Michael McAuliffe Miller

Overview

Michael Miller concentrates his practice exclusively on management-side employment and labor law, including employment and labor-related litigation before a variety of state and federal courts.

Representative Matters

• In a case testing the proposition of whether the Federal Educational Records Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits school districts from being compelled to release video recordings of students under the Right to Know Law, Mr. Miller secured an order from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania which vacated an earlier Commonwealth Court opinion granting access to such recordings and directed to the Commonwealth Court to reconsider its opinion. Central Dauphin School District v. Valerie Hawkins, Fox43 and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Office of Open Records, 16 MAL 2019, Pa Supreme Court (2020).
• Arguing in front of the United States District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Mr. Miller obtained a decision vacating an order of the National Labor Relations Board imposing a significant back pay remedy stemming from an enforcement proceeding brought by the NLRB’s General Counsel. Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association v. National Labor Relations Board, Case No 16-1328 (D.C. Cir. July 6, 2018).
• While representing a Pennsylvania school district as Special Counsel, successfully advocated for Pa. Supreme Court to overturn Commonwealth Court and, while so doing, to conclusively re-affirm the doctrine of constructive discharge in Pa. and determine the due process owed public school superintendents under Section 1080 of the School Code. Kegerise v. Delgrande, et. al, ____ S.Ct. ____ (2018).
• Secured the dismissal of a request for an injunction made by a disappointed bidder who sought to block the City of Lebanon Authority from awarding a $37-million contract for the reconstruction of its Waste Water Treatment Plant.
• Served as Chief Labor Counsel for a New Jersey for-profit corporation that purchased the Meadowlands Health Center from a nonprofit health system. Negotiated successor labor agreements with four unions and transitioned 400+ employees to new employment avoiding litigation and disruptions to closing.
• Served as Special Labor Counsel for privatization of Dauphin County’s Youth Detention Center and nursing homes previously operated by Schuylkill and Washington counties.
• Successfully defended a New Jersey Acute Care Hospital in unionization drive and secured dismissal of representation petition without a union election.
• Served as General Counsel of a Pennsylvania college for 10+ years.
• Selected as Special Labor Counsel for Eastern Pennsylvania by the Society of County Human Resources Professionals of Pennsylvania.
• Selected as Special Labor Counsel for the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs.
• Represented national and regional employers in the manufacturing, construction, trucking, public utility, insurance, food, education, and health care industries.
• Litigated to verdict various employment-related litigation, including claims of race, age, disability, and gender discrimination; sexual harassment; wrongful discharge; and breach of contract, and sustained these results on appeal to federal and state appellate courts.
• Developed effective and efficient strategies to resolve matters before federal and state administrative agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
• Regularly negotiates labor agreements with the Fraternal Order of Police, International Association of Fire Fighters, AFSCME, SEIU, IBEW, the Teamsters, the Steelworkers, and the Building Trades, among other unions.
• Served (in the public sector) as special labor counsel to a number of municipal employers at the state, county, city, borough, and township level and represented those entities in collective bargaining negotiations, contract interpretation claims, discipline matters, interest arbitrations, grievance arbitrations, unfair labor practice charges, and employment-related litigation.