Paul R. Piccigallo

Paul Piccigallo represents employers in various areas of labor and employment law. His principal focus is the defense of class and collective action lawsuits under federal and state wage and hour laws, including both white collar misclassification actions and actions brought on behalf of hourly employees seeking to recover unpaid minimum, regular, and overtime wages. Paul also routinely advises employers on wage and hour and other employment-related compliance issues, and is particularly knowledgeable about New York wage-hour law. Paul’s experience also includes a secondment for a multinational mass media company, where Paul provided in-house legal advice regarding a variety of employment-related issues.

Paul’s recent experience includes:

• Obtaining a favorable decision dismissing novel prevailing wage claims brought under New York law on a class action basis against a large utility company
• Representing large utility and tech companies in nationwide class and collective actions, and successfully obtaining an order denying conditional certification in a Fair Labor Standards collective action brought in New York on behalf of thirty thousand employees
• Advising employers on complex commission issues brought under New York law, including preparing executive and commission agreements and litigating claims for unpaid commissions and bonuses
• Representing clients under investigation by the United States Department of Labor for alleged violations of wage-hour laws, including issues relating to overtime, spread of hours payment, frequency of pay and meal breaks
• Providing advice and counsel to clients regarding COVID-19 impact issues, including reductions in pay for exempt and non-exempt employees, and compliance with federal and state sick laws
• Providing training to clients and conducting audits on wage-hour issues, in order to ensure compliance with federal, state and local laws

Paul is an active member of Littler's Wage and Hour Practice Group Core Team and Littler's Class Action Practice Group, and also serves as one of the firm’s Alumni Ambassadors. Paul also serves as the Wage and Hour Practice Group’s liaison to Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute, is a member of the firm’s Good Faith Defense Taskforce, and is a frequent contributor to the firm’s New York wage and hour-related publications.

Prior to entering private practice, Paul served as Deputy Special Counsel at the New York State Department of Labor where he represented the department before courts and administrative bodies. During his time with the department, Paul represented the department in dozens of administrative hearings, including in matters where eight figures were in dispute, and assisted in drafting state-wide wage-hour regulations in effect today.

During law school, Paul externed for Judge Francis M. Allegra of the United States Court of Federal Claims and Judge Arthur J. Gajarsa of the United State Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.