Mary Vadasz

Mary Ahrens Vadasz is a counsel in the Labor & Employment Department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s New York office. Her practice focuses on a combination of complex and single plaintiff litigation, as well as providing advice and counsel to employers in a wide variety of industries. Ms. Vadasz has significant litigation experience in federal and state court, with an emphasis on federal, New York and California law.

She specializes in defending employers in complex litigation, particularly wage and hour class and collective actions brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state law. Ms. Vadasz also specializes in defending employers in single and multi-party litigation against claims of discrimination, retaliation, and hostile work environment arising under federal, state and municipal laws,

In addition to her litigation experience, Ms. Vadasz regularly defends employers in administrative proceedings before various agencies, such as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the New York State Division of Human Rights and the New York City Commission of Human Rights, where she assists clients in navigating through agency fact-finding investigations.

Based on her extensive experience, Ms. Vadasz also counsels management on a host of employment-related matters, from wage payment and other wage and hour issues and best practices with respect to compliance with federal, state and local laws to employee discipline and terminations and conducts independent investigations regarding internal complaints.

Ms. Vadasz is admitted to the New York, California and District of Columbia bars and actively defends lawsuits in both New York and California. Prior to joining the New York office in 2008, Ms. Vadasz was an associate in Seyfarth Shaw’s Los Angeles office from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, Ms. Vadasz was an associate in the Commercial Litigation Department of a large international law firm’s Los Angeles office from 2003 to 2006.

Since 2010, Ms. Vadasz has been an active member of the New York Peace Institute, which provides one of the most intensive mediation skills training programs in New York and offers mediation and conflict resolution services to the New York City community.

Ms. Vadasz has completed the Institute’s 40-hour Basic Mediation Training program, its 36-hour Mediation Apprenticeship program, its Advanced Mediation Training program, its Divorce Mediation Training program, its Civil Court Mediation Training program, and its Civil Court Mediation Apprenticeship Program and mediates both community and civil court mediations.

Education:

• J.D., University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law (2003)
• B.A., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (1997)

Affiliations:

• New York Peace Institute