DeGiuseppe, Joseph, Jr.
Biography
Mr. DeGiuseppe is the head of Bleakley Platt’s Labor and Employment and Immigration Practice Groups. He has over 45 years’ experience in representing and advising employers, employees, independent contractors and other clients with respect to labor, employment and immigration law issues. His background includes over 20 years of experience with Bleakley Platt, 14 years of experience with an internationally recognized firm, and more than 6 years of experience with a nationally recognized labor law firm.
Mr. DeGiuseppe advises clients on a wide variety of labor and employment law issues involving employment terminations and discipline; unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation; wage and hour claims; employment agreements and job offer letters; non-competition and confidentiality agreements; separation and severance agreements; unfair labor practice charges; union representation cases; and collective bargaining negotiations. He has acted as lead counsel for significant employment discrimination law cases, wage and hour actions, and non-competition cases, and in NLRB and PERB proceedings, mediations and arbitration hearings.
Mr. DeGiuseppe also advises clients with respect to I-9 employment verification, visa work authorization, and immigration-related discrimination issues.
- Fordham University School of Law, J.D.
- Editor-in-Chief, Volume V of the Fordham Urban Law Journal
- Fordham University, B.A.
- New York
- U.S. District Courts for the Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts of New York
- U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
- Successfully defended managerial employee against the granting of preliminary injunctive relief to prevent her from working for a new employer in a non-competition and trade secrets action commenced by the manager’s former employer in the Southern District of New York (2022).
- Successfully argued an appeal before the N.Y.S. Appellate Division, Second Department which affirmed the dismissal of a former employee’s claims of sexual orientation discrimination and FMLA retaliation against a non-profit corporation (2022).
- Successfully defended corporate client before the N.Y.S. Division of Human Rights against claims by independent contractor that he was the victim of unlawful employment discrimination because of his race/color and age (among other protected classifications) in violation of the N.Y.S. Human Rights Law resulting in “No Probable Cause” finding (2022)
- Successfully negotiated settlement in FLSA and NYS Labor Law action seeking to recover alleged damages for hourly restaurant employees for alleged unpaid off-the-clock hours worked; unpaid overtime compensation; unpaid misappropriated tips which settlement was approved by the Southern District of New York (2021).
- Successfully negotiated settlement in a NYS Labor Law class action seeking to recover customer “service charges” as alleged gratuities for class consisting of wait staff, waiters, servers, captains, bussers, and bartenders who were employed by both a food service vendor and a temporary staffing agency to provide food and beverage services at catered events (2020).
- New York State Bar Association
- New York City Bar Association
- Westchester County Bar Association
- American Immigration Lawyers Association
- Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating: AV® Preeminent (5.0 out of 5)
- Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating: Distinguished
- New York Metro Super Lawyers (Labor & Employment)
- Top Rated Lawyer in Labor & Employment (American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell)
- Best Lawyers in America in the New York Area (Labor & Employment)
- Top Rated Attorney (Avvo/American Registry)
- Author of The Effect of the Employment-at-Will Rule on Employee Rights to Job Security and Fringe Benefits, 10 Fordham Urban L.J. 1, one of the seminal works on the employment-at-will rule cited by the New York Court of Appeals in the landmark decisions of Murphy v. American Home Products Corp. and Weiner v. McGraw-Hill, Inc. and by other federal and state courts