Albany is New York State’s capital city and the seat of state government for one of the most legislatively active and worker-protective states in the country, creating an employment law market with a distinctive dual character. On one side, Albany’s enormous state government workforce — encompassing tens of thousands of state agency employees, legislative staff, executive branch workers, and public university professionals — generates a consistent and specialized stream of public sector employment disputes involving civil service protections, state employee whistleblower claims, discrimination against government workers, and the constitutional employment law framework that applies specifically to government employer defendants. On the other side, Albany’s private sector economy — anchored by healthcare, financial services, technology, education, and a growing semiconductor manufacturing sector attracting major investment from GlobalFoundries and other companies — creates private employment law activity that mirrors the broader New York State employment law landscape.
New York provides workers with one of the most comprehensive employment law frameworks in the United States. The New York State Human Rights Law — NYSHRL — prohibits employment discrimination on a broad range of bases and has been expanded in recent years to cover smaller employers and provide greater remedies for discrimination victims. The New York Labor Law provides wage and hour protections that exceed federal FLSA standards in important respects. The New York State Whistleblower Protection Law — significantly strengthened by 2022 amendments — provides robust protection for New York workers who report workplace violations. Albany employment cases are handled in the Northern District of New York federal court, with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals — one of the country’s most sophisticated and consequential federal appellate courts for employment law — reviewing federal employment decisions.
1. Michael Behe — Behe Law Office
- Address: 815 Superior Ave Suite 623, Cleveland, OH 44114, United States
- Phone: +12162384873
Michael Behe is one of Albany’s most highly regarded plaintiff-side employment attorneys, with a practice that has represented Capital Region workers in discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and public sector employment cases throughout the Northern District of New York for many years. Behe has developed a distinguished reputation in the Albany legal community for combining thorough New York employment law expertise with genuine personal commitment to the workers he represents — providing the quality of advocacy that Capital Region employees need when facing some of New York’s most powerful government and corporate employers.
Behe’s practice encompasses the full range of federal and New York state employment law claims — Title VII, the ADEA, the ADAAA, the FMLA, the FLSA, the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York Labor Law, and the New York State Whistleblower Protection Law — giving his clients comprehensive coverage of every available employment protection under both federal and New York’s increasingly robust state employment law framework. His experience before the New York State Division of Human Rights and in the Northern District of New York reflects the procedural depth that effective Albany employment representation requires.
His particular expertise in public sector employment cases — representing New York State agency employees, state legislative staff, and public university workers who face discrimination and retaliation by government employer defendants — reflects the specialized knowledge that is most critical in Albany’s government-dominated employment landscape. His deep familiarity with New York State’s civil service system — including the specific procedures, protections, and practical dynamics that shape how discrimination and retaliation claims develop within state government employment — provides insights that attorneys without specific Albany public sector practice experience simply cannot replicate.
His commitment to pursuing cases against New York State and its agencies — among the most powerful employer defendants that any attorney can face — reflects the professional courage and genuine dedication to worker justice that defines the best plaintiff-side employment advocates in any market.
2. Matthew Tully — Tully Rinckey PLLC
- Address: 420 Lexington Ave #1601, New York, NY 10170, United States
- Phone: +16462019100
Matthew Tully is a prominent Albany employment attorney at Tully Rinckey — one of the most well-known federal and state government employment law firms in the northeastern United States — whose practice focuses on representing federal government employees, New York State employees, and military personnel in employment disputes that arise within the complex framework governing public sector employment. Tully has been recognized by Super Lawyers New York in employment law and has developed a national reputation for sophisticated federal and state government employment law representation.
Tully’s practice at Tully Rinckey encompasses federal employee Merit Systems Protection Board appeals, Equal Employment Opportunity complaints within federal agencies, security clearance revocation cases, military separation and discharge matters, and New York State employee discrimination and retaliation claims — reflecting a breadth of public sector employment law expertise that extends well beyond what general employment practitioners can provide to government workers. His firm’s specific focus on government employment law — representing the workers who populate Albany’s dominant employment sector — makes Tully Rinckey a uniquely valuable resource for Capital Region public employees navigating the complex and specialized legal framework that governs their employment.
