western Digital Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based data storage company. The $7.75 million settlement was granted final approval in January 2021, and included comprehensive programmatic relief designed to ensure equal opportunities for women at the company.
In a high-profile trial in 2016, Danielle served as co-counsel for Beth Burns, the winningest women’s basketball coach in the history of San Diego State University, in her wrongful termination claims against the university, which resulted in a jury verdict of over $3.3 million.
Danielle received her law degree from the University of Michigan School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude from Dartmouth College. While at University of Michigan School of Law, Danielle was an Article Editor on the Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, and an editor of the Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law. She was a summer law clerk at the EEOC Office of Appeals and New Hampshire Legal Assistance, and an extern at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law’s Center for WorkLife Law (“the Center for Worklife Law”), where she co-authored a law review article titled, “A Sip of Cool Water: Pregnancy Accommodation After the ADA Amendments Act,” that was published in the Yale Law & Policy Review.
Danielle has been recognized in the legal community as a Rising Star by Law360, Super Lawyers, and The National Law Journal. A member of the California bar, Danielle has presented at conferences on topics that include disability rights, equal pay, and the impact of COVID-19. Danielle is also a board member of the Center for Worklife Law and a member of the California Employment Lawyers Association (“CELA”), and has been recognized as an Outstanding Volunteer by Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco.
Updated July 2023
