Overview
Employers from all sectors enlist attorney John O’Connor to efficiently address and resolve employee concerns that arise in the workplace, including hiring, discipline, promotion, and termination decisions. Employers appreciate John’s keen awareness of the goals and interests of their business operations.
Clients benefit from John’s more than 30 years of experience in employment law, and his ability to quickly identify issues, offer strategies for resolving potential claims, and prevent or minimize litigation exposure.
When companies are unable to amicably and sensibly resolve their employment issues, they welcome John’s charismatic and eloquent manner in front of a jury. He zealously and persuasively represents businesses in all employment litigation matters. John skillfully assesses the evidence and witnesses’ strengths and weaknesses in devising strategically sound plans to most persuasively present a case to a jury.
Clients also rely on John for drafting employment policies and procedures, contracts, and handbooks to fit their unique business needs. Focused on ever-changing employment laws, John ensures that clients’ policies and procedures are timely updated so that they remain in compliance with the latest federal, state, and local employment laws.
John contributes to the firm’s Workforce Bulletin blog and is an ardent supporter of the firm’s pro bono efforts. Most recently, he successfully represented a military veteran who received a less than honorable discharge in obtaining a discharge upgrade due to undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences in Afghanistan.
An avid runner, John has participated in five marathons. An avid reader, John challenges you to identify a work of historical fiction that he has not already consumed.
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Focus Areas
Experience
Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.
- Successfully obtained a jury verdict after a four-week trial dismissing claims of age discrimination and retaliatory discharge on behalf of a retail employer.
- Successfully obtained a jury verdict after a six-week trial dismissing claims of age discrimination and retaliatory discharge brought by the client’s former in-house corporate attorney.
- Successfully defended a hostile work environment and race discrimination claim asserted by an aggrieved employee against a large retailer in federal court. John secured a jury verdict in favor of the client.
- Successfully defeated a nationwide class certification of claim for overtime pay by a retailer’s managers alleging that they were misclassified. John took skilled depositions that enabled him to demonstrate that the plaintiffs could not establish the elements needed for class certification.
Recognition
- Listed in New Jersey Super Lawyers, Employment Litigation: Defense (2010 to 2013, 2018, 2019). This award is conferred by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology is available here. No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
Credentials
Education
- Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., cum laude, 1990)
- Bucknell University (B.A., 1987)
- Economics and French
Bar Admissions
- New Jersey
- New York
- Pennsylvania
Court Admissions
- New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, 3rd Department
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
Professional & Community Involvement
- Essex County Bar Association
- Monmouth Bar Association
- New Jersey State Bar Association
Languages
- French
Media
Insights
Insights
- BlogsNew Jersey Extends Benefits and Protections to Workers Impacted by COVID-193 minute read
- BlogsNew Jersey Enacts Anti-Retaliation Protections to Workers Impacted by COVID-191 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Fifteen Epstein Becker Green Attorneys in New Jersey Named to 2019 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
4 minute read - Firm Announcements
Fifteen Epstein Becker Green Attorneys Named to 2018 New Jersey Super Lawyers and Rising Stars Lists
4 minute read - PublicationsSocietal Challenges Intersecting with the Retail Workplace27 minute read
- BlogsFirst Circuit Reverses NLRB: Rude Employee Is Not Immune from Termination Solely Because He Was Engaged in Protected ...6 minute read
- BlogsNew York City Tells Fast Food Employees: “You Deserve A Break Today” By Enacting New Fair Workweek Laws3 minute read
- BlogsPredictive Scheduling Finally Takes a Bite Out of the Big Apple3 minute read
- BlogsNLRB Tells Non-Union Workers: “Stop Your ‘Weining’- You Have No Weingarten Rights”4 minute read
- Blogs50 Really Is the New 403 minute read
- BlogsYou Snooze, You Don’t Necessarily Lose3 minute read
- BlogsHoly Guacamole! An Employee’s Disparaging and Misleading Tweets May Be Protected Under the NLRA4 minute read
- BlogsSecond Circuit Extends the Reach of the Cat's Paw4 minute read
- BlogsSecond Circuit Extends the Reach of the Cat’s Paw4 minute read
- BlogsCall Me Whatever I Tell You to Call Me Under New York City Human Rights Law5 minute read
- BlogsDon’t Tell Me You Love Me - Team Building Gone Wrong According to EEOC3 minute read
- BlogsWorking Like a Dog – Qualifying As A Service Animal For ADA Purposes3 minute read
- Firm AnnouncementsSuper Lawyers 2013 Recognizes Epstein Becker Green Attorneys3 minute read
- Firm Announcements
Epstein Becker Green Recognized in New Jersey Law Journal's "Litigation Departments of the Year" Competition
5 minute read - Media Coverage
Epstein Becker Green Recognized in "Litigation Departments of the Year" Competition by the New Jersey Law Journal
1 minute read - Firm AnnouncementsEpstein Becker Green Expands Labor and Employment Practice with New Jersey Attorney Patrick G. Brady and Team2 minute read