W. Charles Sipio

Mr. Sipio's practice at Karpf, Karpf & Cerutti is focused primarily on employment law and federal litigation. He has litigated hundreds of employment and civil rights cases in federal and state courts against large and small employers throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Mr. Sipio has considerable experience representing employees who have been subjected to unlawful discrimination in the workplace including unlawful sexual harassment by co-workers and supervisors. Additionally, he frequently represents employees who have been subjected to unlawful retaliation by an employer for engaging in protected activity. A significant portion of Mr. Sipio's practice also focuses on representing whistleblowers for claims brought under the federal False Claims Act ("FCA"), the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002, the Pennsylvania Whistleblower Law, the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act ("CEPA"), the New Jersey False Claims Act and other related laws. 

Mr. Sipio has acted as lead or co-counsel in numerous contested discrimination cases with successful results. See e.g. Smith v. City of Phila., 285 F. Supp. 3d 846 (E.D. Pa. 2018) (denying summary judgment in a discrimination case where one Catholic alleged he was discriminated against by a more stringent Catholic supervisor on the basis of religion); Seeney v. Pennsylvania, 31 F. Supp. 3d 677 (E.D. Pa. 2014) (denying in part a state prison's motion for summary judgment when a typist with rheumatoid arthritis alleged she was subjected to discrimination);Rorke v. Toyota, 399 F. Supp. 3d 258 (M.D. Pa. 2019) (denying summary judgment in a case where an employee alleged she was subjected to discrimination and sexual harassment at a car dealership); Chase v. Frontier Communs. Corp., 361 F. Supp. 3d 423 (M.D. Pa. 2019) (denying in part a motion for summary judgment when an employee alleged she was retaliated against for complaining about age discrimination); Claybourne v. HM Ins. Grp., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157910 (W.D. Pa. Oct. 22, 2015) (denying summary judgment on complex issue of law relating to an employee's right to bring a standalone retaliation claim under Section 1981); Kintz v. SMNRC, L.P., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182280 (M.D. Pa. Oct. 24, 2018) (denying in part summary judgment on employee's discrimination and retaliation claims stemming from her alleged need to take an FMLA qualified leave from work); Suero v. Motorworld Auto. Grp, Inc., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13286 (M.D. Pa. Jan. 31, 2017) (denying in large part a motion to dismiss discrimination and retaliation claims brought against a well-known car dealership); Rodrigues v. Motorworld Auto. Grp., Inc., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38960 (M.D. Pa. Mar. 17, 2017) (same); Hannis-Miskar v. N. Schuylkill Sch. Dist., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96118 (M.D. Pa. July 22, 2016) (denying in large part a motion to dismiss pregnancy discrimination claims against a public school district);Green v. Pike Cty., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54029 (M.D. Pa. Mar. 29, 2018) (denying summary judgment in a disability / FMLA discrimination case against a Pennsylvania county prison); Kephart v. Newell Fuel Serv., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138322 (M.D. Pa. Aug. 14, 2018) (denying summary judgment in a gender discrimination case against a fuel company); Hascall v. Duquesne Univ. of the Holy Spirit, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83666 (W.D. Pa. June 28, 2016) (denying in part a law school and dean's motion for summary judgment against professor's gender discrimination and retaliation claims). He was also co-counsel in the matter of Charntiski v. Motorworld Group wherein a jury awarded the plaintiff $750,000.00 following a week long trial in the Middle District of Pennsylvania alleging discrimination--the 2nd highest civil rights verdict reported for Pennsylvania in 2013 according to the Legal Intelligencer. In 2015, he was co-counsel in the matter of Hosler v. Fulkroad, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80801 (M.D. Pa. June 23, 2015), which ultimately resulted in an award of $121,439.55 following a jury trial for a client who was unlawfully fired after taking FMLA leave for a hysterectomy. The award followed after motions practice requesting enhanced damages available under the FMLA.

In the civil rights arena, Mr. Sipio also served as co-counsel in the matter of Black v. Allegheny County, et al., wherein the estate of a deceased man who was incarcerated in the Allegheny County jail reached a public settlement for $2,000,090.00. The family alleged Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference based on the failure of the county's medical provider to provide constitutionally adequate medical care that ultimately led to the man's needless death. The Legal Intelligencer reported this as the highest civil rights settlement in Pennsylvania for the year 2015.

Mr. Sipio has been selected for the Pennsylvania "Rising Stars" list issued by Super Lawyers / Thomson Reuters each year from 2014 through 2020. He is a proud graduate of Saint Joseph's University where he earned his B.A. in Political Science. He later earned his J.D. from Widener University School of Law in Delaware.

Mr. Sipio is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He is also admitted to practice before the following federal courts:

• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
• United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
• United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
• United States District Court for the Northern District of New York
• United States District Court for the Western District of New York
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
• United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• United States Tax Court

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