New York Employment and Civil Rights Attorneys

Beranbaum Menken LLP

80 Pine Street, 33rd Floor
New York, New York 10005
USA

(212) 509-1616

www.nyemployeelaw.com

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Law Firm Overview

Beranbaum Menken LLP represents individuals and plaintiff classes in the fields of employment and civil rights. We provide the highest caliber legal representation for our clients, whether through counseling and negotiations, litigation or arbitration for individuals or litigation on behalf of large classes of plaintiffs. Our attorneys are highly experienced and well known and respected in their practice areas.

When we work with a client -- whether we are counseling, negotiating or litigating -- the work is a joint project with the client. We work through decisions about strategy and settlement with our clients, and make sure that they understand and can evaluate their options at each step. We keep our clients informed as their cases move along. We pride ourselves on being available, by phone and email, to explain issues, answer questions and solve problems.

Part of our client-centered approach is that every client’s legal needs are unique; as a result, the goals and strategy in each case are particular to each client. Some clients need counseling and advice; some retain us to negotiate; and some hire us to litigate or arbitrate a legal claim.

Practice Areas

Additional Practice Areas: Disability Rights and Employee Leaves; Retaliation; Wage and Hour Laws; Executive Agreements; Restrictive Covenants; Severance Agreements; Employment Contracts; Workplace Harassment

Practice Areas Description

- Employment Law

Beranbaum Menken LLP has built a well-known reputation in the area of employment law. We represent employees in negotiations, workplace disputes, arbitration and litigation. We handle legal actions on behalf of individuals and classes of employees and have a full docket of class action cases. In our work on behalf of employees, we cover all facets of employment law: from discrimination and sexual harassment actions to whistleblowing and claims for illegal denial of overtime wages; from negotiating employment contracts and severance agreements to assuring that disabled workers receive reasonable accommodations at work.

. Disability Rights and Employee Leaves

A complex web of statutes and regulations govern disability rights and leave protections for employees. These include the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act), ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act), STD (Short-Term Disability benefits), LTD (Long-Term Disability benefits), and WCL (Workers Compensation Law). We help current employees obtain the leave and other benefits allowed by these statutes, and represent those employees terminated in violation of these laws.

- Discrimination and Retaliation

Beranbaum Menken LLP has extensive experience litigating all forms of employment discrimination and unlawful retaliation cases before the federal and state courts, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the New York City and State agencies charged with enforcing civil rights.

- Wage and Hour Laws

Federal and state laws - the Fair Labor Standards Act and the New York State Labor Law - protect employees' rights to be paid their full allotment of wages (regular and overtime) and prohibit employers from making unauthorized paycheck deductions. Our firm represents both individuals and classes of employees in these cases.

Beranbaum Menken LLP successfully settled one collective action on behalf of almost 100 food service workers whose employer was pocketing customer's fees that were supposed to pay for waiters' gratuities. We currently are representing a putative class of fire alarm technicians/electricians employed by SimplexGrinnell LP, the nation's largest fire, security and communications systems service provider, in a New York state-wide class action for failure to pay prevailing wages for work performed on public contracts.

- Whistleblowing and "Qui Tam" Fraud

Beranbaum Menken LLP has particular expertise representing employees under whistleblower protection statutes. We currently represent plaintiff-relators in several qui tam suits, brought under both the federal and New York State False Claims Acts. In one of our qui tam cases, the U.S. government intervened and the case was settled for $42.5 million. U.S. ex rel Gallagher v. InterMune, Inc., C-04-4323 (N.D. Cal.).

- Executive Agreements

We frequently advise and represent executives concerning executive compensation issues, including claims regarding bonuses, stock, stock options, commissions and other incentive compensation. We work with our clients to ensure that their arrangements with their employers are fair and that contractual promises are kept. Beranbaum Menken LLP has successfully brought legal actions, both in court and arbitration, to recover incentive compensation to which our clients were entitled.

- Sexual Harassment

Beranbaum Menken LLP frequently represents victims of sexual and other unlawful harassment and has pursued significant litigation in this area, including Ferris v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 277 F.3d 128 (2d Cir. 2001) (holding that the hotel room where flight attendant was allegedly raped by co-worker during layover was a "work environment" under Title VII); Crisonino v. New York City Housing Auth., 985 F. Supp. 385 (S.D.N.Y. 1997) (denying summary judgment in sexual harassment action); Rivera v. Ndola Pharmacy Corp., 497 f. supp. 2d 404 (E.D.N.Y. 2007);

- Restrictive Covenants

These agreements, which prohibit an employee from competing in the same industry and/or geographic area as the employer, can have significant consequences for an employee's career. We advise clients on their rights under these agreements negotiate more favorable terms and represent clients in litigation and arbitration to protect their interests. Recently, Beranbaum Menken LLP attorneys were successful in negotiating waivers of non-compete agreements for senior and mid-level executives formerly employed by major corporations.

- Severance Agreements

Beranbaum Menken LLP regularly negotiates improvements in severance agreements which can make a substantial difference to a client after a job loss. Some of the firm's more recent clients were employed by Goldman, Sachs & Co., Clear Channel Communications, Lehman Brothers, RR Donnelly, HSBC, and JP Morgan Stanley.

- Employment Contracts

Beranbaum Menken LLP commonly counsels executives and professionals on the negotiation of employment contracts, and negotiate the contract terms for them. These negotiations must be done with the right combination of assertiveness and tact, since our client is entering into a new business relationship that our client hopes will be positive and long term. We also frequently represent employees in litigation or arbitrations when an employer fires an employee in violation of a contract, or otherwise breaches the agreement.

- Civil Rights

Beranbaum Menken LLP has an active and diverse civil rights practice. We litigate creatively and aggressively and are willing to prosecute cases through trial. We represent individuals and classes of plaintiffs who have been subjected to police or prison misconduct, discriminatory or retaliatory actions by government officials, civil rights and other cases that arise under the various city, state and federal civil rights laws.

- Class and Multi-party Actions

Beranbaum Menken LLP , along with co-counsel, represented a large class of waiters who were not paid their gratuities by a major New York City hospitality vendor. After substantial litigation in New York State Supreme Court, secured a multi-million dollar confidential settlement for the waiters.