Keith Markel has more than two decades of experience in mitigating employment-related risks, as well as effectively negotiating disputes and aggressively defending claims in court.
Keith’s employment litigation experience includes defending clients in state and federal court actions against claims of discrimination (from sexual harassment to discrimination on the basis of race, age, nationality and disability), constructive discharge, breach of contract, misclassification of employees, and wage and hour violations. Keith also represents employers in administrative and agency proceedings, including before the EEOC, the U.S. Department of Labor, and state and local human rights and labor agencies throughout the country.
Keith has represented a wide array of luxury and other retailers in various employment matters in court, arbitration and before the DOL, EEOC and other administrative and government agencies. Keith has also handled numerous arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for, among other claims, wrongful discharge, breach of contract, promissory estoppel, tortious interference, quantum meruit and unjust enrichment, and violations of state labor law. He has also handled various Form U-5 expungement and promissory note cases at FINRA. He has litigated various matters involving wage and hour issues, discrimination allegations, restrictive covenants and employee loyalty-related claims in state and federal courts throughout the country.
He also routinely counsels and negotiates on behalf of management and senior executives with respect to employment agreements and separation arrangements, and regularly advises human resources and in-house counsel teams with respect to day-to-day employment issues, layoffs, employee handbooks and EEO training, as well as anticipated litigation arising out of the business and employment relationship.
Keith writes often about various employment issues pertinent to employers and authors the blog, FINRA Employment Arbitration Commentator, which covers relevant FINRA awards, articles of interest in the area of employment/securities arbitration, related court decisions and regulatory announcements.
Prior to joining Morrison Cohen, Keith was senior counsel in the Labor & Employment Department of Lowenstein Sandler PC and counsel at Dickstein Shapiro LLP for over a decade.