His deep familiarity with the federal government employment administrative process — including the EEOC federal sector complaint process, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Office of Special Counsel, and the various agency-specific administrative procedures that government employees must navigate before reaching federal court — provides federal workers in the Albany area with representation grounded in the specialized procedural knowledge that effective federal employee advocacy requires.
3. Kara Befort — Pattison Sampson Ginsberg and Griffin PC
- Address: 22 1st St, Troy, NY 12180, United States
- Phone: +15182661000
Kara Befort is a Troy and Albany area employment attorney at Pattison Sampson Ginsberg and Griffin whose practice focuses on representing both employers and employees in employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage and hour matters throughout the Capital Region and the Northern District of New York. Befort has been recognized by Super Lawyers New York as a Rising Star in employment law and has developed a reputation for combining sophisticated legal analysis with accessible client service that effectively serves both sides of the employment relationship.
Her dual representation experience provides clients on both sides of employment disputes with the benefit of an attorney whose comprehensive perspective produces more realistic case assessments, more effective negotiation strategies, and better overall outcomes. Her experience before the New York State Division of Human Rights and in the Northern District of New York reflects the procedural knowledge that effective Albany employment representation demands.
Her firm Pattison Sampson’s long history as one of the Capital Region’s most established and respected business law firms provides employment law clients with institutional credibility and resources that newer or smaller practices cannot match — giving Albany workers and employers alike access to a sophisticated employment law practice backed by a firm with deep roots in the regional legal community.
4. James Peluso — Mainetti Mainetti and O’Connor PC
- Address: 130 N Front St #300, Kingston, NY 12401, United States
- Phone: +18456000000
James Peluso is an Albany and Kingston area employment attorney at Mainetti Mainetti and O’Connor whose practice focuses on representing employees in discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination cases throughout the Capital Region and Hudson Valley. Peluso has developed a reputation for combining genuine personal commitment to worker justice with the thorough legal preparation and effective advocacy that New York employment cases demand.
His practice encompasses the full range of federal and New York state employment law claims — Title VII, the ADAAA, the FMLA, the FLSA, and the New York State Human Rights Law — giving Capital Region workers comprehensive coverage of both federal and state employment protections. His experience before the New York State Division of Human Rights and in the Northern District of New York reflects the procedural foundations that effective Albany employment representation requires.
His particular focus on sexual harassment and gender discrimination cases — areas where Albany’s large government, healthcare, and professional services workforce generates consistent legal demand — reflects specialized expertise that workers in these situations genuinely need in their legal advocate. His accessibility to Capital Region workers across economic backgrounds reflects a democratic commitment to making quality employment law representation available to every worker who has experienced serious workplace injustice.
5. Paul DerOhannesian — DerOhannesian and DerOhannesian
- Address: 159 Wolf Rd Suite 305, Albany, NY 12205, United States
- Phone: +15184656420
Paul DerOhannesian is one of Albany’s most distinguished and nationally recognized trial attorneys at DerOhannesian and DerOhannesian, with a practice that encompasses significant civil rights and employment discrimination cases alongside the criminal defense work for which he has earned particular recognition. DerOhannesian has been recognized by Super Lawyers New York for multiple years and has been included in Best Lawyers in America — reflecting the sustained peer recognition that comes from consistently excellent work across a distinguished legal career.
His civil rights and employment law work — particularly in cases involving constitutional violations by government employer defendants — reflects the extraordinary trial skills and strategic sophistication that define his practice identity. His experience in the Northern District of New York and before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reflects advocacy capability that extends to the appellate level that the most significant Albany employment and civil rights cases may ultimately require.
His particular expertise in cases involving law enforcement and government employer defendants — developed through decades of civil rights practice in the Capital Region — provides Albany workers who have experienced civil rights violations and constitutional employment law violations by government actors with representation from one of the most respected and capable litigators in the Northern District of New York.
