Understanding and Complying with Employment Laws, Old and New

Celeste Yeager maintains a vibrant labor and employment practice litigating and consulting on behalf of management regarding a variety of employment topics. She defends employers against labor and employment law claims, including helping federal contractors with compliance efforts. Ms. Yeager has prepared hundreds of AAPs and led dozens of audits, including both desk and on-site audits.  She has worked with both public and private companies, including smaller operations and multi-state employers.

Dana Kravetz is Michelman & Robinson’s (M&R’s) firm managing partner. He is also chair of the firm’s Hospitality Industry Group, having a practice that focuses on the representation of hotel and restaurant management. In his role as firm managing partner, Kravetz oversees a complex and thriving business spread across five offices nationwide. He brings a unique vantage point to his work as a lawyer—that of a business owner/operator—which enables him to assign practical applications to employment issues confronting M&R’s client base. Likewise, given that he runs a firm with offices in multiple jurisdictions, Kravetz has firsthand knowledge as to how best to manage off-site employees, as well as a keen understanding of the interplay between state and federal laws, all of which inures to the benefit of M&R’s industry clientele.

David Sherwyn is the John and Melissa Ceriale Professor of Hospitality Human Resources and a Professor of Law at Cornell University’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration. He is also the academic director of the Cornell Center for Innovative Hospitality Labor and Employment Relations as well as a research fellow at the Center for Labor and Employment Law at New York University’s School of Law. In addition, Professor Sherwyn is of counsel to the law firm of Stokes & Wagner. Prior to joining the School of Hotel Administration, Professor Sherwyn practiced management-side labor and employment law for six years.

Professor Sherwyn has published articles in the Arizona State Law Review, Berkeley Journal of Labor and Employment Law, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, Fordham Law Review, University of California Hastings Law Journal, Indiana Law Journal, Northwestern Law Review, Stanford Law Review, and the University of Pennsylvania Labor and Employment Law Journal. His research interests include arbitration of discrimination lawsuits and union-management relations.

Kate Walsh is Dean of the Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration and E. M. Statler Professor. A professor of management, Dean Walsh has been a member of the Hotel School’s faculty since 2000. She received her Ph.D. from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and her MPS degree from Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Fairfield University.

Dean Walsh’s primary research is in identity, leadership, and career development. She also conducts research examining the impact of strategic human capital investments. In addition to contributing to numerous books, Dean Walsh’s articles have appeared in such outlets as Journal of Management, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Human Resource Management Review, Organization Science, Career Development International, The Service Industries Journal, Trends in Organizational Behavior, Research in Management Consulting, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, The Learning Organization, International Journal of Hospitality Management, and The Cornell Hospitality Quarterly.

Dean Walsh has extensive industry experience. She is the former director of training and development for Nikko Hotels International, corporate training manager for the former Bristol Hotels, and senior auditor for Loews Corporation. Dean Walsh is also a former New York State Certified Public Accountant.

Dean Walsh began her second term as dean on July 2, 2021. Since the beginning of her administration, she has focused on positioning Nolan for the future of hospitality business education as well as contributing to the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. This includes undertaking a comprehensive renewal of the graduate and undergraduate curricula, developing Nolan’s online global presence, launching two new graduate degree programs, and providing thought leadership for the hospitality industry, most notably through the creation of industry-based webinars to guide the industry during the pandemic as well as supporting extensive outreach and engagement through Nolan’s six centers and institutes.

Dean Walsh serves on the boards of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, including serving on its Educational Foundation’s DE&I committee, and Yonsei University’s School of Business.

Paul Wagner grew up in the United States, Canada, Liberia, and Kenya, before returning to the U.S. to attend Cornell University starting in 1982. He then worked at a refugee camp in southern Sudan (now South Sudan) for three summers during college. Since graduating from law school in 1990, Mr. Wagner’s practice has been devoted to labor and employment law, primarily representing hotel and restaurant management companies and owners. His international background gives him a unique and valuable perspective on the hospitality industry, which draws its strength from cultural and ethnic diversity. The practice of labor and employment law in the hospitality industry requires as much sociology and anthropology as it does classic legal training, and Mr. Wagner remains a dedicated student of these disciplines.

Mr. Wagner has extensive experience litigating labor and employment cases in federal and state court, private and public arbitration, and administrative agencies including the EEOC, USDOL, NLRB, and numerous state and municipal agencies. Wage and hour class and collective action litigation represents a growing percentage of this work. Mr. Wagner spends as much time counseling his hospitality clients to avoid litigation as he spends aggressively representing their interests when claims are brought against them, focusing on training, leadership, compliance audits, and organizational design. He designs and implements manager and employee training for clients throughout the United States on the subjects of discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, retaliation, leadership, and general workplace conduct.