HON. RUTH B. KRAFT

Hon. Ruth B. Kraft served as an Administrative Law Judge, specializing in Employment & Labor matters, for fourteen years before returning to private practice. She chairs the Employment Law Group at Vigorito, Barker, Patterson, Nichols & Porter, representing both plaintiffs and employers in wage/hour litigation, harassment and discrimination claims, contractual matters, and labor negotiations. In addition, she maintains a consultative practice covering the full range of employment law and healthcare compliance issues.

Having practiced law for over 40 years, Judge Kraft has been a distinguished legal academic, adjudicator, practitioner and neutral. She has been recognized for excellence by a variety of professional and charitable organizations and is a sought-after lecturer on subjects ranging from employee misclassification to labor trafficking to the Americans with Disabilities Act. She is the chief judge of the International Business Ethics Case Competition; her extensive adjudicative experience enables her to see both sides of a matter and bring that understanding to bear during mediation and settlement.

In 2018, Judge Kraft was named a Long Island Power Woman in Business and, in 2019, she was awarded the Judge Paul J. Widlitz award for excellence and integrity on the bench. She is an active member of the Employment Litigation Section of the Federal Bar Council.