Richard L. Steer is a Partner in Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP’s Labor and Employment Practice Group and heads the firm’s Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) practice. He has defended and counseled a wide range of employers, insurance companies and their policy holders in employment discrimination, labor and housing discrimination litigation.
Mr. Steer has acted as trial counsel in a number of important employment discrimination cases for Fortune 500 companies and public sector jurisdictions. He was lead trial counsel in federal court in USA v. City of Yonkers, et al., defending New York’s statewidewritten exam for entry-level police officers in a pattern or practice discrimination case brought by the Attorney General of the United States. Other significant representations include:
- Serving as lead counsel in negotiations with the New York Attorney General’s office to settle a multimillion-dollar wage and hour case.
- Serving on Tarter, Krinsky & Drogin’s trial team that obtained one of the first temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions in federal court in New York under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
- Obtaining numerous favorable determinations from the New York State Division of Human Rights and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in housing discrimination cases.
- Counseling employees on how to avoid liability regarding labor and employment issues.
- Acting as monitoring counsel for an insurance carrier for an employment discrimination class action and in other litigation.
- Successfully representing school districts and municipalities in cases involving wage freezes, tenure and seniority rights, and discipline.
Since 1984, Mr. Steer has been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Pace University School of Law, where he teaches courses in employment discrimination law and employment law. He also has taught labor law, as well as the employment discrimination section of Pace’s course on women and the law. In addition, Mr. Steer lectures extensively on employment discrimination and labor topics and engages in advice and training in areas such as sexual harassment, disability discrimination, wage and hour laws, employment policies and restrictive covenant agreements. He has presented employment law updates for the Practising Law Institute and for Pace Continuing Legal Education, and has lectured for the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry on employment law topics.
For many years, Mr. Steer has been a member of the New York Management Attorneys Conference (a by-invitation-only management labor law organization), the National Association of College and University Attorneys, the Federal Bar Council and the Board of Directors of the Defense Association of New York, Inc.
Prior to joining Tarter Krinsky & Drogin, Mr. Steer was a Principal and co-head of the Employment Practices Group of Jones Hirsch Connors & Bull P.C., a Partner and head of the Labor Practice at Davidoff & Malito LLP, a senior Associate at Epstein Becker Borsody & Green P.C., and an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Yonkers, New York. He also served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, JAGC (R).
In his spare time, Mr. Steer is a professional ski instructor.
Phone: 212.216.8070
Fax: 212.216.8001
Email: rsteer@tarterkrinsky.com
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