Sarah Fucci
Sarah is also experienced in conducting internal investigations related to personnel issues, sexual misconduct, and Title IX violations. She also handles employment contract disputes arising from breaches, restrictive covenants, and non-compete issues and has experience with complex legal questions concerning employer/co-employer status involving professional employer organizations and the New York Professional Employer Act (PEO Act), among other matters.
Sarah counsels employers on personnel and workplace issues, including drafting employee handbooks, teleworking policies, return-to-work policies, and separation agreements. She also advises employers and educational institutions on compliance issues for the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act of 1988; the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA); the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA); Title IX and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); and other federal and New York state and city laws.
Related Practices
Experience
Representative Matters
- Representing a healthcare industry client and its medical school in a multi-month hearing before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) involving student unionizing efforts, among other populations
- Representing a major New York hospital in negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement, advising on various compliance issues with the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) including union access issues and allegations of unlawful conduct, and assisting in negotiations of a stipulation for bargaining units later organized at satellite locations
- Representing a major private university facing breach of contract and fraud claims
- Advising a political campaign facing fraud and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) claims
- Counseling a New York Charter Management Organization seeking review of an internal investigation
- Defending a corporation and its officers facing various contract, fraud, and fiduciary duty claims
- Counseling a private law school on updating and revising its Title IX policies to comply with the Department of Education’s final Title IX regulations
- Advising healthcare, hospitality, and education clients on compliance-related COVID-19 closure and reopening issues with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and state and local orders and guidance, among other federal, state, and local laws and regulations
- Mediating claims brought under New York's Child Victims Act (CVA) against a private educational institution, and successfully defending against claims for general negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, civil battery, and civil assault
- Representing a professional employment organization (PEO) that employs individuals working at state-owned hospitals pursuant to a Professional Employer Agreement and the NY Professional Employer Act, including representing non-party fact witnesses in their capacity as a PEO employee at depositions in medical malpractice and personal injury cases against the state
- Arguing and successfully achieving dismissal of a complaint against a New York hospital
- Representing a NYC hotel in arbitrations, New York State Supreme Court, the Southern District of New York, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in matters involving union disputes
- Drafting and updating employee policies for a major concert venue
Insights
Credentials
Education
- J.D. cum laude New York Law School 2019
- Legal intern, Division of Housing and Community Renewal, New York Office of Legal
Affairs - John Marshall Harlan Scholar
- Member, Dean’s Leadership Council
- Executive notes and comments editor, New York Law School Law Review
- Student attorney, New York Law School Cyberharassment Clinic
- Legal intern, Division of Housing and Community Renewal, New York Office of Legal
- B.A. Legal Studies cum laude University of Massachusetts at Amherst 2015
Bar Admissions
- New York
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
Recognition
- Super Lawyers, Rising Stars, New York, 2024
Community
Pro Bono
- Active in Venable’s Pro Bono program
- Represents pro bono clients in connection with asylum applications
- Participates in the Venable–New York Law School Simulated Summer Associate Program, which was started in 2020 to guide students who lost or were unable to obtain employment because of the COVID-19 pandemic and has continued annually because of its success
- Assists pro bono clients in employment counseling