practice areas
employment litigation & counseling
We are one of the premier employment firms in New York, representing individuals, teams, and employers in the entire spectrum of employment-related issues, both nationwide and for expatriates abroad. We work with clients in a wide array of industries, with emphasis in the financial services sector (e.g., investment banking, sales/trading, private equity, venture capital, asset management, hedge funds and insurance) and in the technology, telecommunications, real estate, media, health, travel, fashion, law, advertising, publishing, entertainment, accounting, and cannabis industries.
HSW's Employment Practice is a Ranked Department in Chambers USA 2021. In 2021, four HSW attorneys were named by Lawdragon to its nationwide ranking of the 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment & Civil Rights Lawyers.
We negotiate scores of employment and separation agreements every year and, when agreements cannot be reached, mediate, arbitrate, and litigate disputes in a variety of forums including federal and state courts; federal, state, and city human rights agencies; FINRA; the American Arbitration Association; and JAMS.
Our areas of expertise include: restrictive covenants; employment, partnership, shareholder, and operating agreements; termination disputes involving compensation (e.g., bonus, severance, equity, and carry); defamation; discrimination/retaliation claims; whistleblowing; wage and hour litigation; authoring employee manuals and codes of conduct and establishing compliance programs; and internal and regulatory investigations.
Because we represent both employees and employers, we have unmatched perspective, experience and insight from both sides of the table, which we use to achieve your goals. Our record of success across numerous matters is outstanding.
EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENTS, SEVERANCE & WRONGFUL TERMINATION
We counsel employees and employers in the negotiation and drafting of employment, partnership, independent contractor, venture, and separation agreements, including stock grant and option agreements, formulas for compensation, restrictive covenants, intellectual property protections, and severance provisions. When necessary, we mediate, arbitrate, and litigate to enforce rights, obligations, and promises and all manner of wrongful termination claims, “for cause” termination, and compensation disputes. We help our clients resolve employment disputes stemming from a breach of oral or written, and express or implied, contracts, reductions in force, and contested claims of ownership in companies or partnerships. This includes representing:
A Portfolio Manager terminated for allegedly possessing and/or failing to escalate to compliance potential material non-public information and achieving for him a $23.3 million award (including over $1 million in attorneys’ fees and costs).
A financial advisor wrongfully terminated, and achieving for him an award of $6.8 million, including $1 million in punitive damages and attorneys’ fees, and expungement of his negative regulatory record.
Two traders terminated by an international bank, and securing for them nearly $7 million (representing bonus and deferred compensation), reported to be the largest FINRA intra-industry award to employees in 2017.
A senior equity analyst employed by a multi-billion hedge fund terminated for allegedly not disclosing to compliance that he may have possessed material non-public information, and securing for him a $3.8 million award, including all of his deferred compensation.
A team of financial advisors wrongfully terminated and defamed on their regulatory records for alleged improper trading activities, securing for them an award of $14 million, dismissal of a $2 million counterclaim, and the correction of their regulatory records.
An executive recruiter of day traders, employed by a public company with an electronic trading platform, who was wrongfully hired based on misrepresentations to lure in the recruiter and his clients, irreparably damaging the recruiter’s reputation, securing for him an award over $3.3 million.
A group of trading and sales executives following their terminations as part of a merger and securing for them an eight-figure settlement for unpaid incentive compensation.
A trader terminated by a large financial institution, and recovering (after a battle in state court, a week-long FINRA arbitration, and hearings in federal court) the intellectual property he developed while at the bank.
An accountant wrongfully terminated in violation of New Jersey’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act, and recovering in a AAA arbitration back pay, emotional distress and punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees.
RESTRICTIVE COVENANT LITIGATION: NON-COMPETES AND NON-SOLICITS
We represent employees and employers in the negotiation and litigation of restrictive covenants.
We have counseled numerous executives, producers, professionals and teams in connection with successfully navigating a change in employment, including traders; leading insurance producers and brokers; the head of business development for a litigation funding firm; doctors; and partners at law firms, hedge funds, and investment firms.
When matters have come to litigation, we have obtained favorable resolutions, including settlements and court orders, on behalf of both employees seeking to be released from or opposing enforcement of restrictive covenants, and employers seeking to enforce such agreements. This includes, for example:
Only days after a federal court temporarily restrained an employee from commencing new employment, successfully defeating the former employer’s preliminary injunction claim, paving the way for a resolution under which the employee immediately commenced employment without restriction.
Negotiating agreement for release of restrictive covenants for leading insurance brokers, enabling a transition to a new platform.
Defending Honeywell’s non-compete and non-solicit protections against a senior executive who sought a declaration they were unenforceable; Federal Judge Torres of the SDNY found Honeywell’s covenants enforceable as a matter of New Jersey law.
Securing for a New York commodities brokerage firm, in both federal and state court, injunctions including enjoining two former employees from soliciting business from, or having any business dealings or communications with, clients/customers of the former employer, and enjoining a former employee from serving in any capacity to any business that provides the same or similar services as the services provided by the client brokerage firm.
Successfully defeating a motion brought by our client’s former employer for a preliminary injunction seeking to restrain our client from soliciting customers and employees, followed by defeat of employer’s motion for re-argument.
DISCRIMINATION AND RETALIATION CLAIMS
We counsel employees and employers in navigating all aspects of discrimination and retaliation claims including race and ethnic discrimination, sexual harassment, gender identity discrimination, gender stereotyping, equal pay, sex and age discrimination. We further represent our clients in whistleblower processes and claims; university campus and education program or activity discrimination claims under Title IX of the education amendments act; internal investigations and reaching an optimal resolution of discrimination complaints. Many of these claims are handled by the firm on a confidential basis.
WAGE AND HOUR FLSA CLASS ACTIONS
We represent employees and defend businesses in wage and hour litigation, including Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA “) and New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) minimum wage and overtime claims, deduction from compensation claims, misclassification claims, and wage statement/notice violation claims. Representative matters include:
Co-led counsel in representing over 600 Wells Fargo financial advisors in a dispute concerning novel issues of misclassification under the FLSA and NYLL. We reached a favorable early-stage class settlement of $3.9 million.
Defended a parking garage and individual owners involving allegations of unpaid overtime. We successfully defeated collective certification significantly limiting liability against our clients.
Settled an overtime class action claim for violations of the FLSA brought on behalf of a group of financial advisors, for nearly $1 million.
ESTABLISHMENT OF CORPORATE COMPLIANCE PROGRAMS
The Firm offers a full range of employment services to companies that address the needs of Human Resources Managers, Chief People Officers, and General Counsel. In addition to negotiating and drafting of contracts, we provide guidance in connection with executive compensation packages, fringe benefits, and the creation and revision of employee handbooks.
As a part of our Litigation Prevention Program, the Firm offers a wide range of training sessions to ensure compliance with federal, state and city anti-discrimination laws that govern most New York-based companies. Our training sessions include preventing sexual harassment in the workplace, addressing claims of discrimination relating to race, gender, disabilities, age, national origin, criminal records, and military status, and avoiding the pitfalls of employee misclassification and overtime pay charges.