IPS21 Opening Meetings Act Update
Total Credits: 1.25
- Categories:
- Labor Law | Labor Relations
- Speakers:
- Bryan Diemer | A. Lynn Himes | Leah Bartelt
- Duration:
- 1 Hour 17 Minutes
- Format:
- Audio and Video
- Original Program Date:
- Dec 03, 2021
- Product Type:
- On Demand
- License:
- Access for 365 day(s) after purchase.
Description
This panel will provide an overview of the requirements of the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA), including public body discussions of employments matters and collective bargaining issues, the role of the Public Access Counselor in addressing potential violations of OMA, and recent litigation. The pandemic has impacted how public bodies meet in public, and the panel will also discuss recent OMA amendments and new meeting methods available to public bodies.
Speaker
Bryan Diemer Related Seminars and Products
Attorney
IUOE Local 150
Bryan Diemer is an attorney with the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, AFL-CIO. Bryan received a law degree with honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law, as well as a master’s degree in labor and industrial relations and a bachelor’s degree in economics-- both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Throughout his career, he has represented labor unions and related Taft-Hartley benefit funds in federal and state court, as well as administrative agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board and the Illinois Labor Relations Board. Bryan has also negotiated many public and private sector collective bargaining agreements and arbitrated many grievances arising under those collective bargaining agreements.
A. Lynn Himes Related Seminars and Products
Equity Partner
Himes,Petrarca & Fester Chtd.
Lynn Himes’ experience as a management labor and employment lawyer began when he left the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) and joined the Washington, D.C. law firm of Braude, Marguiles. His clients were construction contractors, architects and surety bond companies. In 1979, Lynn moved to Chicago and joined the law firm of Brydges, Riseborough, Morris, Franke and Miller, where he became a partner and practiced labor, employment, construction and school law. He joined Himes, Petrarca & Fester in 1986 as an equity partner. Lynn represents Boards of Education and other units of local government. He has negotiated hundreds of collective bargaining agreements and he has handled countless grievance arbitrations and unfair labor practice charges before the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board and the Illinois Labor Relations Board. He devotes substantial time to defending employers against claims of employment discrimination. He also has a breadth of experience handling school law matters including construction issues, student issues and detachment/annexation hearings. Lynn has completed the IEA Interest Based Bargaining training, its training as an IBB facilitator and its Trainer of Trainers coursework. He has also completed the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service’s IBB training. Lynn regularly represents school boards using IBB and often serves in the dual role as the facilitator and the board’s legal representative. Lynn is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the National Council of School Attorneys. He is a past Chairman of the Illinois Council of School Attorneys and a past member of its Board of Directors. He is a member of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board’s Advisory Committee and the Board of Advisors for the Chicago Kent Law School Public Sector Labor Relations Annual Conference. Lynn also serves on the Illinois Association of School Business Officials, Committee on Legal Practices. A native of North Carolina, Lynn attended Davidson College, North Carolina on ROTC and football scholarships. Thereafter, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Carolina, School of Law. Lynn served as a captain in the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, and ultimately served as a Senior Trial attorney for the Department of the Army. In addition to the law degree, he received from the University of North Carolina School of Law, Lynn also received his Masters of Laws and Letters in Labor Law from Georgetown University. Lynn has been selected by his peers as a Martindale Hubbel AV Preeminent attorney and, also, selected to the Super Lawyers of Illinois, the Leading Lawyers of Illinois, and the Top Lawyers of Chicago.
Leah Bartelt Related Seminars and Products
Public Access Counselor
Illinois Attorney General’s Office
Leah Bartelt is the Access Counselor in the Public Access Bureau of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. She joined the office in January 2015. The Public Access Bureau works to educate public bodies and citizens about the Illinois Freedom of Information and Open Meetings Acts, and to address allegations that public bodies have violated those laws. Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Leah practiced law with the ACLU of Illinois and Sidley Austin LLP, and served as a law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Leah is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.