Eric Su is a partner in Crowell & Moring’s Labor & Employment Group in the firm’s New York office. His practice mainly involves representing management in all aspects of labor and employment law, including government investigations and class and collective action litigation defense involving alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and parallel state wage and hour laws. Eric has routinely handled investigations by federal and state labor departments, law enforcement,  and municipal agencies concerning wage and hour issues including, but not limited to, compliance with the Davis-Bacon Act (and Related Acts), Service Contract Act, and state “little Davis Bacon” and other prevailing wage or similar laws (e.g. New York Real Property Tax Law 421-a and New York Wage Parity Act).

He also counsels clients in all facets of workplace issues including, but not limited to, day-to-day human resources matters, implementation of workplace policies, rules, and practices concerning restrictive covenants, paid time off, medical and family leave, workplace harassment, discrimination and harassment, alternative dispute resolution, “ban-the-box” and background checks, employee/contractor classification, and employee overtime exemption status. He is experienced in counseling employers on investigations involving allegations of employee and management misconduct and fraud, workplace harassment, employee disloyalty, and other workplace issues.

He further advises employers on litigation prevention and counsels them on all aspects of the employment relationship, including compliance with all aspects of statutory and regulatory requirements. Such efforts include leading comprehensive and nationwide audits of large corporate clients’ employment practices, employee classification, and wage and hour compliance. His emphasis on compliance with employment laws and regulations have led to many successful results for his clients before federal and state administrative investigations and in federal and state courts. He has obtained numerous favorable results for his clients in dealing with investigations by the federal and state departments of labor and has successfully resolved labor department investigations in lieu of criminal charges being brought by prosecutorial authorities.

Eric has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a leading labor and employment lawyer since 2014.

Eric is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Education

  • Johns Hopkins University, B.A. (1994)
  • London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), M.Sc. (1996)
  • Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D. (1999)

