News & Commentary

Brooklyn Law School’s Labor & Employment Law Association has selected LR’s Dan Ratner to receive its 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award. Dan serves as General Counsel to 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the largest health care local in the nation.

Dan Ratner discusses his path to labor law and the victories he has brought home.

The NLRB has ruled that graduate student employees at Columbia University and other private universities have the right to form or join a union and bargain collectively, reversing a 2004 Brown University decision. Levy Ratner’s Carl Levine, who devotes a large portion of his practice to representing faculty members and unions at colleges and universities,…

Mandatory arbitration of employment claims raises concerns about implicit biases and other cognitive habits that are likely to negatively affect employee claimants. At NYU’s 69th Annual Conference on Labor, Danny Engelstein took on this practice and proposed solutions.

New York City passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, Local Law 78, in 2013, expanding rights previously granted by the New York City Human Right Law (NYCHRL).[1] Pregnancy discrimination is discrimination based on gender. On May 6, 2016, the New York City Human Rights Commission issued legal enforcement guidance on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act….

The Fast Food Workers Committee, represented by LR’s Micah Wissinger and Gwynne Wilcox, earned a major win in their fight on behalf of fast food workers nationally. In December 2015, the NLRB ruled that Domino’s violated the law by maintaining an arbitration agreement that required employees, as a condition of employment, to waive their rights…

Management attorneys often use HIPAA as a basis to refuse to provide requested information. While HIPAA generally prohibits disclosure of protected health information, there is an explicit exception for employment records held by a covered entity in its role as employer. Thus, the HIPAA privacy rule generally does not apply to information requested in connection…

The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, which honors leading lawyers nationwide in the practice of Labor and Employment Law, has inducted Daniel J. Ratner as a Fellow. In the words of former NLRB Chairman John Truesdale, induction into the College is reserved for those “whose professional achievements symbolize the highest level of expertise, integrity and…

The City of New York agreed to pay $155,000, plus attorneys’ fees, to five black and Latino electricians represented by Levy Ratner in their claims of race discrimination and retaliation against the FDNY. The plaintiffs in Seabrook, et al v. City of New York also won an injunctive relief settlement aimed at advancing cultural change…

Richard A. Levy is honored by the Peggy Browning Fund at its annual New York City reception for his leadership in achieving victories for workers. The Peggy Browning Fund educates and inspires law students to become the next generation of advocates for workplace justice. Levy accepted the award alongside arbitrator Hezekiah Brown and Terry Moore, Business…