Celesq® Presenters

Kyle Winnick focuses his practice on the nationwide representation of businesses in all facets of labor and employment law, with an emphasis on wage and hour matters and independent contractor status. 

Employers face an ever-expanding, complex web of labor and employment laws promulgated at the federal, state, and local levels. Kyle counsels and assists clients in navigating these ever-changing requirements, and defends them in litigation when challenged in court, arbitration, or before an administrative agency.

Kyle’s experience includes defending businesses in bet-the-company wage and hour and independent contractor cases. For instance, he was part of a trial team that successfully defended a company in a multiplaintiff case arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which challenged the client’s business model. He has helped secure decertification in class and collective wage and hour cases, summary judgment in exemption and independent contractor misclassification cases, and victory in numerous arbitrations involving federal and state wage and hour issues. 

Kyle’s litigation experience includes not just wage and hour matters, but runs the gamut of employment laws, including cases asserting claims for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, defamation, and employment-related torts. Kyle has successfully litigated numerous complex and contentious matters across the country, including in California, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas. He frequently appears in federal and state courts, as well as federal and state agencies, including the US Department of Labor, New York State Division of Human Rights, and New Jersey Division on Civil Rights. This experience helps Kyle effectively counsel and advise businesses because he understands how sound policies and practices can help minimize litigation risk and cost. 

Kyle’s experience also includes policy matters. He contributed to the United States Chamber of Commerce’s comment to the Department of Labor’s proposal to rescind and replace the independent contractor rule it promulgated in 2021 under the FLSA. 

Kyle’s track record of success in pretrial and trial practice reflects his strategic and competitive approach to every phase of litigation. Through focused discovery and dispositive motion practice, he exerts pressure on the opposition at each stage, up to and including trial. In a recent example, Kyle was part of the trial team that won numerous arbitrations, which alleged unpaid overtime and other wage and hour claims, in favor of a Fortune 500 company.