Susan L. Swatski

Susan L. Swatski is a Shareholder and Chair of Stark & Stark’s Employment and Labor Law Group. With over twenty years practicing employment law, Susan is a seasoned litigator who provides strategic counsel in complex employment matters, with a primary focus on protecting employee workplace rights and advising employers how to operate workplaces that not only comply with the law and mitigate risk, but also create respectful environments.

Susan represents high-net-worth individuals, executives, and professionals in disputes involving discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblower protections, restrictive covenants, trade secret misappropriation, wage and hour violations (including class and collective actions), equal pay, family and medical leave, pregnancy discrimination, unlawful terminations and understanding their obligations with respect to restrictive covenants, such as non-compete agreements. She delivers tailored, results-oriented counsel to achieve her clients’ objectives. Susan successfully guides her clients through negotiating employment contracts and severance agreements.

Susan also provides proactive employment law counseling to businesses, helping them develop compliant, fair, and effective workplaces. She assists employers by conducting workplace investigations, conducting wage and hour equal pay audits, responding to wage and hour administrative complaints/actions, drafting workplace policies, implementing robust reporting systems and offering strategic advice on hiring, employee discipline, terminations, reasonable workplace accommodations, family leave and other risk-management issues — all while promoting positive workplace cultures and minimizing exposure.

Susan handles cases in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Justice, New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, New Jersey Department of Labor, New York Division of Human Rights, New York City Commission on Human Rights, the National Labor Relations Board and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

As a result of Susan’s legal prowess, she is frequently asked to lecture and write articles about employment law for various organizations and groups.  Before joining Stark & Stark, Susan was the Department Head for the Employee Rights Department at a Princeton-based law firm, where she also contributed to matters across the firm’s various practice groups. Earlier in her career, she served as Deputy Press Secretary to U.S. Senator Arlen Specter and as Manager of Government Affairs for the Shipbuilders Council of America.