Rachel A. Gonzalez

Overview

Rachel Gonzalez is Chair of Day Pitney’s Employment and Labor practice and a trusted advisor to management teams navigating high-stakes workplace challenges. She partners with executives, in-house counsel, and human resources leaders to develop forward-thinking, business-aligned labor and employment strategies that protect enterprise value and mitigate risk.

Rachel advises domestic and multinational companies — including foreign corporations establishing U.S. operations — on the full spectrum of U.S. employment and labor law compliance. She is particularly sought after for her ability to guide organizations through complex workforce issues arising in mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, stock and asset transactions, plant closings, and relocations. Over the course of her career, she has counseled clients in significant monetary value transactions, ensuring seamless workforce integration and proactive risk management.

A seasoned labor strategist, Rachel represents employers in union organizing campaigns, collective bargaining negotiations, labor arbitrations, and proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board. She works closely with leadership teams on union avoidance strategies, strike preparedness, and crisis response, including strike-related injunction proceedings. Clients value her steady guidance in contentious environments and her ability to balance legal risk with operational realities.

Rachel also serves as outside employment counsel to companies seeking practical, preventative guidance on wage and hour compliance, workplace investigations, executive terminations, employee leave and accommodation issues, and evolving federal and state employment regulations. When disputes arise, she aggressively defends employers in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies.

Before entering private practice, Rachel worked as a human resources professional in both unionized and non-unionized facilities in the United States and Sweden — experience that gives her a unique, management-side perspective and enhances her credibility with executive leadership. During law school, she worked with the National Labor Relations Board in Hartford, Connecticut.

In addition to leading the firm’s Employment and Labor practice, Rachel is active in firm diversity initiatives, serving in a leadership role with the Day Pitney Diverse Attorneys Network and is on the firm’s Diversity Committee. She previously chaired and co-chaired the firm’s Hiring Committee

Experience

No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the highest court of any state. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Represented buyer in conducting due diligence on labor and employment matters in conjunction with the multi-billion dollar acquisition of public infrastructure

Represented buyer in conducting due diligence on labor and employment matters, involving 13 separate unions, in conjunction with the multi-million dollar acquisition of utility company assets

Represented lender in conducting due diligence on labor and employment matters in connection with multi-million dollar hotel acquisition

Led team negotiating the effects of the closure and relocation of a parts manufacturing business

Lead negotiator or legal advisor at several collective bargaining negotiations achieving significant client objectives

Obtained injunctions during strikes occurring at Fortune 100 company

Obtained a jury verdict in New Jersey federal court dismissing plaintiff's disability discrimination and workers' compensation retaliation claims

Obtained a directed verdict in New Jersey federal court in favor of the employer on hostile work environment and failure to promote claims a former employee brought against the company and a jury verdict in favor of employer on its counter-claim against the former employee for conversion and unjust enrichment

Obtained dismissal of sex discrimination claim following lengthy bench trial before an administrative law judge of the New York State Division of Human Rights

Obtained summary judgment for employer on age, race, and public policy claims in New Jersey federal court

Obtained summary judgment for employer on battery/offensive physical conduct, bias crime, failure to render assistance, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and constructive discharge claims in New Jersey state court

Obtained summary judgment for employer on Section 301 claim in New Jersey federal court

Defended employers in over 100 unfair labor practice charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board resulting in dismissal or withdrawal

Defended employers in over 50 discharge arbitrations

Education and Credentials

Education

Cornell University, B.S., School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Dean's List
University of Connecticut School of Law, J.D., with Honors, Articles Editor, Connecticut Journal of International Law

Admissions

State of New Jersey
State of New York
U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey

Affiliations

Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA), Law Student Division, former Region I Co-President
New Jersey Hispanic Bar Association, Press Secretary, 2017-2018
New Jersey State Bar Association, General Council, Delegate

Recognition and Community

No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the highest court of any state. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. See Awards Methodology.

Recognitions

Recipient of the Salute to Policy Makers Award, Executive Women of New Jersey (EWNJ), 2022

Selected to the Lawyers of Color's Inaugural Nation's Best list (2019)

Selected to the list of New Jersey Super Lawyers^® Rising Stars, 2014-2018

Selected to "Forty under 40" by NJBIZ (BridgeTower Media) for "commitment to business growth, professional excellence and to the community," 2017

Chosen as one of the New Leaders of the Bar by the New Jersey Law Journal (ALM Media Properties, LLC), 2016

Recipient of a Day Pitney Coleman Award for her commitment to pro bono and public service for her work supporting refugees seeking asylum in the United States, 2009