IELRA Update

Adam Dauksas Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Franczek P.C.

Adam Dauksas is a partner in the Education Practice Group at Franczek P.C.

Adam focuses his practice on representing public school districts in all aspects of labor and employment law. He routinely leads collective bargaining negotiations on behalf of clients, drafting language proposals, and crafting complex financial offers/counteroffers.  His practice also includes advising and counseling school districts on a range of employee-related issues, from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.  Adam also regularly negotiates and drafts employment and separation agreements and has significant experience conducting all manner of workplace investigations.

Adam has extensive litigation experience in all forums. He has litigated numerous cases involving claims of employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, as well as defamation and personal injury. In 2020, Adam successfully argued before the Illinois Supreme Court in a case involving school district employees' paid sick leave benefits. Adam has also litigated cases before administrative tribunals, including the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, the Illinois Department of Human Rights, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board. 

Adam is a 2006 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, where he was a standout basketball player, and a 2010 graduate of the University of Illinois Chicago Law School, where he served on the school’s Law Review.

Susan Matta Related Seminars and Products

Shareholder

Allison, Slutsky & Kennedy, P.C.

Susan is a shareholder with Allison, Slutsky & Kennedy, P.C.  Her union career began in 1995, when she entered the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute’s Apprenticeship Program, and later became a staff union organizer at UFCW Local 951, where she worked on NLRB election campaigns and corporate pressure campaigns.  After graduating from law school, Susan served as a Law Fellow with Service Employees International Union on a corporate pressure campaign against a local hospital chain, where she represented individuals who were sued for medical debt.  Susan then served as the General Counsel for Service Employees International Union, Local 73 for almost ten years, where she represented both public and private employees.  As in-house General Counsel, she gained invaluable and extensive knowledge of the institutional concerns and needs of unions, conducted numerous trainings for both staff and members, and gained extensive experience representing the various types of public and private sector employees in negotiations, arbitrations, State and Federal Court, the National Labor Relations Board, Illinois Labor Relations Board, Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, Illinois Department of Human Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.   

In 2013, Susan transitioned to private practice with Carmell Charone Widmer Moss & Barr, where she became a partner and focused on representing firefighter clients.  She is also experienced at representing firefighter unions in contract negotiations, contract enforcement, interest arbitration, unfair labor practice proceedings, and court litigation. In 2019, she joined Asher, Gittler & D’Alba, Ltd. as a partner. She joined Allison, Slutsky & Kennedy, P.C. in 2022, where she continues to represent firefighters and other public and private sector clients.

Ellen Maureen Strizak Related Seminars and Products

General Counsel

Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board

Ellen Maureen Strizak is the General Counsel of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. She began working for the Illinois Educational Labor Relations as a Board Writer in 2002. Ms. Strizak was Staff Counsel for the Illinois Labor Relations Board from 2006 until 2010. She returned to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board in 2010 as Associate General Counsel and became General Counsel in 2019. Ms. Strizak received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Iowa and her J.D. from the John Marshall Law School. Prior to law school, Ms. Strizak organized tenants as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in Austin, Texas.