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Keith A. Markel

Partner & Co-Chair, Labor & Employment
Keith A. Markel's headshot
Keith A. Markel Partner & Co-Chair, Labor & Employment

Keith is Co-Chair of the Firm’s Labor and Employment Law Department. Clients benefit from his 25+ years of experience in mitigating employment-related risks, as well as effectively negotiating disputes and aggressively defending claims in court. He acts as part of his clients’ in-house teams to understand their business objectives and resolve the complex legal and business challenges they face. Luxury retail brands, retailers, institutional clients, hedge funds, private equity shops, various businesses of all sizes and individuals turn to Keith to address a wide range of employment matters.  

Keith’s employment litigation experience includes defending clients in state and federal court actions against claims of discrimination (from sexual harassment to discrimination on the basis of race, age, nationality and disability), constructive discharge, breach of contract, misclassification of employees, and wage and hour violations. Keith also represents employers in administrative and agency proceedings, including before the EEOC, the U.S. Department of Labor, and state and local human rights and labor agencies throughout the country.

Keith has represented a wide array of luxury and other retailers in various employment matters in court, arbitration and before the DOL, EEOC and other administrative and government agencies.  Keith has also handled numerous arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for, among other claims, wrongful discharge, breach of contract, promissory estoppel, tortious interference, quantum meruit and unjust enrichment, and violations of state labor law. He has also handled various Form U-5 expungement and promissory note cases at FINRA. He has litigated various matters involving wage and hour issues, discrimination allegations, restrictive covenants and employee loyalty-related claims in state and federal courts throughout the country. 

He also routinely counsels and negotiates on behalf of management and senior executives with respect to employment agreements and separation arrangements, and regularly advises human resources and in-house counsel teams with respect to day-to-day employment issues, layoffs, employee handbooks and EEO training, as well as anticipated litigation arising out of the business and employment relationship.

Keith writes often about various employment issues pertinent to employers and authors the blog, FINRA Employment Arbitration Commentator, which covers relevant FINRA awards, articles of interest in the area of employment/securities arbitration, related court decisions and regulatory announcements.

Prior to joining Morrison Cohen a dozen years ago, Keith was Senior Counsel in the Labor & Employment Department of Lowenstein Sandler PC and Counsel at Dickstein Shapiro LLP for over a dozen years.

Experience

  • Successfully represented an Italian-based luxury fashion retailer against a proposed class of current and former corporate and retail employees seeking to conditionally certify a nationwide class action for various wage and hour violations in New York federal court
  • Won summary judgment on behalf of a makeup retailer against claims of discrimination and retaliation in New York federal court 
  • Successfully defended an Italian-based fashion brand against discrimination and retaliation claims in New York state court
  • Successfully defended an Italian-based fashion brand against discrimination and retaliation claims in Georgia federal court
  • Successfully defended an Australian luxury fashion brand against various discrimination and retaliation claims in California state court
  • Successfully represented an Italian luxury fashion brand against wage and hour claims and discrimination claims in California federal court
  • Successfully defended dozens of charges of discrimination filed against fashion retailers before the EEOC and New York State Division of Human Rights, none of which resulted in a finding of probable cause against any of his clients
     

Professional Activities

American Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
New York City Bar Association
Board of Directors, Young New Yorkers
Member, Manhattan Community Board No.1

Keith A. Markel's headshot

Education

  • Fordham University School of Law, J.D.
  • University of Michigan, B.A., with distinction

Bar Admissions

  • New York
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

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