Dorian West Blair

Dorian has 30 years of employment law and human resource experience. She is a seasoned workplace investigator having investigated and overseen hundreds of investigations for the public and private sector. Dorian specializes in investigations for claims of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation based on protected categories, but is also skilled in investigating workplace violence, policy violations, misconduct, wage and hour, and safety. Dorian has experience preparing position statements for the DFEH, EEOC, and DOE/OCR and testifying at depositions and in administrative proceedings regarding investigations.

In addition to investigations, Dorian has expertise in affirmative action plan development and programming; diversity, equity, and inclusion programming (DEI), including developing internship and apprenticeship programs; and disability/leaves. She is also skilled in classification, compensation, grievance management, and training.

Dorian interned for the EEOC Systemic Litigation Unit during law school. Following graduation, she prosecuted employment cases under Executive Order 11246, Rehabilitation Act, VEVRAA, FMLA, FLSA, OSHA, and STAA as a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Labor and defended employers in litigation under Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FMLA, FEHA, CFRA and the California Labor Code as a Senior Associate at Rogers, Joseph, O’Donnell. She also worked in-house as Corporate Counsel at PeopleSoft developing and managing the contingent workforce program, managing employment litigation, and backing up the Employment Law Counsel.

In 2002, Dorian conducted and oversaw workplace investigations, responded to agency complaints, and handled other HR-related work. For CSU, East Bay (CSUEB), she was the Director of Employment Relations and Practices and the Interim Associate Director of HR, and for CSUEB Continuing Education as an Instructor in Disability Law. She also has worked at the UC, San Francisco School of Medicine (UCSF SOM) as the Director of HR, Silicon Valley Bank as a Senior HR Business Partner, CPS HR Consulting as a Lead Investigator, EBMUD as a Diversity and Inclusion Officer, and Its Personnel as an Attorney Investigator. Accomplishments during her career include the development of the first AA/EEO program and the development of a recruitment process enhancing diversity at CSUEB, the improvement of the Management Incentive Program and the development of an HR Strategic Plan at USCF SOM, and the expansion of the high school, college, and specialty internship programs to create a pipeline of diverse candidates and leveraging the District Affinity Groups for recruitment and engagement initiatives at EBMUD.

Dorian earned her Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School and a BA in Communications Studies from UCLA, where she graduated cum laude. She is a member of the Association of Workplace Investigators, an active member of the State Bar of California, and an inactive member of the D.C. Bar.