Susan L. Swatski

Susan L. Swatski is a partner in the Princeton, N.J. office of Hill Wallack LLP. She is a member of the firm’s Employment and Labor Law Department, which services all of the Firm’s other Departments and Practice Groups.

Ms. Swatski focuses on litigating federal and state employment matters including claims involving allegations of discrimination, whistleblowing, harassment, retaliation, misappropriation of trade secrets and restrictive covenants and wage and hour violations, including class and collective actions. Ms. Swatski has handled matters in state and federal courts, as well as, before various state and federal agencies including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the United States Department of Labor, the United States Department of Justice, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, the New York Division of Human Rights, New York City Commission on Human Rights and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

In addition to her litigation practice, Ms. Swatski regularly counsels employers of all sizes on an ongoing basis on labor and employment law matters including negotiation and preparation of employment agreements, separation agreements and employee handbooks, counseling regarding employee discharge and discipline, training on other personnel matters including diversity, harassment, workplace sensitivity and family and medical leave issues.  With decades of experience litigating employment matters, Ms. Swatski adds an element of reality to her training sessions by using industry specific examples. Ms. Swatski also regularly assists companies with establishing reporting mechanisms, equal pay audits and internal investigations.

Ms. Swatski also represents employees, including high level executives, in connection with reviewing, negotiating and preparing employment contracts and separation agreements.

Ms. Swatski counsels employers on the dynamic cannabis laws and how they impact employee rights in the workplace in terms of whether certain employees are entitled to receive a reasonable accommodation to use cannabis or work under the influence of cannabis and when an employer can require a drug test based on reasonable suspicion and when something more is required. She also drafts employment policies that address drug testing, use of recreational drugs during non-working hours and how the same may impact the workplace. 

Ms. Swatski has represented grocery stores, pharmaceutical companies, medical practice groups, an international waste management service provider, nursing staffing agencies, daycare providers, a national moving company, warehouses, manufacturing facilities, retailers, construction, landscape, and technology companies in wage and hour disputes, class and collective actions, discrimination and harassment claims, and internal workplace investigations.

Ms. Swatski is admitted to practice in the states of New Jersey (2002), New York (2003), the United States Supreme Court (2017), United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals (2004), United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals (2005), and in the United States District Court of New Jersey (2002), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (2003), and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (2003), and the United States District Court for the Western Districts of New York (2003).

Prior to joining Hill Wallack LLP, Ms. Swatski served as Deputy Press Secretary to United States Senator Arlen Specter and was the Manager of Government Affairs for the Shipbuilders Council of America. She received her J.D. from Seton Hall School of Law and her B.A. from Susquehanna University.