Jeffrey Douglas
Partner, Head of Labor & Employment Practice Group
Jeff Douglas, head of the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group, helps clients navigate all manner of workplace issues, compliance, and disputes, minimizing risks and allowing them to focus on their business objectives and strategic growth.
Jeff has experience representing clients in employment and traditional labor matters in New York, New Jersey, across the U.S. and internationally. A strategic business advisor to the firm’s employer clients, he is also an experienced litigator who has handled a wide variety of employment-related disputes.
Jeff provides effective advice and counsel to employers on day-to-day personnel decisions that directly impact clients’ ability to conduct business. He partners with employers in the strategic design and implementation of personnel policies including handbooks, employment agreements, wage and hour audits, diversity and inclusion programs and trainings, and routinely conducts workplace investigations. Jeff regularly partners with international companies to establish their business presence in the U.S. Additionally, Jeff assists clients by conducting due diligence for business transactions to identify and evaluate any potential labor and workforce liability.
As a litigator, Jeff represents clients in employment disputes including single-plaintiff, class and collective wage and hour cases, employment discrimination cases in court and before administrative agencies, regulatory investigations, and ERISA delinquent contribution matters. He employs effective and creative strategies early in litigation to attempt to leverage favorable client outcomes.
Jeff has extensive experience representing private and public sector employers with unionized workforces. He has served as the lead counsel for clients to defeat union campaigns. He conducts collective bargaining, practices before administrative agencies, represents clients in arbitration proceedings, and provides advice to assist employers navigating unionized workforces.
Prior to joining the firm, Jeff was a partner in a national labor and employment firm. A graduate of the Fordham University School of Law, Jeff was awarded the Addison M. Metcalf Labor Law Prize. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations where he concentrated his studies in collective bargaining, labor and employment law, and labor history.
Honors
- Best Lawyers in America® - Ones to Watch
- Thomson Reuters - Super Lawyers Rising Stars - New York Metro Edition
- Obtained dismissal of class and collective action wage and hour case after assuming representation after fact discovery closed by moving for judgment on the pleadings.
- Defeated aggressive union in well-publicized union campaign targeting a well-known bar.
- Resolved 1,700 member class and collective action matter for 7% of the potential liability through aggressive motion practice and strategic negotiation.
- Obtained dismissal of New York and New Jersey discrimination allegations as well as monetary sanctions against opposing counsel.
- Successfully appealed decision to the Appellate Division Second Department compelling class action matter to arbitration.
- Achieved dismissal of misclassification claims impacting 50+ workers by New York State Department of Labor after conducting appeal hearing.
