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Matthew J. Kelley

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Employment Law, Traditional Labor Relations

Matthew (Matt) Kelley received his J.D. from the Indiana University-Bloomington School of Law in 2008. While attending Indiana University-Bloomington Matt served as the Executive Notes Editor of the Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies and competed in the Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.

Originally from Kingston, Pennsylvania, Matt earned an undergraduate degree from Towson University, while garnering academic all-conference honors as a collegiate golfer. Matt also holds a master’s degree in Russian Studies from Indiana University-Bloomington. Matt spends his spare time spoiling his two children, reading, riding motorcycles and playing in competitive golf tournaments across Indiana.

Matt currently handles a wide-array of employment and labor law issues, while specializing in the area of traditional labor law, working with employers on a variety of traditional labor issues.

Employment Law, Traditional Labor Relations
Learn more about Matthew J. Kelley

Matt has spent more than a decade developing a traditional labor practice, assisting both large and small employers (private and public sector). Matt has served as lead negotiator for more than two dozen collective bargaining agreements, both in first contract and in successor contract situations. He has significant experience as lead counsel, assisting employers with union organizing campaigns in the entertainment, health care, manufacturing, service, warehouse/distribution, and automotive sales industries. In recent years, this practice has expanded to include representing employers in arbitrations, unfair labor practice charges, “hybrid” Section 301 claims in federal court, and additional appellate experience before the NLRB. Matt spent 2016 working as Director and Counsel for Labor Relations for a Fortune 500 Company, handling numerous contract negotiations for small and medium sized bargaining units, unfair labor practice charges, RC petitions, and arbitrations, primarily against the Teamsters.

Matt is also a highly regarded and innovative thinker in positive employee relations training issues. After years assisting clients with organizing campaigns, he has focused his training on understanding the complex role of personality, behavior, and communication skills to assess supervisor engagement in the workplace. Matt has written numerous articles and developed varied training programs for numerous employers. Matt fosters his passion for training and education through his work teaching. Matt teaches Advanced Labor Law and Labor Arbitration classes at the Indiana University – Maurer School of Law.

Matt also has a varied background in employment litigation, handling complex Title VII litigation as well as worker’s compensation disputes for clients ranging from large, multi-site healthcare providers to small franchisees in the food service industry.

Set out below are additional specific experiences:

Education

Admittance to Practice

Professional Activities

  • Indiana Bar Association
  • Indianapolis Bar Association

Speeches

Insights by Matthew J. Kelley

Rat parade display on street.

What’s Past is Prologue—NLRB Restores the Common Sense Meaning of Past Practice

In Raytheon Network Centric Systems, 365 NLRB No. 161 (December 15, 2017), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) jumped back into the quagmire of past practice, dynamic status quo, and impasse to create firmer ground for employers. Since first decided in 2010 and throughout the appeals process, unions used the Board’s Du Pont case, most recently reissued in 2016, E.I. Du Pont de Nemours, 364 NLRB No. 113 (Du Pont III), to leverage companies into difficult post-expiration disputes over “changes” to the terms and conditions of employment. Last week, the Board returned to a common sense approach to past practice during contract negotiations.

What Behavioral Psychology Has to Do With Union Avoidance: Reflections From a Labor Lawyer

As a traditional labor lawyer, I spend a great deal of time traveling the country to assist clients, and I spend a lot of that time in airports and on airplanes reading. On a recent trip, I read The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis, which discusses the research two psychologists conducted on the psychology of decision-making. The research, which concluded that people often err when making decisions despite access to information that should help them, got me thinking about how employees act in the face of union campaigns.

Woman with megaphone against orange wall.

Recent Eighth Circuit Case Illustrates the Need for Newest Members of the NLRB to Be Confirmed Sooner Rather Than Later

In another example of a federal circuit court taking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to task for stretching federal labor law past the point of recognition, the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals recently refused to enforce a NLRB order reinstating several former employees. The former employees were discharged after they posted flyers around town insinuating their employer was selling unsafe, germ-laden sandwiches as part of a campaign to enhance their sick leave.

Document titled "Labor Law" with gavel on top.

Postcards from the R-Case Edge: Insights into Supervisory Status Issues in a Proposed Unit

Since the new “ambush” election rules went into effect on April 14, 2015, there have been over 1,000 petitions for elections filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Approximately 60 of those petitions have led to pre-election representation-(R-case) hearings to determine unit issues. I participated in one of those 60 or so cases earlier this month and had the opportunity to glean insights on how the new procedures impact employers.

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