Mariela Suárez-Colón

Mariela Suárez is a labor and employment attorney with a practice focused on preventive counseling, employment litigation, and labor relations.

She provides counsel to employers on a wide spectrum of employment matters including wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, workplace bullying, retaliation, internal investigations, compensation and employment leaves. Additionally, her practice encompasses assisting with reductions in force (RIF) and reorganizations, compliance audits, and due diligence matters. On the labor relations front, she has gained ample experience working with labor unions, grievances, unfair labor practices, collective bargaining negotiations, and management of collective bargaining agreements.

Prior to re-joining McV in 2024, she served as the Deputy Director of Labor of the City of Philadelphia, where she led the City’s Labor Relations Unit and administered the Employee Relations Unit. As such, she had oversight of the implementation of collective bargaining agreements with all municipal unions, spearheaded successful negotiations, mediated disputes between the City and labor unions, served as the City’s representative in labor arbitrations, and provided strategic guidance to senior management. Mariela played a key role in developing and implementing anti-discrimination and harassment policies and investigation procedures of the City, ensuring compliance with legal frameworks while fostering a fair, inclusive and equitable work environment.

She has a creative approach to problem solving, with strong analytical and research skills. She is adept at drafting and negotiating employment related contracts, guiding employers through complex HR matters and workplace conflicts, preparing employee handbooks and employment policies, and has vast experience providing comprehensive trainings to supervisory and non-supervisory employees on key employment issues.

Mariela's legal journey began at McConnell Valdés as a Summer Associate in 2013 and 2014. She then worked as an Associate of the Labor and Employment Practice Group until 2017.

While in law school, she served as a student attorney in the Criminal division of the University of Puerto Rico Law School Legal Aid Clinic and was the student assistant of Attorney María Consuelo Saez-Burgos, the Professor in charge of said division. As such, she handled a variety of criminal cases which were usually related to misdemeanor charges. She was also a member of the Litigation Association and the Human Rights for People (GLBTT) Pro Bono Program.

Prior to obtaining her law degree, she served as an intern at the House of Representatives in Washington DC, with Congressman Pedro Pierluisi.