Joseph F. Slater

Distinguished University Professor, Eugene N. Balk Professor of Law and Values at the University of Toledo College of Law and FSIP Member

University of Toledo College of Law

Joseph Slater is a Distinguished University Professor and the Eugene N. Balk Professor of Law and Values at the University of Toledo College of Law. He holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, and a PhD in history from Georgetown University. Before coming to Toledo in 1999, he practiced labor and employment law in Washington, D.C. for over a decade. Since coming to Toledo, he has published numerous books and articles on labor and employment law, especially in the area of public-sector labor law. Such works include Public Sector Employment: Cases and Materials (with Marty Malin, Ann Hodges, Jeffrey Hirsch, Anne Lofaso, and Michael Oswalt) (West Publishing, 4th ed. forthcoming 2021); Modern Labor Law in the Private and Public Sectors (with Seth Harris, Anne Lofaso, Charlotte Garden, and Richard Griffin) (Carolina Academic Press, 3rd ed. 2020) and Public Workers:  Government Employee Unions, the Law, and the State, 1900-62 (Cornell U. Press, 2004). 

In 2021, Prof. Slater was appointed to the Federal Service Impasses Panel. In 2019, Professor Slater testified before the Congressional hearing, “Standing With Public Servants:  Protecting the Right to Organize” on the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act and the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act. He has presented many papers on public-sector labor law at conferences of academics and of practicing lawyers. He has made numerous media appearances on labor issues, including interviews on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “Marketplace,” has published op-eds in the Chicago Sun Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Cincinnati Enquirer, and has been quoted in the the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Atlantic, MSNBC.com, Reuters, Fortune, Bloomberg, Le Monde (Paris, France), and the blogs Jurist, Salon, and Think Progress. He is a member of the Labor Law Group, the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and is a Fellow of the American Bar Association (all invitation-only organizations).