Stephen R. Polauf

Stephen R. Polauf is a solo employment attorney based in New Haven, Connecticut. Through Polauf Law LLC, Stephen represents both employers and employees in CHRO and EEOC proceedings, litigation, and a range of employment advisory matters, including workplace policy development and employee handbooks and contracts. He is a published expert on Connecticut employment law, and the Hartford Business Journal has published his analysis of how the paid sick leave statute interacts with the state's wage-deduction law.

Stephen is an experienced litigator and has won judgment or dismissal at trial on behalf of employers when practicing at management-side firms. Since striking out on his own, Stephen has expanded his practice to include both employee and employer representations. He secured summary judgment, dismissal, or denial of appeal certifications for employers on suits involving wage-and-hour regulations, breach of contract, ERISA, employment discrimination and public accommodations, state administrative appeals, and federal appeals in the Second Circuit.

For employees, he has secured five-figure settlements in his first year of solo practice and takes a principled, aggressive, results-oriented approach to negotiation. He also drafts employee handbooks, employment contracts, and effective waivers and releases of claims using the same diligent, tested approach he applies to litigation. His work in this area also includes drafting of wage-deduction consent forms for front-loaded paid sick leave recoupment at separation, for which he has obtained formal approval from the Connecticut Labor Commissioner on four occasions.

Polauf Law is a tech-driven firm utilizing self-built and securely deployed tools for research, drafting, and analysis, matching or exceeding large-firm resources. Stephen currently represents clients from a broad swath of backgrounds, and his approach is informed by the lessons he brings from his prior government service and growing up in Brooklyn, New York.

Before law school, Stephen spent four years in public service and government in New York and worked on political campaigns. That background informs his approach to agency process, administrative proceedings, and the institutional realities that often shape employment disputes.

Stephen earned his bachelor's in political science from Goucher College in 2015. He later earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He also served as an editor for the online version of the Virginia Journal of International Law while in law school. He has written on employment-law issues for statewide publications in addition to legal commentary on the Polauf Law Blog and occasional podcast interviews.