James J. La Rocca

James represents employers in a wide array of labor and employment matters, including litigation before federal and state courts, government agencies, and arbitrators, often involving business critical, complex, novel, and/or sensitive legal issues.

Traditional Labor Law

• Provide strategic advice and counsel to numerous employers in various industries during union organizing campaigns that helped lead employers to victories, including victories when the NLRB’s “ambush” or “quickie” election rules that expedited the timeframe for holding elections have been in place.
• Represented employers in pre-election hearings before NLRB based on arguments to expand the scope of voting units pursuant to community of interest factors, including when the NLRB’s “micro-unit” standard that makes it easier for unions to cherry-pick voting units has been in place.
• Represented real estate company in challenges to NLRB orders before federal appellate court on two separate occasions, once based on an argument that the President’s appointment of certain Board members who issued the initial order violated the US Constitution, and once based on an argument that the subsequent order issued by a properly constituted NLRB was not supported by substantial record evidence.
• Represented numerous employers in various industries from an assortment of ULP charges before the NLRB, resulting in the dismissal or withdrawal of charges, often times without issuance of complaints.
• Negotiated numerous CBAs, labor harmony agreements, and project labor agreements on behalf of employers.
• Represented construction company in its withdrawal from collective bargaining relationship (and subsequent victory in union election).

Employment Litigation

Wage and Hour Litigation

• Represent numerous employers in wage and hour putative class and collective actions alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York Labor Law (NYLL), including defending a national restaurant chain from alleged violations of the FLSA, NYLL, and New York City Fair Workweek Law in federal and state court.
• Represent construction company and its owner at hearing before the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development in response to alleged violations of New Jersey Wage and Hour Law.

Unfair Competition, including Non-Compete and Trade Secret Litigation

• Assist national professional recruiting company with various noncompete threats in connection with former employees who went to work for competitors, including drafting cease-and-desist letters and securing compliance with restrictions on terms favorable to client.
• Obtain multi-million dollar judgments in Superior Court of New Jersey and Supreme Court of New York in non-compete matters for national mobile power washing company.

Employment Discrimination Litigation

• Defend numerous employers in various industries from claims of employment discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD), New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL), New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL), Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA), and the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance (PFPO) in various courts, including federal and state courts in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
• Obtain complete dismissal of claims against national self-storage company in matter involving claims of employment discrimination based on alleged disability, familial status, marital status, pregnancy, and sex, which was dually-filed with the EEOC and NYSDHR.

Labor and Employment Law Advice and Counsel

• Conducted positive employee relations trainings for numerous employers in various industries.
• Conducted trainings for numerous employers in various industries to help prevent workplace discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.
• Conducted internal wage and hour audits for numerous clients in various industries to help prevent wage and hour violations.

• Named Best Lawyer in Employment Law - Management, The Best Lawyers in America, 2024-2025
• Listed as a Labor and Employment Star, New York, Benchmark Litigation, 2024
• Selected as a Super Lawyer for Employment & Labor, The New York Times Magazine, 2023
• Selected as a Rising Star for Employment & Labor, The New York Times Magazine, 2013-2022
• Benchmark Litigation, Labor and Employment Star—Northeast, 2020
• AV® Preeminent Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating, 2015 to Present
• New Jersey State Bar Association Leadership Academy Fellow, 2016

• American Bar Association
• Federal Bar Council
• Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies
• New Jersey State Bar Association
• New York State Bar Association
• Pennsylvania Bar Association
• Sidney Reitman Employment Law American Inn of Court
• Society for Human Resource Management