PINAR ARAZ

Attorney-at-Law
Investigator

EXPERIENCE

Pinar is an accomplished employment law attorney with more than 15 years of experience. She handles matters related to compliance, audits, and training, along with conducting workplace investigations. Routinely, Pinar delivers employment training focusing on preventing harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in the workplace. She also conducts independent workplace investigations and has personally performed over 120 employment investigations, including sensitive cases involving senior executives and talent. Additionally, she offers advice and counseling to employers regarding employment related matters and drafts employee handbooks as well as workplace policies.

Before joining KSB Law, Pinar worked as Vice President of Fair Employment Practices at NBCUniversal, where she was responsible for the strategic management and global execution of fair and respectful workplace programs and initiatives across NBCUniversal. Pinar led a global team of experienced employment lawyers who conducted trainings and discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation investigations. Pinar also developed insightful reporting metrics and created and delivered reports to senior leadership, identifying key trends, and creating proactive strategies to foster a respectful working environment. She provided trainings to TV productions, including but not limited to Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Pinar began her legal career as Assistant Corporation Counsel (ACC), representing the City of New York and its agencies in defensive litigation arising from the City’s role as the employer of over a quarter-million workers. She successfully litigated a broad range of employment and civil rights matters, including claims concerning the First Amendment free speech rights of municipal employees, claims of discrimination and retaliation under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and various State and City Human Rights Laws. As an ACC, Pinar handled approximately 150 lawsuits in all stages of litigation, including drafting pleadings, briefs, and memoranda, arguing motions, conducting depositions, managing all aspects of discovery, participating in hearings and trials, as well as negotiating and drafting settlement agreements.

After six years as a litigator, Pinar moved in-house and served as the University Director of HR Investigations for the City University of New York. Here, she investigated allegations of discrimination, sexual misconduct, favoritism, nepotism, bullying, hostile work environment, unfair management practices, and other employment-related improprieties and unethical conduct complaints against senior University executives. Additionally, she conducted performance counseling, provided guidance to managers on disciplinary matters and employment-related matters, including labor-related matters, FMLA, and ADA. Pinar drafted the University’s first Investigation Manual for Chief Diversity Officers and Title IX Coordinators, developing, implementing, and administering HR policies and procedures promoting compliance with federal and state laws and CUNY regulations.

Next, Pinar worked as Vice President of Institutional Equity and Human Resources at the CUNY Graduate Center, overseeing the Offices of Human Resources and Compliance & Diversity. She managed the preparation of Affirmative Action Plans for the college, overseeing recruitment operations, professional development/employee relations operations, benefits operations, time & leave, as well as payroll operations. Pinar counseled Presidents, Deans, Vice Presidents, Directors, Executive Officers, and managerial staff on relevant compliance and employment law matters, performance management of their staff, and conflict resolution strategies.

As an employment attorney experienced in labor and employment law, compliance, management, mediation, investigations, human resources, diversity & inclusion, Pinar approaches employee management holistically. She counsels her clients on handling employee issues throughout the employment process, from recruitment to separation. Pinar also regularly conducts training on preventing discrimination, retaliation, and harassment in the workplace, as well as unconscious bias training. Additionally, she conducts workplace investigations in connection with alleged claims of harassment and other violations of federal and state employment laws.

Pinar received her JD from Seton Hall University School of Law cum laude. During law school, she served as the Articles Editor of Seton Hall Legislative Bureau Journal and was the recipient of the Charles Revson Public Interest Fellow and Samuel Heyman Public Interest Summer Fellow awards.

PINAR ARAZ

EXPERIENCE

CREDENTIALS

Bar Admissions & Education

Admitted to Practice