Thomas H. Riley Jr.
University of Illinois System
Thomas H. Riley, Jr. is the Executive Director of Labor and Employee Relations and Special Counsel for the University of Illinois System. For over 30 years Mr. Riley has counseled and represented private and public-sector employers on all aspects of labor and employment law issues, including substantial experience handling complex labor matters in higher education. At the University of Illinois, Mr. Riley oversees negotiations, administration and strategy for the university’s 50 collective bargaining agreements across the three campuses in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield covering many of the approximately 25,000 employees in a wide range of bargaining units such as service and clerical, health care professionals, trades, police, nurses, faculty and graduate student unions. He counsels university administration to align human resource, budgetary and operational goals and routinely directs and advises on a multitude of labor issues, such as bargaining unit formation, compliance, strikes and picketing, retaliation, interest arbitration, labor litigation and agency matters including unfair labor practice claims and union organizing, arbitration and mediation, and preventive strategies. Prior to joining the University of Illinois 20 years ago, Mr. Riley was a partner in the Chicago office of a national law firm representing management in workplace law and related litigation. In private practice he counseled and defended employers on a wide range of issues, including complaints of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful discharge and other claims arising under federal, state and local laws regarding employment, civil rights, employee safety and labor. Mr. Riley has published and presented on labor issues, appeared on television and has been quoted in media such as the Washington Post and BNA Daily Labor Report. Mr. Riley is on the Board of Advisors for the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions. He is admitted to practice in Illinois and Louisiana, and before numerous federal district courts, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
