Photo of Evandro Gigante

Evandro is the go-to employment litigator and counselor when clients face their most challenging, bet the reputation claims, or want to develop policies and practices that mitigate legal risk. As an award-winning partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department, member of the Employment Litigation group, and co-head of the Counseling, Training & Pay Equity group, he represents clients on a variety of labor and employment matters, including allegations of sexual harassment, race, gender, national origin, disability and religious discrimination. In addition, Evandro handles restrictive covenant matters, including non-compete, non-solicitation and trade secret disputes. Evandro also counsels employers through the most sensitive employment issues, including matters involving employer diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

With a focus on discrimination and harassment claims, Evandro has extensive experience defending clients before federal and state courts. He tries cases before juries and arbitrators and routinely represents clients before administrative agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as state and local human rights commissions. Evandro often draws on his extensive litigation experience to help clients avoid the courtroom by effectuating positive change in the workplace through impactful anti-discrimination and harassment training, as well as robust employment policies.

Working in a wide range of industries, Evandro has experience representing clients in professional services, including law firms, financial services, including private equity and hedge funds, higher education, sports, media, retail, and others. Evandro also advises charter schools and other not-for-profit organizations on labor and employment matters on a pro bono basis.

To align with the new statewide paid prenatal leave law, the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has amended its rules related to the NYC Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (“ESSTA”) to address the paid prenatal leave requirement. The amended rules take effect on July 2, 2025.

As a reminder, effective January

On May 1, 2025, Minneapolis, Minnesota’s city council passed several amendments to its civil rights ordinance (the “Ordinance”), which prohibits discriminatory practices in employment, among other areas. With regard to employment, the amendments add new protected classes, expand the definition of race, familial status, and disability, and increase protections for pregnant workers and religious observance.

On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memorandum (the “Memorandum”) establishing the Department of Justice’s “Civil Rights Fraud Initiative” (the “Initiative”).  The program “will utilize the False Claims Act to investigate and, as appropriate, pursue claims against any recipient of federal funds that knowingly violates federal civil rights laws,” led by

New York City employers are reminded that they are now required to physically and electronically post a copy of their written lactation accommodation policy.

As we previously reported,  Local Law 109 – which became effective on May 8, 2025 – amends the New York City Human Rights Law’s existing obligations on employers to implement and