Partner Joseph DeGiuseppe Interviewed in The Fordham Lawyer on Labor and Employment Law
Bleakley Platt Partner Joseph DeGiuseppe was featured in the “How To…” column in the Spring edition of The Fordham Lawyer, with a look at how Fordham alumni practice labor and employment law. DeGiuseppe’s employment law background is explored in detail in “How to Do Right by Employers and Employees.”
His practice began just out of Fordham Law School with editing soon-to- be Dean John Feerick’s book on National Labor Relations Board representation law, which led to a job at Skadden Arps. Joe became the go-to source on the employment-at- will rule after writing an oft-cited law review article for the Fordham Urban Law Journal.
As head of the Labor and Employment and Immigration practice groups at Bleakley Platt, Joe represents large and small companies and has adapted to the new legal reality of working with insurance companies in the passenger seat when clients carry employment practices liability insurance protecting them against potentially significant liability resulting from employment discrimination lawsuits.
He has also seen a swell of wage-and- hour class-action litigation as employers have struggled to keep up with the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to the various types of employment relationships in today’s service economy.
As for the future, he expects to see an increase in sexual orientation discrimination lawsuits and litigation revolving around employees and their free speech rights on social media.
“In one recent case an employee called an employer a very derogatory name and it was upheld as free speech,” says Joe. “Labor law is much more complicated than people think.”