Dean Silverberg is the lawyer employers think of when they face difficult challenges involving their employees, governmental regulators, and administrative enforcement agencies.
For more than 35 years, Dean has provided financial institutions, hospitality groups, health care industry clients, law firms, public-sector entities, and nonprofits, among others, with informed and balanced advice based on his knowledge of their business needs, risk tolerance, and compliance goals. Focused on helping his clients avoid the expense and distraction of protracted litigation in an ever-increasing litigious legal environment, Dean assists his clients in resolving employee disputes as early as possible in often more efficient and cost-effective judicial forum alternatives, such as mediation and arbitration. In addition, he works with his clients to resolve internal employee relations issues and conducts internal investigations of claims of workplace discrimination and harassment. He also helps employers respond to state and federal regulatory agency inquiries and audits and to claims concerning wage and hour violations and worker misclassification.
Earlier in his career, Dean served as Deputy Counsel to New York City Mayor Ed Koch, focusing and advising on public-sector labor relations, personnel management, and civil service administration. The mayor appointed him as an alternate member, and then a full member, of the New York City Board of Collective Bargaining (BCB), a position Dean held for nearly a decade following his initial appointment. At the request of Mayor Koch and his successor in office, Mayor David Dinkins, Dean continued as a full member of the BCB after leaving the Mayor’s Office. Dean credits his City Hall experience to his understanding of how large, multifaceted organizations operate internally, and to his ability to counsel C-suite executives in making decisions that impact their workforces. When formulating strategies and solutions, he helps clients remain flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances in order to move forward.
Prior to his work with Mayor Koch, Dean honed his employee relations skills with the NYC Health & Hospital Corporation as Director of Labor Relations with Bellevue Hospital Center, a 1,200-bed public hospital facility with then close to 5,000 employees in a multi-contract collective bargaining environment.
As Chinese-owned businesses contemplated expansion into the United States, Dean led the Epstein Becker Green China Initiative Team in helping those companies navigate the legal and regulatory landscape and to understand the cultural and business nuances impacting their employment practices. During this time, Dean regularly traveled to China to establish special affiliations with Chinese law firms, visited the headquarters of his U.S.-based clients, and presented seminars to Chinese businessmen and women considering expanding their companies’ presence in the United States.
More Legal and Business Bylines From Dean L. Silverberg
- Responding to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak: Update on Best Practices for Employers - (Posted On Wednesday, March 04, 2020)
- New York City Mandates Sexual Harassment Training and Expands Sexual Harassment Protections Under the Human Rights Law - (Posted On Thursday, May 10, 2018)
- New York State Department of Labor Implements New Salary Basis Thresholds for Exempt Employees - (Posted On Thursday, December 29, 2016)
- New York State Department of Labor Proposes New Salary Basis Thresholds for Exempt Employees - (Posted On Tuesday, November 22, 2016)
- New York State Will Provide Paid Family Leave and $15 Minimum Wage - (Posted On Tuesday, April 05, 2016)
- New York City Publishes Proposed Rules to Amend Fair Chance Act - (Posted On Monday, March 07, 2016)
- Now That New York City’s Credit Check and “Ban the Box” Laws Are in Effect, How Do Employers Comply? - (Posted On Thursday, October 29, 2015)
- NYC Commission on Human Rights Issues Enforcement Guidance for Newly Effective Credit Check Law - (Posted On Thursday, September 10, 2015)
- U.S. Department of Labor Offers New Insight on the Misclassification of Independent Contractors - (Posted On Friday, July 17, 2015)
- New York State Department of Labor Issues Proposed Rules for Payroll Debit Cards - (Posted On Tuesday, July 14, 2015)