Jeffrey Risman

Twelve Days. Fifteen Witnesses. A $1.1 Million Award: Jeffrey Risman Knows How to Make Workplace Bias Visible

The hearing lasted 12 days. Fifteen witnesses testified. On one side stood a New York City real-estate company; on the other, a race-and-gender discrimination case that Jeffrey Risman had built piece by piece. When it was over, the arbitration award totaled $1,100,980.89. For an employee wondering whether a powerful organization can be forced to answer for conduct it denies, the result carries a message beyond the dollar amount: workplace bias can be brought into the light when a lawyer knows where—and how deeply—to look.

That understanding did not come entirely from representing workers. Early in his career, Risman defended large corporations and insurance companies. He learned how management decisions are explained, which records become important once litigation begins, and how institutions prepare to resist a claim. Since 2011, he has concentrated exclusively on employment law, using that experience for employees confronting discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, and other threats to their livelihoods. When an employer begins constructing its defense, he already understands how that construction works.

That perspective became especially consequential in Jones v. Mayflower International Hotel Group, Inc. An African-American employee endured severe racial harassment and discriminatory treatment, then lost his job after complaining about the hostile workplace. Risman and co-counsel took the case before a federal jury in 2023. The jury returned a $676,000 verdict under federal, state, and New York City civil-rights laws. The result did more than compensate one employee. It required the company’s explanations to withstand witnesses, documents, and public scrutiny—and the jury was not persuaded.

His work also reaches people whose cases begin with an unpaid paycheck rather than a corporate title. In Villar v. Prana Hospitality, Inc., Risman served on the legal team representing 12 former restaurant employees seeking wages they had earned and the protections the law promised them. The proceeding produced $402,215.18 in damages and statutory penalties. In another matter, a former client reported that Risman accepted a disability-related termination case other attorneys had declined and secured reinstatement in approximately two and a half months. One result recovered compensation for an entire group of workers; the other restored a single employee’s livelihood.

As partner and co-founder of Risman & Risman, P.C., he has made the process of uncovering discrimination central to both his practice and his professional teaching. In 2024, he co-presented a New York State Bar Association program showing attorneys how to recognize subtle workplace bias and ask the questions necessary to expose it. His seven selections to the New York Metro Rising Stars list and recognition among The National Trial Lawyers’ Civil Rights Top 10 reinforce that standing. But the teaching may reveal more about him than the awards: Risman does not simply argue discrimination cases—he studies how discrimination hides.

For employees, the first warning is often something deliberately unclear: an explanation that changes, a complaint that vanishes, or a firing presented as routine. Jeffrey Risman’s defining strength is turning those fragments into a case that arbitrators, judges, and juries can see clearly. Twelve days and 15 witnesses may sound like the long way to the truth. Sometimes it is the only way—and he has shown that he is prepared to take it.

That combination of experience, reputation, verified professional standing, and public credibility is why Jeffrey Risman was included on FreddieFender.com.