Labor & Employment Law - McCarthy Smith Law Group, Attorneys, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Professional Experience:
2003 - Present: Attorney and Managing Member, McCarthy Smith Law Group, PLC.

Practice is exclusively in employment and labor relations law, representing management in:

General employment advice
Collective Bargaining
Arbitrations
Union avoidance advice and campaigns
Employment-related litigation
NLRB proceedings
MERC proceedings
EEOC proceedings
MDCR proceedings
Employee handbooks & personnel policies
Defense of wage & hour claims
Training of managers and supervisors

1979 - 2002: Attorney, Brown, Colman & DeMent, P.C. and Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone (firms merged in 1984). Partner/Principal from 1986 - 2002; Resident Director, Kalamazoo Office, 2002.

Law School: University of Michigan, J.D., 1979

Undergraduate: Kalamazoo College, B.A., 1976

Memberships: American Bar Association; State Bar of Michigan; ABA Labor and Employment Law Committee on Alternate Dispute Resolution (Committee Co-Chair, 2003-2006), (Newsletter Editor 2011-present); Co-Chair, Sub-Committee on the Relationship of Arbitration to External Laws 1993-1996; Co-Chair, Subcommittee on Professional Responsibility, 1999-2002; ABA Labor and Employment Law Committee on Development of the Law Under the NLRA; ABA Litigation Section Committee on Employment-At-Will Litigation; Michigan Public Employer Labor Relations Association; Kalamazoo Human Resource Management Association (Legislative Representative, 1996-present); Society for Human Resource Management and Kalamazoo Area Labor-Management Association.

Community Activities:

Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Southwest Michigan, Board Member, 2009 - present

Prevention Works, Board Member, 2007 - 2010

Kalamazoo RESA Foundation, Board Member, 2008 - present

Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Board Member, 2002 - 2008

Kalamazoo Regional County Chamber of Commerce:

Legal Counsel, 2002-2006
Board Chair, 2001 - 2002
Board Vice-Chair, 2000 - 2001
Board Member, 1996 - 2002
Chair of Public Policy Committee, 1996 - 2000
Steering Committee, Drugs Don't Work Program, 1993 - 1999; Chair, 1997 - 1999
Member, Employment/Workplace Sub-Committee, 1992 - 1996; Chair, 1995 - 1996

Member, Michigan Health & Hospital Association Business Advisory Council, 2005 - 2007

Kalamazoo Regional Chamber Foundation, Board Member and Vice-Chair, 2002 - 2007

Goodwill Industries of Southwest Michigan, Board Member, 2000 - 2004

Community Advocates for Persons with Developmental Disabilities, Board Member, 2002 - 2004

COMM-PAC, Board Member, 2001 - 2004

Legislative Chair, Kalamazoo Human Resource Management Association, 1996 - present

Hospital Hospitality House, Board Member, 1990 - 1993

Member, Employers' Health Care Coalition, 1989 - 1992

Kalamazoo Management Association, Board Member, 1989 - 1990

Great Lakes Temporary Employee Consortium Committee, Chair, 1996

Kalamazoo College Alumni Association, Executive Board Member, 1986 - 1990

Leadership Kalamazoo, Participant, 1989 - 1990

Portage United Church of Christ, Trustee, 1981 - 1982; 1991 - 1992

Admitted to Practice: Michigan State Courts (1979); U.S. District Court for the Western (1980) and Eastern Districts of Michigan (1993); U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (1984); National Labor Relations Board.

Published Decisions:

Cummings v TAC Mfg., 2011 WL 65878 (E.D. Mich.) (FMLA and workers’ comp retaliation)
Villavicencio v Camoplast Crocker LLC, 2010 WL 4318897 (W.D. Mich.) (race and age discrimination and retaliation)
Ambrose v Summit Polymers, Inc., 2006 WL 797939 (6th Cir.) (Equal Pay Act)
Flores v Midwest Waterblasting Co., 1994 WL 16189543 (E.D. Mich.) (contract breach and duty of fair representation)
American Nuclear Resources v U.S. Department of Labor, 134 F3d 1292 (6th Cir 1998) (Whistleblower case)
Mion v Aftermarket Tool & Equipment Group, 99 F Supp 535 (W.D. Mich 1997) (FMLA )
Rose v Figgie International, 56 FEP Cases 41 (WD Mich. 1990) (sex harassment)
Diggs v Walgreen, 1997 U.S. Dist. Lexis 15184 (WD Mich.) (race discrimination)
City of Adrian v State of Michigan, 420 Mich 554, 362 NW2d 708 (1984) (overtime reimbursement)
Meerman v Murco, 205 Mich App 610, 517 NW2d 832 (1994) (wrongful discharge)
Kalamazoo Police Supervisors Association v City of Kalamazoo, 130 Mich App 513, 343 NW2d 601 (1983) (Overtime)
City of Adrian v State of Michigan, 124 Mich App 72, 333 NW2d 582 (1983) (Overtime reimbursement)
Local No. 6-0682, PACE, 339 NLRB No. 37(2003) (Union refused to bargain in good faith)
Hexacomb Corp, 313 NLRB No. 148, 145 LRRM 1338 (1994) (Dismissal of Representation Petition)
American Nuclear Resources. Inc., 300 NLRB No. 62, 135 LRRM 1193 (1990) (NLRB election objections)
City of Portage, 1998 MERC Lab Op 72
City of Portage, 1995 MERC Lab Op 251
City of Portage, 1993 MERC Lab Op 595
City of Kalamazoo, 1989 MERC Lab Op 42
City of Portage, 1989 MERC Lab Op 318
Checker Motors Corporation, 124 LA 677 (2007) (Work assignments)
Checker Motors Corporation, 108 LA 1107 (Production standards)
CMC Kalamazoo. Inc., 105 LA 555 (Holiday pay)
Mead Products, 104 LA 730 (Pay rates)
RRS, Inc., 86 LA 664 (Seniority dates)
City of Kalamazoo, 82 LA 138 (Discipline)

Publications:

Contributing Writer, Employment Law Handbook, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 2003-2010.
Contributing Writer, "How Arbitration Works," 2008 Supplement, ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law.
"New FLSA Regulations May Have a Huge Impact on Your Business", Enterprise, January 2004.
"Employer Liability -- Know the Law", Michigan Forward, November/December 2003.
"Inadvertent Disclosures: Approaches and Remedies", Practical Lawyer, April 2001.
Contributing Editor, Discipline and Discharge in Arbitration, ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, 1998.
"Employers Should Prohibit Threats of Violence as Well as Actual Violence", Michigan Forward, June 1998.
Reviewer, Murray and Chakeres, Violence at Work, AICPA, 1997.
"Avoiding and Responding to Workplace Violence", Michigan Forward, June 1997.
Topic Author, Elkouri & Elkouri, How Arbitration Works, Fifth Supplement, 1996.
"Dealing with Workplace Violence", The Practical Lawyer, June, 1995, Volume 41, Number 4.
Co-author, Preventing Employment Liability in Michigan, Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C., 1994
Co-author, How to Avoid Employment Discrimination in Michigan, Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C., 1994
"1990 Cases Regarding the Arbitrability of Post-Contract Disputes", The Labor Lawyer, Summer, 1991, Volume 7, Number 3.
"EEOC Policy Allowing Testers Will Face Increasing Challenges", National Law Journal, June 10, 1991.
"Are Michigan's Wrongful Discharge Laws Too Stringent?", Business Outlook for West Michigan, Fall, 1990, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.