Joseph Hornack, Esquire

Adjunct Professor of Law
Director, Human Resources Law Online Certificate Program

Biography

Jay Hornack concentrates his private law practice in the area of employee rights and benefits. Specifically, he represents employees in claims involving workers' compensation, Social Security disability benefits, unemployment compensation, employment discrimination, wrongful discharge and pension benefits.

Mr. Hornack graduated from Rutgers-Newark School of Law in 1981 where he won the J. Skelley Wright Prize for contributions to civil rights, civil liberties and human affairs. He graduated with honors from Miami University in 1978. Mr. Hornack is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association and is past Chair of the ACBA’s Law and Disability Committee. He is also a Legal Committee member of Disability Rights Pennsylvania and is a past Board member of DRP.

In 1983 Mr. Hornack was appointed Special Counsel by Pittsburgh City Council to defend its plant closing notification ordinance. Since 1986 he has served as the Solicitor for the Steel Valley Authority, a joint municipal authority funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry's Strategic Early Warning Network that is dedicated to the retention of existing industries and the development of new industries throughout all of Pennsylvania. Since 1994 he has served as a hearing officer for the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Since 1987 Mr. Hornack has also taught evening courses at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University. Currently he is an adjunct professor of business, law and ethics at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business as well as an adjunct professor of disability discrimination law at the University of Pittsburgh's School of Law.