Vivianna Morales

Vivianna Morales represents employees and employers in litigation and negotiation in all areas of employment law.Vivianna has litigated over one-hundred wage and hour individual, collective, and class action lawsuits, involving a variety of employment matters, including failure to pay minimum wage and overtime pay, tip misappropriation, off-the-clock work, unpaid prevailing wages, as well as discrimination, retaliation, and harassment claims. She also represents employees in the negotiation of severance agreements and non-compete issues.She is well versed in advising employers on employment law matters arising from employee onboarding through post-termination disputes. In that regard, Vivianna regularly advises employers regarding employment discrimination and harassment, wage and hour compliance, employment policies and practices, reasonable accommodations, leave laws, terminations and disciplinary actions, as well as on other general employment law compliance issues. Vivianna has conducted multiple internal investigations, several involving complex harassment and discrimination issues.She also routinely drafts employment, restrictive covenant and non-disclosure agreements as well as employment policies and handbooks. Vivianna has represented employees and employers in federal and state court in New York, New Jersey, and Louisiana, at the American Arbitration Association, as well as before administrative agencies, including the NYC Commission on Human Rights and New York State Division of Human Rights, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the United States and New York State Department of Labor.Vivianna has been recognized by Best Lawyers as a “Ones to Watch” in Labor and Employment Law - Management in 2021 and 2022, and as a Rising Star in the area of Employment Litigation by Super Lawyers from 2017 to 2022. Vivianna has lectured at the New York City Bar Association on labor and employment issues in the restaurant industry.A few of Vivianna’s many accomplishments include serving as lead counsel in a federal trial on behalf of two waitress where she received a jury verdict of $156,000; representing a group of 33 employees in a collective action who recovered a $975,000 settlement against Serendipity, the iconic New York City ice cream emporium; obtaining a $230,000 settlement on behalf of construction workers who were denied overtime wages; and recovering $120,000 on behalf of cleaning workers who were paid below minimum wage and denied overtime while disinfecting areas in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for COVID-19 patients.Admitted to the New York and New Jersey Bars, Vivianna, is a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law where she was on the Dean’s List. She is a cum laude graduate of New York University. Vivianna is a fluent Spanish speaker.