IPLRA Update

Gary Bailey Related Seminars and Products

Attorney

Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council

Gary Bailey has served as a labor attorney for the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council for over 35 years. Gary is involved in negotiations, grievance arbitrations and interest arbitrations on behalf of sworn peace officers and law enforcement personnel across the State of Illinois.

Gary is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Labor and Employment Law. Gary served on the LEL Section Council for eight years and is currently a Section Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates. Gary has been a member of the Section’s State and Local Government Bargaining and Employment Law Committee since 1992 and was the Union Co-Chairman of the Committee from 2009-2012. Gary contributes each year to the Committee’s Annual Report on Interest Arbitrations that occur across the country.

Gary received his undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and his juris doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Gary was inducted as a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers in 2008. 

Helen J. Kim Related Seminars and Products

General Counsel

Illinois Labor Relations Board

Helen Kim has been the General Counsel for the Illinois Labor Relations Board since November 1, 2016.  Prior to her position at the ILRB, she was General Counsel at the Illinois Department of Labor, the state agency charged with administering and enforcing various labor laws, including the Illinois Minimum Wage Law, the Wage Payment and Collection Act, and the Prevailing Wage Act.  Helen began her state service as labor relations counsel with the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, representing state agencies in arbitrations as well as cases before the ILRB.  She was also an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Civil Actions Bureau of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office where she represented Cook County and its elected officials in labor and employment matters.  Helen received her undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Melissa Sobota Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Franczek P.C.

Melissa concentrates her practice in both labor and employment law. Her labor experience includes collective bargaining for schools and higher education institutions, municipalities, and county employers. She has experience handling union certification petitions, severance petitions, as well as litigating unfair labor practice charges and grievances before the Illinois Labor Relations Board and Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. She has also advised employers on medical and insurance benefit plan issues in relation to contract negotiations and employee disputes.

Her employment practice includes the defense of employers against discrimination cases filed state court, the Illinois Department of Human Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. She has also defended employers before the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations, the Illinois Department of Labor, the Illinois Human Rights Commission, and the Illinois Labor Relations Board.

Her higher education practice includes negotiating collective bargaining agreements, as well as handling grievance arbitrations, unfair labor practice charges, and representation petitions before the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board and National Labor Relations Board on behalf of colleges and universities.

Prior to private practice, Melissa worked with the corporation counsel of the City of Chicago in the Labor Division and defended the City in grievance arbitrations regarding contract disputes, discipline, and medical and benefits plans.

Melissa is a member of the American Bar Association (Labor and Employment Section), the Illinois State Bar Association (Labor and Employment Section), and the Illinois Public Employer Labor Relations Association.