Employment Attorneys for New York Employees

Sometimes — and sometimes the better move is an agency charge or a negotiated exit rather than a lawsuit. New York is an at-will state, which means an employer can fire you for a bad reason or no reason at all. What it cannot do is fire you for an unlawful reason: discrimination, retaliation for a protected complaint, or asserting a legal right such as unpaid wages or a medical leave. Whether that describes your situation is exactly what the first call is for.

Many of these matters are handled on a contingency-fee basis, meaning no attorney’s fee is owed unless we obtain a recovery for you. Clients may still be responsible for case costs and expenses, which are separate from attorney’s fees. Some matters — severance and contract review, for example — are handled on other fee arrangements. All fee terms are set out in a written retainer agreement before any work begins.

Not before someone reads it. A severance agreement almost always asks you to release every claim you have, including claims you may not know you have. That release is the thing your employer is buying, and its price is frequently negotiable. Deadlines to sign are real but are often shorter than the law requires. Call before the deadline, not after.

Not from us. Your consultation is confidential, and we don’t contact an employer without discussing it with you first. Plenty of people call while still employed, simply to understand their options.

No. Former employees bring most of these claims. Deadlines generally run from when the conduct occurred rather than from your last day, so leaving doesn’t reset the clock — and in some circumstances being forced to resign is itself actionable.

These cases are rarely decided on a single document. Testimony, timing, patterns of conduct, personnel records, coworker accounts, and how your employer responded all carry weight — and much of the employer’s own paperwork becomes available through the legal process. Bring what you have, even if that’s only your own account, and we’ll tell you plainly what can and can’t be done with it.