Joseph S. (Jay) Hornack is a partner in the Pittsburgh law firm of Healey Block & Hornack and adjunct professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh. Professor Hornack has concentrated his more than 35-year private law practice in the area of employee rights and benefits. He primarily represents employees in claims involving workers’ compensation, Social Security disability, private disability insurance, severance benefits, unemployment compensation, employment discrimination, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. His law firm represents private and public unions in labor-management relations and First Amendment matters.
Since 1986, Professor Hornack has been the solicitor handling employment/human resource matters for the Steel Valley Authority, a Pennsylvania municipal authority. Since 1994, Professor Hornack has also served as a contract hearing officer for the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.
Professor Hornack is on the legal committee for the non-profit Disability Rights Pennsylvania, is a prior chair of the Allegheny County (Pennsylvania) Bar Association’s Law and Disability Committee, and is a frequent lecturer on disability rights matters. He was included in the 2019 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
Since 2004, Professor Hornack has taught disability discrimination law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Professor Hornack has also taught as an adjunct professor of business, society and ethics at the Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business since 1994.
Professor Hornack graduated in 1981 from Rutgers School of Law, where he won the J. Skelley Wright Prize for contributions to civil rights, civil liberties and human affairs. He graduated with undergraduate honors from Miami University (Ohio) in 1978.