Recent Trends and Best Practices Litigating Before the EEOC, FLRA, and MSPB

Michael Rhoades Related Seminars and Products

Administrative Judge

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Michael Rhoades earned his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He began his legal career as an active-duty officer with the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corp. After leaving active duty, he represented parties before administrative and judicial bodies, including the EEOC, MSPB, FLRA, and Courts of Appeals. Since 2018, he has served as an administrative judge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Milwaukee Area Office (Chicago District).

He resides in Wisconsin with his wife, children, and a Labrador Retriever.

Susan Grundmann Related Seminars and Products

Member of the FLRA

Federal Labor Relations Authority

Chairman Grundmann was nominated by President Biden in August of 2021, confirmed in May 2022, and designated as Chairman in January of 2023. Prior to her confirmation, Chairman Grundmann served as the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, where she oversaw the administrative dispute resolution process and provided education to both employing offices and labor unions that represent employees in the legislative branch. Previously, she was nominated by President Obama to serve as a Member and Chairman of the MSPB, and confirmed by the Senate in 2009.

Ms. Grundmann has served as General Counsel to the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), which represents 100,000 Federal workers nationwide and is affiliated with the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers. At NFFE, she successfully litigated cases in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. She represented NFFE and the United Department of Defense Workers Coalition, which consists of 36 labor unions, and served on the Coalition’s litigation team in a coordinated response to proposed personnel changes at the Department of Defense (DoD). In addition to DoD employees, Ms. Grundmann represented employees in the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Passport Service, Veterans Administration, General Services Administration, and some 25 additional Federal agencies.

From 2003 to 2009, she was a regular instructor on Federal sector labor and employment law at the William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center in Hollywood, Maryland. Prior to joining NFFE, Ms. Grundmann served as General Counsel to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. She began her legal career as a law clerk to the judges of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit of Virginia, and later worked in both private practice and at the Sheet Metal Workers’ National Pension Fund.

Member Grundmann earned her undergraduate degree at American University and her law degree at Georgetown University Law Center.

Greg A. Weddle Related Seminars and Products

Chicago Acting Regional Director

Federal Labor Relations Authority

Greg Weddle was appointed Regional Director for the Chicago Regional Office in March 2023. Mr. Weddle had been the Regional Attorney for the Chicago Regional Office since August 2014. Mr. Weddle joined the FLRA as an attorney in 1996 and was promoted to Senior Attorney in 2001. Before joining the FLRA, Mr. Weddle worked for the Social Security Administration in Michigan from 1986 to 1993. Mr. Weddle received a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and Public Service from Northern Illinois University and a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Dan Duran Related Seminars and Products

Attorney-Advisor

Federal Labor Relations Authority/FSIP

J. Daniel (Dan) Duran is an attorney-advisor at the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) with the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP/the Panel).  Mr. Duran began his employment with the FLRA in 2008 and previously served as an attorney-advisor to former FLRA Chairman/Member Thomas M. Beck and Member Patrick Pizzella.  After serving in a detail with FSIP from September 2012 to April 2013, Mr. Duran became a permanent FSIP employee in March 2014.  As an attorney with the Panel, Mr. Duran is responsible for investigating and assisting with the resolution of negotiability impasses arising under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute and the Federal Employees Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules Act.  During his tenure with the FLRA, Mr. Duran has delivered numerous training programs including:  comprehensive arbitration training; negotiability disputes; FLRA case-law updates; and Panel practices and procedures.

Mr. Duran graduated from the University of Tennessee magna cum laude in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Sociology.  In 2006, he received a Juris Doctor degree with honors from the University of Tennessee.  Prior to working with the FLRA, Mr. Duran served as a law clerk to an administrative law judge with the U.S. Department of Labor and was an associate with a Washington, D.C. boutique firm that specialized in federal-sector labor and employment issues.

David Lidow Related Seminars and Products

Administrative Judge

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

David R. Lidow is an Administrative Judge with the Merit Systems Protection Board in the Central Regional Office located in Chicago.  The MSPB is an independent, quasi-judicial agency that adjudicates federal employment disputes and whistleblower retaliation claims.   He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the civil division, representing the United States in employment discrimination cases, claims brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act, civil rights cases, and pursuing fraud claims on behalf of various government programs.