Matthew J. Daidola

What does Matthew Daidola bring to an employment case?

Three careers’ worth of training: ten years as a New York City police officer, a law degree, and medical training. That matters because employment cases are decided on three things: what you can prove happened, what it did to you, and whether you are believed. Each of those backgrounds speaks to one of them.

Most workplace cases are not won with a single damning email. They are won by reconstructing events out of ordinary records (timecards, schedules, performance reviews, HR notes, text threads, badge swipes) and then explaining, in terms a jury will accept, what the conduct actually cost the person who lived through it. That is the part of a case Matthew spends his time on.

He is a partner at TA Legal Group PLLC and handles employment matters on behalf of employees.

How does medical training change the way an employment case is handled?

It changes what gets proven, and how quickly the weak points get found. A large share of employment claims carry a medical component, and that component is often where the case is decided.

Disability and accommodation claims A disability and ADA accommodation claim turns on whether the limitation is documented, whether the accommodation you asked for is medically sensible, and whether the employer’s “undue hardship” explanation survives scrutiny. Reading the underlying clinical records directly, rather than through a paralegal’s summary or an expert’s paraphrase, shortens that analysis and surfaces the gaps early, while there is still time to fill them.

Emotional distress damages Discrimination and harassment claims routinely include a claim for psychological harm, and defense counsel attacks it by pointing to every prior stressor in your life. Knowing how treatment notes are actually written (what a provider records, what a diagnostic code does and does not mean, what a gap in treatment usually reflects) matters a great deal when that fight arrives.

Medical leave and retaliation Cases built around a serious health condition, a leave request, or a disputed return-to-work clearance often hinge on a handful of forms and a doctor’s note. Those documents get read closely here, because the argument frequently lives in what the form did not ask.

Cases against hospitals and health systems Nurses, technicians, residents, therapists, and administrative staff work inside scheduling, credentialing, and reporting systems that are unfamiliar to most outside lawyers. Matthew does not need those systems explained to him, which is useful when a retaliation or whistleblower claim grows out of a patient-safety report.

What does ten years of police work add to an investigation?

Investigative discipline, and a realistic sense of how testimony gets tested.

Matthew served ten years with the NYPD and was decorated during that service. A decade of taking statements, writing reports that would later be read back to him under cross-examination, and testifying in criminal court teaches things that are hard to learn any other way: how to interview a reluctant witness without leading them, how quickly memory degrades, which records exist that nobody thinks to ask for, and how a small inconsistency in a report becomes an hour of cross-examination two years later.

That shapes the practical advice clients get in the first conversation. Preserve the documents now. Write down dates while they are fresh. Do not paraphrase what a supervisor said if you can quote it. Assume the employer’s version will be internally consistent and well-rehearsed, and build a record that does not depend on your word alone.

It also shapes how the other side’s evidence gets read. Employers investigate themselves before they fire someone, and those internal investigations produce paper. Knowing what a competent investigation looks like makes it much easier to identify one that was assembled after the decision had already been made, which is frequently the heart of a wrongful termination case.

How did a police officer end up practicing law and medicine?

In sequence, and while working.

Matthew earned a BA in Psychology and Arabic from Binghamton University. He joined the NYPD and served for ten years, earning the department’s “Cop of the Month” recognition and the Chief Michael Markham Academic Achievement Award. He went to law school at St. John’s University School of Law, graduating with honors in 2015, and was admitted to practice in New York State.

He then completed a post-baccalaureate program at Stony Brook University, with honors, and went on to earn a medical degree in New York City. He is a co-author of Unusual Diseases With Common Symptoms (Springer, 2023) and has published articles in medical journals.

The point of the sequence is not the collection of degrees. It is that each one was added because the prior work exposed a limit: a police officer who could see how cases were built but not how they were litigated, and a lawyer who could see how injury was argued but not how it was diagnosed.

What does Matthew handle at the firm?

Employment cases on behalf of employees.

That includes workplace discrimination, wrongful termination, disability and accommodation disputes, retaliation and whistleblower claims, and employment litigation in state and federal court. He works alongside Tim Alamgir, and the firm represents employees and executives in the great majority of its matters. You can read more about the firm and how it works.

What is Matthew’s connection to Huntington?

He lives in Huntington Village and serves on boards across the community.

Matthew serves on the board of Huntington Hospital, part of Northwell Health, and on the Center for Community Engagement and Leadership Development. He is the current Chairman of the Board of the Huntington Cinema Arts Centre.

That local footprint has a practical side. The firm’s office is in Huntington, and many of the cases handled here involve Suffolk County and Nassau County employers, filed in courts a short drive from the office. Knowing the employers, the institutions, and the community is part of understanding the case.

What should you have ready for a first conversation?

Whatever documents you still have access to, and a rough timeline.

Bring your offer letter, employee handbook, recent performance reviews, any written complaints you made and any response you received, the termination letter or severance agreement if there is one, and any texts or emails that relate to what happened. If you have medical records connected to the case, say so early. That is often the fastest path to an honest assessment of what the claim is worth and what it will require.

If you were handed a severance agreement, do not sign it before it is reviewed. A release usually ends every claim you have, including ones you have not identified yet. Reach out through the contact page before the deadline in the agreement runs.