David H. Tracey
Top rated Employment Litigation attorney in New York, New York
Practice Areas:
Employment Litigation,
Civil Rights,
Employment & Labor,
General Litigation,
Discrimination,
Employment Law - Employee,
Wage & Hour Laws
Education Qualification:
New York University School of Law
Practice Areas:
Employment litigation,
Civil rights,
Employment & labor,
General litigation,
Discrimination,
Employment law - employee,
Wage & hour laws
17 State Street, Suite 3700New York, New York, 10004
First Admitted: 2014, New York
Professional Webpage: https://www.sanfordheisler.com/team/david-h-tracey/
Bar/Professional Activity:
- New York
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- New Jersey
Verdicts/Settlements (Case Results):
- The class action lawsuit was filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, alleging Walgreens violated ERISA through its mismanagement of employees' 401(k) retirement fund. Following two and a half years of litigation, the court approved a $13.75 million settlement for more than 100,000 current and former Walgreens 401(k) plan participants. , 2022
- Mr. Tracey was co-counsel for the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act that resulted in a $61 million settlement--believed to be the largest-ever settlement of an ERISA case stemming from allegations that a corporation’s 401(k) plan improperly directed employees to invest in its own, under-performing, proprietary funds. The lawsuit against General Electric ("GE"), filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in 2017, alleged that GE and trustees of the General Electric Retirement Plan (“the Plan”), as well as 30 unnamed defendants, violated ERISA by engaging in prohibited transactions and unlawful self-dealing detrimental to both the named plaintiffs individually and the class—some 250,000 GE employees participating in the Plan during the proposed class period of January 11, 2011 through June 30, 2016, and who collectively invested billions of dollars in the Plan annually. The Court granted final approval of the settlement in March 2024., 2024
Representative Clients:
- Two State Farm home insurance policyholders who allege that State Farm's claims-processing methods discriminate against Black policyholders by disproportionately subjecting their claims to greater scrutiny than white policyholders, causing delays in urgent repairs, impacting their quality of life, and devaluing their homes. In asserting algorithm bias, the lawsuit is being closely watched. , 2024
- In June 2024, Mr. Tracey, with co-counsel Disability Rights Tennessee and Youth Law Center, filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee against the State of Tennessee, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (“DCS”), and the commissioners of the Tennessee Department of Education and DCS, alleging that Tennessee’s juvenile justice system subjects children and young people with disabilities to pervasive violence, abuse, and neglect. Disability Rights Tennessee serves in the case both as counsel and as an organizational plaintiff. The organization is joined by individual plaintiffs John Doe 1, John Doe 2, and Jane Doe 1, all of whom are youth currently or formerly in DCS custody. , 2025
- Dr. Christine Johnson McPhail, former president of Saint Augustine's University, a Historically Black College and University ("HCBU") in Raleigh, N.C. On behalf of Ms. McPhail, Mr. Tracey filed a Complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging discrimination and retaliation against the University and its Board of Trustees., 2024
Pro bono/Community Service:
- New York University Racial Justice Clinic
Honors/Awards:
- Super Lawyers New York Metro Rising Star, Super Lawyers, 2023
- National Law Journal Rising Stars of the Plaintiffs Bar, National Law Journal, 2024
- New York Law Journal Rising Stars, New York Law Journal, 2024
- 2025 Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch, Best Lawyers, 2025
Educational Background:
- Yale University, B.A., magna cum laude
Scholarly Lectures/Writings:
- Employers Should Owe a Duty of Loyalty to Their Workers. Cardozo Law Review, August 2020, Co-Author, Co-author, Employers Should Owe a Duty of Loyalty to Their Workers, Cardozo Law Review, 2020
- Op-ed in support of a law before the state Legislature that would allow workers to initiate lawsuits against their employers on behalf of the state Department of Labor, expanding enforcement of wage theft laws. , Co-author, Opinion: To make the minimum wage count, expand wage theft enforcement, City & State New York, 2023
- This is a public comment that Mr. Tracey co-authored with others at SHS re: Proposed Rule § 106.41(b)(2) Regarding Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance: Sex-related Eligibility Criteria for Male and Female Athletic Teams., Co-author, Public Comment to U.S. Department of Education, Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, LLP, 2023
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