Profilo
Lorie Grushka represents employers, management, and senior executives in complex employment litigation and day-to-day workplace counseling. She serves as a strategic partner to clients, delivering practical, business-focused advice on a wide range of labor and employment matters.
Lorie has significant experience defending employers against claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination in federal and state courts, as well as before administrative agencies. Her practice covers key federal, state, and local employment laws, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Sections 1981 and 1983, and the New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws. She is experienced in all stages of litigation, including early case assessment, motion practice, discovery, depositions, and resolution strategy.
In addition to her litigation practice, Lorie advises employers on the full spectrum of employment law compliance and workforce management issues. Drawing on her in-house secondment experience with clients, she brings a practical, real-time understanding of business operations and delivers tailored, actionable counseling that aligns legal strategy with organizational goals. She regularly counsels clients on hiring and onboarding, performance management, discipline and termination, reductions-in-force, WARN Act compliance, wage and hour matters, employee classification, leave administration, and disability and religious accommodations. She also drafts and negotiates employment, separation, and restrictive covenant agreements, and advises on employee handbooks, workplace policies, internal investigations, and government audits.
Lorie has experience supporting corporate transactions, including conducting labor and employment due diligence and advising on workforce integration and post-acquisition risk. She partners with clients to implement proactive compliance strategies and mitigate litigation risk while aligning with broader business objectives.
Concentrations
- Employment litigation
- Employment law advice and counsel
- Workplace investigations
- Workforce change management
- Employment and separation agreements
- Accommodations
- Leaves of absence
Competenze
Esperienze Professionali - Attività Accademiche
- Served as outside RIF counsel for a wide range of multijurisdictional and international employers, providing end-to-end guidance across every phase of the process - from training HR teams and business leadership on legally compliant decision-making, advising on decisional unit design and selection criteria, and counseling on the documentation of business rationale (including privilege strategy around RIF-related communications), to conducting federal and state WARN Act and disparate impact analyses, drafting notification scripts and termination meeting guides, and preparing a full suite of separation agreements and OWBPA-compliant disclosures, including the development of a comprehensive 50-state release template.
- Served as lead counsel for a nationwide RIF on behalf of a major global sports and entertainment company spanning multiple subsidiaries, advising on the formulation of decisional units and selection criteria, conducting WARN Act and disparate impact analyses, and making real-time determinations on whether each phase of the RIF constituted a distinct event or part of a rolling program.°
- Managed a multi-year, ongoing RIF for a large national health insurer operating across the country, providing continuous counsel on selection decisions and business rationale documentation, drafting and revising agreements, conducting WARN Act and disparate impact analyses, maintaining current OWBPA disclosure requirements, and developing employee communication strategies as the program evolved over time.°
- Conducted a large-scale RIF for a national healthcare technology company in which approximately 80% of the workforce was separated, overseeing continuous WARN Act and disparate impact analyses as the program progressed, drafting a full suite of separation agreements and related documents, and managing all aspects of the employee communication process.°
- Advised a national healthcare technology company through a rolling RIF, including drafting a full suite of separation agreements and notification scripts and counseling on employee communications throughout the process.°
- Counseled a national life sciences technology company through its first RIF, including developing and delivering training for HR personnel and front-line managers on legally compliant selection processes, drafting a full suite of selection matrices, separation agreements, and conducting WARN Act and disparate impact analyses.°
°The above representations were handled by Ms. Grushka prior to his joining Greenberg Traurig, LLP.
- New York City Law Department, 2014-2018
- Assistant Corporation Counsel, Labor and Employment Law Division, 2017-2018
- Assistant Corporation Counsel, Tort Division, 2014-2017
- Appointments Assistant, Office of Gov. Jim Doyle, 2009-2010
- Legal Intern, Litigation Bureau, Office of the New York State Attorney General, 2013
- Legal Intern, New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, 2013
- Legal Intern, New York State Division of Human Rights, 2012
Riconoscimenti e Premi
- Listed, The Best Lawyers in America, “Ones to Watch,” Labor and Employment Law – Management, 2024-2026
- Member, New York State Bar, 2014-Present
- Member, Young Lawyers Council, 2014-2018
Formazione
- M.A., International Relations and European Studies, Central European University
- Laurea magistrale in Giurisprudenza, City University of New York School of Law
- Diploma di maturità, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- New York
- Inglese
- Francese