New York employment lawyer Laurie E. Morrison is an experienced litigator and legal counselor. She has practiced employment law and litigation for several years in New York City and across the Tri-State area.
Laurie graduated from Columbia University and Cornell Law School. Laurie also served as a judicial clerk in the Southern District of New York, and worked in prominent New York City law firms for several years.
A champion of employee rights, Laurie is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), an employee advocacy group, and has lobbied on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on behalf of workers. Most recently, Laurie lobbied against forced arbitration clauses in employment contracts and against the Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. decision that heightened plaintiffs' burden in establishing age discrimination claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA").
Laurie also counsels employers on establishing, developing and implementing effective employment policies and practices that help enhance employee relations and minimize the risk of costly lawsuits.
Some of Laurie's professional achievements include:
· successfully litigating claims for unpaid wages and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") and the New York Labor Law, including helping workers receive overtime pay by defeating claims of exemptions from the FLSA, challenging misclassifications of employees as independent contractors, and establishing joint employer status;
· successfully negotiating severance packages and benefits for terminated employees;
· co-drafted sections of the 2008 Amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act to expand statutory coverage to people with learning and other disabilities on behalf of the National Center for Learning Disabilities;
· successfully litigating workplace harassment, discrimination and retaliation claims in New York and federal court, including drafting complaints, discovery requests and dispositive motions;
· successfully drafting discovery and dispositive motions, including drafting a dispositive brief that resulted in successful oral argument before the New York Court of Appeals in the landmark case Hodes v. Pachter. The Hodes case interpreted Article 6 of the New York Labor Law to include statutory coverage for executives and determined when wages are deemed "earned" under the New York Labor Law;
· counseling clients on all aspects of federal, state and local law, including unpaid wages and overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employment discrimination, harassment and retaliation under New York and federal law, disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and interference with medical and family leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act;
· successfully drafting discovery and dispositive motions, including drafting several summary judgment motions that resulted in dismissals of opponents' claims, and drafting a brief in a breach of contract dispute that quashed eleven subpoenas and resulted in victory at trial;
· as a judicial law clerk in the Southern District of New York, Laurie handled several employment and general litigation disputes, including claims for wrongful termination, discrimination and harassment under federal law, and violations of the First Amendment. Laurie also assisted in settlement negotiations and prepared the Judge for trials involving claims for race and gender discrimination under federal law.
Prior to becoming an employment lawyer in New York, Laurie enjoyed diverse professional and academic experiences. As a teenager and young adult, Laurie was a successful film and television actor.
She co-hosted an NBC teen talk show, and an episode that she directed, co-wrote, and co-edited received a local Emmy Award. Laurie subsequently attended Columbia University and majored in Sociology, where she focused on discrimination and human rights issues. Laurie graduated magna cum laude and earned the Lillian L. Hacker prize, Columbia University's highest merit award in sociology, in part, for her theses on interracial marriage and on the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964, which led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
