Theresa is a labor and employment adviser representing employers across New York State. Her relationship with clients is paramount to her practice, as she strives to assist employers in a practical, cost-effective way.
Theresa’s practice includes counseling employers in all aspects of legal compliance. She has experience in the following areas:
Theresa is a labor and employment adviser representing employers across New York State. Her relationship with clients is paramount to her practice, as she strives to assist employers in a practical, cost-effective way.
Theresa’s practice includes counseling employers in all aspects of legal compliance. She has experience in the following areas:
- Conducting workplace investigations into employee complaints encompassing harassment and discrimination, unlawful surveillance, theft (including theft of time) and others.
- Advising employers on employee leave laws, including New York Paid Family Leave, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the New York Paid Sick Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and federal and state COVID-19 leave laws.
- Presenting trainings to employees and supervisors on a wide variety of relevant employment topics, including sexual harassment prevention trainings, gender identity harassment prevention, disability accommodation and discrimination prevention, common employee leave issues, drugs and alcohol in the workplace, and conducting workplace investigations.
- Advising employers on reductions in force, WARN Act notice requirements, employee separations and terminations.
- Counseling employers regarding wage and hour matters under the New York Labor Law and the Fair Labor Standards Act, including issues such as minimum wage, overtime pay, spread of hours pay, call-in pay and the Wage Theft Prevention Act.
- Crafting effective restrictive covenants, including non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements.
- Creating workplace policies to ensure compliance with New York Paid Family Leave, New York Sexual Harassment, New York Paid Sick Leave law, the New York HERO Act and a diverse array of other policies designed to reflect the culture of the employer’s workforce and enhance employee compliance.
Theresa also represents employers in court, at arbitrations, and before administrative agencies. Her recent matters include the following:
- Obtained several “No Probable Cause” determinations from the Division of Human Rights regarding disability discrimination involving COVID-19 (2021).
- Obtained a dismissal of a class action federal court litigation involving failure to pay overtime claims for a healthcare entity (2020).
- Obtained a dismissal of retaliation claims under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act before OSHA for a transportation company (2020 and 2019).
- Settled a disability discrimination claim for a transportation entity sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2018).
- Settled an administrative complaint from the New York Department of Labor regarding the independent contractor status of certain individuals working with a transportation company (2018).
- Prevailed in a National Labor Relations Board union election at a power and electric entity (2018).
Finally, Theresa is a member of the firm’s Health Care practice, where she focuses on assisting consumer directed personal assistance programs with the labor and employment matters particular to those entities, including wage and hour issues, joint employment and policy compliance.
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