Affiliations

Professional Activities and Memberships

  • American Bar Association
  • New York State Bar Association

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Practices

Labor and Employment

Litigation & Trial

Class Actions

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response Team

Commercial Litigation

Labor and Employment Investigations

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  • Negotiated plea agreements for clients in the hospitality and construction industries in numerous joint investigations by the Labor Bureau of the New York State Office of the Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Labor.
  • Achieved numerous wage and hour class and collective action settlements for national restaurant chains involving federal and state “dual job” and “80/20” rules and off the clock issues. 
  • Successfully obtained decisions denying class certification in two lawsuits pending before the New York State Supreme Court involving allegation of underpayment of prevailing wages for labor furnished in connection with various housing projects. 
  • Successfully resolved a class action involving allegation of underpayment of prevailing wages for a Fortune 100 company. 
  • Resolved a U.S. Department of Labor wage and hour investigation concerning a federal contractor's compliance with the Service Contract Act, in which the government's initial underpayment determination was close to $2.0 million and through reverse audit and extensive negotiations, the finding was reduced to less than $50,000.
  • Resolved numerous New York City Department of Consumer Affairs investigations regarding compliance with the New York Earned Sick and Safe Time Act and minimized penalty assessments against the employer respondents.
  • Significantly reduced a New York Department of Labor minimum wage and overtime audit against a restaurant from $1.4 million to $190,000.
  • Achieved settlement with trustees of a union fringe benefit fund for a contractor client in a federal lawsuit in which the fund trustees sought to collect underpayment of fringe benefit contributions of over $2 million, but the matter was settled for approximately $45,000 after two days of trial.
  • Resolved a New York State Department of Labor prevailing wage investigation against a contractor in which the initial underpayment assessment was over $2 million and resulted in the reduction of the assessment to approximately $500,000.
  • Resolved a U.S. Department of Labor minimum wage and overtime investigation against a restaurant by reducing the government's initial underpayment finding of $240,000 to $80,000.
  • Represented a contractor in a prevailing wage investigation by the Office of the Comptroller of the City of New York wherein the investigation resulted in a finding of no underpayment owed.
  • Resolved ten simultaneous investigations by the New York State Department of Labor against a contractor for alleged underpayment of prevailing wages and falsification of payroll documents which resulted in the reduction of the initial aggregate underpayment finding of over $1.5 million to $300,000.
  • Successfully resolved numerous administrative debarment proceedings against public works contractors before federal and state departments of labor.
  • Successfully resolved numerous audits, investigations, and other administrative proceedings commenced by New York State Department of Labor in which the government alleged that the client sought to collect unpaid withholding taxes and unemployment, workers compensation, disability insurance premiums,  and related penalties assessed as a result of alleged misclassification of workers as independent contractors by clients from various industries, including retail, hospitality, construction, and information technology.
  • Obtained an arbitration award of more than $55 million for unpaid change order work on behalf of a contractor against a hotel developer.
  • Successfully litigated and negotiated delay, extra work, or change order claims on behalf of contractors performing public improvements.
"New York State Amends Pay Transparency Law," Labor & Employment Law Alert - US (March 23, 2023). Contacts: Kris D. Meade, Eric Su, Sadina Montani, Ira M. Saxe, Rebecca L. Springer, Jessica S. Nam
Client Alert / Newsletter
"Payroll Obligations During Liquidity Crunch Crisis – Implications and Responses," Labor & Employment Law Alert - US (March 13, 2023). Contacts: Eric Su, Ira M. Saxe, Matthew Moisan, Thomas P. Gies, Debbie Lin, Anthony G. Provenzano, Kristy J. Wrigley-Durer
Client Alert / Newsletter
"Manhattan D.A. Announces New “Worker Protection Unit” to Prosecute Wage and Hour Violations," Labor & Employment Law Alert - US (March 7, 2023). Contacts: Ira M. Saxe, Eric Su, Danielle Giffuni, Katie Aber, Paul Park
Client Alert / Newsletter
"NLRB Holds that Employers May Not Offer Severance Agreements with Broad Confidentiality and Non-Disparagement Provisions," Labor & Employment Law Alert - US (February 27, 2023). Contacts: Kris D. Meade, Thomas P. Gies, Eric Su, Glenn D. Grant, Cori Schreider
Client Alert / Newsletter
"Cutbacks and Layoffs: An Overview of Employment and Benefits Issues During Economic Downturns," Crowell & Moring Webinar, 2023. (February 14, 2023). Speakers: Andrew Bagley, Anthony Provenzano, Ira Saxe, Euric Su, Kristy Wrigley-Durer, and Hillary Webb.
Speech/Presentation
"New Registration Requirement for Contractors and Subcontractors Performing Public Works and Covered Private Projects in New York," Labor & Employment Law Alert - US (February 9, 2023). Contacts: Trina Fairley Barlow, Ira M. Saxe, Eric Su, Michelle D. Coleman, Cori Schreider, Katie Aber
Client Alert / Newsletter
"New York Enacts Statewide Pay Transparency Law," Labor & Employment Law Alert - US (January 26, 2023). Contacts: Kris D. Meade, Rebecca L. Springer, Eric Su, Sadina Montani, Olamide Fadahunsi, Ira M. Saxe
Client Alert / Newsletter
"Fastest 5 Minutes Special Edition: Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Act in 2023," Podcast: Fastest 5 Minutes in Government Contracts (January 24, 2023). Contacts: Adelicia R. Cliffe, Eric Su, Elizabeth B. Dawson, Tyler A. O'Connor, Peter Eyre
Client Alert / Newsletter
"U.S. Department Of Labor Issues Proposed Rule On Independent Contractors," Employee Benefit Plan Review (January 23, 2023). Authors: Andrew W. Bagley, Thomas P. Gies, Sadina Montani, Jessica S. Nam, and Christopher J. Banks.
Publication
"Prevailing Wage and Apprenticeship Guidance Under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)," Crowell & Moring Webinar, 2023. (January 11, 2023). Presenters: David B. Blair, Ira M. Saxe, Eric Su, Katie Aber
Speech/Presentation

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Crowell & Moring LLP is an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe, MENA, and Asia that represents clients in litigation and arbitration, regulatory and policy, and transactional and corporate matters. The firm is internationally recognized for its representation of Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation and government-facing matters, as well as its ongoing commitment to pro bono service and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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