Matt Halpern, Esq.
Partner
Jackson Lewis LLP
58 South Service Road
Melville, NY 11747
631-247-4603
halpernm@jacksonlewis.com
www.jacksonlewis.com
Matt Halpern is a senior partner in the Melville, Long Island
office of Jackson Lewis LLP, a national law firm representing
management exclusively in workplace law and related
litigation. With almost 500 attorneys and 36 offices nationwide,
the firm has a national perspective and sensitivity to the
nuances of regional business environments. Mr. Halpern has
been representing companies for over twenty-one years in
matters relating to affirmative action, conducting effective
workplace investigations, equal employment opportunity,
wage/hour and related matters.
Mr. Halpern graduated with honors from the State University
of New York at Buffalo in 1983 and received his Juris Doctor
degree from the New England School of Law in 1986. He is
admitted to the Bars of New York, Massachusetts and several
federal courts. Mr. Halpern is a member of SHRM-LI and a frequent speaker at management
education programs. He also is the Treasurer and a proud member of the Northeast Region Corporate
Industry Liaison Group, an industry association of federal contractors with corporate headquarters in
the Metropolitan New York tri-state area. Matt was named to “The Ten Leaders in Employment
Law” of Long Island for 2003-2004 based on a three month peer survey by Digital Press
International and in 2005 received a career recognition award from SHRM-LI for his dedication to
SHRM-LI and the human resource profession.
As the head of the firm’s Affirmative Action Practice group, Mr. Halpern regularly advises and
counsels employers from all industries throughout the country about this highly specialized area of
the law. The affirmative action team annually prepares over fifteen hundred affirmative action plans
and over the past several years has defended over 250 OFCCP audits, including Corporate
Management (“Glass Ceiling”) Compliance Evaluations. The practice also prepares plans for and
defends audits against State, local and city affirmative action agencies. The affirmative action team
regularly conducts mock OFCCP vulnerability audits, analyzes selection procedures for adverse
impact, and advises about comparative compensation analysis and defends claims of class-based
discrimination at the OFCCP investigation stage. The practice also counsels on diversity plan design
and preparation of voluntary affirmative action plans. He is the co-author of Affirmative Action
Compliance: The Reinvented OFCCP, published in the ACC Docket 22, No. 3 (March 2004):24-44
and author of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) on-line “InfoPak,” What Every General
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Counsel Needs To Know About Affirmative Action Compliance. He also was presenter on two audio
web casts presented by ACC’s Employment & Labor Law Committee and Jackson Lewis, LLP:
What the OFCCP’S New Internet Applicant Rule Will Mean For Your Company (November 30,
2005) and The OFCCP's New Take on Systemic Compensation Discrimination and Voluntary Self
Evaluation (August 16, 2006).
In addition to his affirmative action expertise, Mr. Halpern also specializes in counseling and
defending employers in all matters related to compliance with State and federal EEO and wage hour
laws, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. He has
defended numerous wage hour audits and provided guidance to many employer associations about
industry compliance with wage hour laws. Mr. Halpern also has extensive experience in counseling
and defending employers in matters relating to privacy issues in the workplace.
Mr. Halpern also has conducted hundreds of management training seminars on lawful pathway’s to
diversity, affirmative action and EEO in the workplace; avoiding litigation; avoiding discrimination
and sexual harassment; effective management, interviewing, documentation and evaluation skills;
compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and FMLA and other related matters. He is an
engaging effective speaker who draws upon his litigation and client counseling experience to
provide practical examples that are useful and easily understood by listeners.
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