Labor & Employment Associate Attorney

Labor & Employment Associate Attorney About The Research Foundation for SUNY:

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York (RF) is the largest comprehensive university-connected research foundation in the country. Our mission is to provide talent, services, and technology that empower SUNY to research, innovate, and transfer discoveries that transform the world’s knowledge economy. Our vision is to make SUNY the best place for faculty, students, and staff to research, innovate and solve the world’s most pressing problems.

The RF serves SUNY by providing essential administrative services that enable faculty to focus their efforts on educating students and performing life‑changing research across a wide range of disciplines including Artificial Intelligence, Clean Energy, Biotechnology, Longevity, Substance Addiction, Next‑gen Quantum Computing, Environmental Health, and Resiliency. We work with the academic and business leadership of SUNY campuses to facilitate research and discovery by administering sponsored projects and delivering intellectual property and technology transfer services that fuel innovation and move ideas and inventions to the marketplace.

The RF is committed to diversity, inclusion, and a working environment that enhances productivity, creates personal and professional opportunities, unleashes everyone’s full potential, and fuels innovation. We hold the organization and each other to the highest standards of integrity, accountability, and ethical behavior.

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York is seeking an attorney with minimum of 5 years of relevant experience to focus on labor and employment law matters. The selected candidate will also work as a generalist as part of a collaborative team on the wide variety of legal matters arising out of the Foundation’s sponsored programs, innovation and partnerships activity, and corporate status as a non‑profit foundation.

Functions include advice on employee and human relations issues, labor relations in a complex matrixed environment that involves close interrelationships among SUNY, the RF, and affiliated entities. Duties include advising management on employee relations issues, policy development and training; employment and commercial litigation, responding to administrative charges, employment and commercial litigation; contract drafting, review, and negotiation; workplace investigations, and dispute resolution;

and negotiating labor contracts and managing labor relations issues. Reporting to the General Counsel and Secretary, selected candidate will work closely with RF executive management as well as campus academic and business leadership, managers of entities affiliated with the RF, and SUNY’s counsel. Day‑to‑day responsibilities will involve a wide range of matters reflecting the complex, diverse and extremely interesting work of the Research Foundation.

• Reporting to the Deputy General Counsel, lead the legal human relations and employee relations functions and advising corporate and operation location managers on labor and employment law issues, including but not limited to performance and disciplinary matters, accommodations and leave issues, separations, hiring, layoffs and reductions in force, visa and immigration matters, wage and hour issues.
• Develop and review policies, procedures and handbooks, monitor and communicate legal developments to corporate and operating locations, develop and present labor and employment related training to RF and SUNY campus leaders, managers and employees on issues such as sexual harassment prevention, discrimination, and retaliation prevention and legal updates and developments; labor campaigns, and other relevant topics.
• Represent the RF in all stages of employment litigation before federal and state courts and administrative agencies, including court appearances, research and prepare briefs, complaints, answers and replies, motions to dismiss, to compel and motions for summary judgment and supporting briefing; discovery, including e‑discovery, draft and implement litigation holds, document collection and review…