J. Michael McGuire

• Successfully settled a new 4-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the Teamsters for a leading specialty chemical manufacturer after the union members initially rejected the agreement.
• Assisted a casino in winning a union election. The members of the voting unit of security ambassadors rejected union representation by an overwhelming majority vote of 61-29.
• Won an arbitration for a global engineering company. The arbitrator denied the grievances filed by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and sustained the company’s termination of two employees who failed to follow the company’s procedures and had also falsified time records. The arbitrator agreed that the company had just cause to terminate the employees despite less severe corrective action options being available.
• Won an arbitration on behalf of a company on the issue of whether the company could count only hours actually worked towards overtime. The union had filed a grievance contending that all hours paid, including PTO, should be counted. Still, the arbitrator found that the law, past practice, and the actual contract language all supported the employer’s position.
• Won an arbitration in which the union argued that the employer’s decision to contract out work constituted either a constructive layoff or an impermissible permanent filling of bargaining unit vacancies in violation of the CBA. The arbitrator found that because the employer went to great lengths to maximize the use of its own employees but could not meet its overtime needs, it could reasonably exercise its right under the CBA to hire contractors.
• Represented one of the largest independent power producers in the nation in a labor arbitration over the amount of the Employer’s annual medical insurance contributions for 2022. The arbitrator agreed that the company correctly implemented the rates set forth in the collective bargaining agreement rather than the incorrect rates that had been accidentally communicated to the union.
• Successfully defended a company against the union’s challenge to a change in healthcare premium rates for employees on long-term disability. Previously, those employees were permitted to participate in the company medical plan at the active employee rate. The arbitrator upheld the company’s position that it had negotiated an agreement subjecting such employees to the same two-year cap on active employee rates as non-represented and management employees.
• Won a COVID-related arbitration for a company. The employee, who was aware of COVID-like symptoms, nonetheless came to work in violation of the company’s requirement to remain at home or risk disciplinary action, including termination. Thus, the arbitrator found the company had good cause for terminating employment.
• Won dismissal of a lawsuit that sought to compel arbitration over a change in retiree benefits. The court found that the current and previous collective bargaining agreements covered only current employees, not retirees, and thus the union could not compel arbitration over the company’s conversion of its retirees’ life insurance benefits into a $10,000 lump sum.
• Summary judgment was granted in favor of a residential treatment center on a former employee’s claims of sex discrimination. Mike was able to get several of the claims dismissed because the employee had failed to meet the administrative prerequisite of raising those claims in a charge of discrimination before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. They were also able to establish that the employee was terminated for a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason and not because of her sex.

Education

• J.D., cum laude, University of Maryland School of Law, 1978
• B.A., with honors, University of Maryland, 1975

Admission to Practice

• Maryland
• U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second, Third, Fourth, Nine and District of Columbia Circuits

• American Bar Association (Litigation Section; Labor and Employment Law Section, Committee on Practice; Procedure before the National Labor Relations Board; Developing Labor Law)
• Maryland State Bar Association (Chair, Labor and Employment Section (2004-2006); Recording Secretary, Labor and Employment Section (2002-2004))
• Maryland Association of Defense Trial Counsel (Chair, Employment and Labor Committee (1993, 1994, 1996-1998)
• Contributing Editor, The Developing Labor Law BNA (2016-present)

• Fellow, The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
• Chambers USA (2007-present)
• The Best Lawyers in America® (2007-present)
• The Best Lawyers in America® Baltimore Labor Law – Management “Lawyer of the Year”
• Super Lawyers (2007-present)
• Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ AV5.0