Easley, Brian West

Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Brian Easley represents employers in all aspects of labor and employment law. His practice is focused on labor management relations, and he has extensive experience representing employers in collective bargaining, union organizing and decertification proceedings, unfair labor practice proceedings, strikes and picketing disputes, corporate campaigns, neutrality and card check agreements, bankruptcy, arbitration proceedings, and labor litigation. His traditional labor practice extends nationwide and includes employers in the manufacturing, media, retail, telecommunications, oil and gas, private equity, transportation, health care, and construction industries. Representative clients include American Commercial Lines, Arctic Glacier, Brockway-Moran & Partners, Continental Tire, Continental Automotive, General Mills, Jeffboat, Edw. C. Levy Company, Northstar Aerospace, PotashCorp, Resilience Capital Partners, Tetra Pak International, Verizon Communications, Verizon Wireless, Wal-Mart Stores, and The Washington Post.

Brian's practice also includes trial and appellate litigation of employment disputes, including representing employers in employment litigation before the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and District of Columbia Circuit Courts of Appeals and U.S. District Courts in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, California, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, North Carolina, and South Carolina. He also represents employers in class action litigation pertaining to wage and hour compliance, employee benefits, affirmative action, and other employment issues. In addition to his litigation practice, he counsels employers regarding labor and employment issues, including hiring issues, compensation and benefit practices, reductions in force, mergers and acquisitions, employment and severance agreements, wage and hour compliance, occupational safety, and other labor and employment issues.

Brian is a member of the American Bar Association (Labor and Employment Section and the subcommittees on Practice and Procedure Under the NLRA, Development of the Law Under the NLRA, Employee Rights and Responsibilities, and Employee Benefits), the State Bar of Illinois, The Chicago Bar Association (Labor and Employment Section), and the State Bar of Texas (Labor and Employment Section). Brian is board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Brian is a frequent author and lecturer on employment-related issues. He is a contributing author to the labor treatises The Developing Labor Law and How to Take a Case Before the NLRB and to the employment law treatise Texas Employment Law. He has spoken on such diverse topics as the Americans with Disabilities Act, employment discrimination, religious discrimination and accommodation, sexual harassment, affirmative action, wage and hour compliance, the Family and Medical Leave Act, federal recordkeeping requirements, and union avoidance programs.

Areas of Practice

• Labor & Employment
• Global Infrastructure
• Collective Bargaining, Contract Enforcement & Union Organizing
• Employment Aspects of Corporate Transactions
• European Labor Law
• NLRB Proceedings & Appeals

Representative Cases

• Albertson's negotiates industrywide multi-employer collective bargaining agreement , (2009)
• Alderwoods negotiates collective bargaining agreements involving more than 20 Chicago facilities
• Alderwoods successfully defends against union organizing petition
• American Commercial Lines defends against suit alleging violations under LMRA and ERISA
• Arctic Glacier acquires Koldkist Pacific Cold Storage, and K, H & P , (2009)
• Arctic Glacier acquires operations of Kar Ice , (2009)
• Arctic Glacier acquires Tropic Ice Partners
• BOC Group settles favorably in ERISA class action
• Bridgestone/Firestone defends against NLRB case involving withdrawal of recognition of union
• Bridgestone/Firestone negotiates collective bargaining and strike activity with union
• Bridgestone/Firestone negotiates final settlement with USWA and dismisses unfair labor practice charges
• Bulkmatic Transport opposes nationwide union organizing drive by Teamsters
• Clearlight Cream sells Bocchi Laboratories , (2009)
• Clearlight Cream sells Medicia Corporation , (2009)
• Continental Tire appeals judgment compelling arbitration of employee grievances , (2009)
• Continental Tire is successful against unfair labor practice charge
• Continental Tire obtains preliminary approval in settlement in ERISA class action
• Continental Tire obtains reaches favorable settlement in case asserting claims under ERISA
• Continental Tire successfully defends against unfair labor practice charges , (2009)
• Continental Tire successfully opposes organizing efforts by union , (2009)
• Encyclopedia Britannica defeats injunction motion in former officer's ERISA action
• Federated sells Bridal Group division to Leonard Green and The Men's Wearhouse
• International Steel Group seeks labor advice in acquisition of certain steel manufacturing and related facilities
• Jeffboat, a subsidiary of American Commercial Lines, successfully negotiates with Teamsters Local 89 , (2009)
• Kaiser Aluminum negotiates various aspects of labor matters in bankruptcy
• LTV Corp negotiates labor benefits with the USWA
• Mahle GmbH acquires Siemens VDO Automotive's air intake module and air filtration business , (2009)
• Matsu acquires Morton Metalcraft , (2009)
• National telecommunications company seeks union organizing advice under a Neutrality and Card Check Agreement
• Northstar Aerospace negotiates labor issues and nine-month strike by the IEU workers
• Parallel acquires Mealey’s Furniture and Mattress , (2009)
• Patriarch Partners recapitalizes Dura Automotive , (2010)
• Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company acquires SPi Technologies for $158 million , (2009)
• Prairie Material Sales acquired by Votorantim Cimentos North America , (2009)
• Resilience Capital sells business unit of ASC Signal Corporation , (2009)
• Tetra Pak successfully opposed organizing efforts by USW in Texas , (2009)
• The Levy Company wins summary judgment in collective bargaining agreement dispute with Union
• Verizon defends against labor arbitrations involving contract administration and enforcement with the IBEW and CWA , (2009)
• Victor Acquisition Corp., an affiliate of Resilience Capital Partners, acquires substantially all of the assets of Victor Oolitic Stone Company in a 363 sale , (2009)
• Wabash seeks labor advice in acquisition of 31 facilities from Fruehauf Trailer Corp.
• Wasserstein & Co. sells Meyer Material Company to Aggregate Industries , (2009)
• Westinghouse Government Services obtains injunction to settle strike
• Westinghouse wins summary judgment in FLSA collective action alleging misclassification of supervisory employees
• Woodward Governor acquires MPC Products for $383 million , (2009)
• Woodward Governor sells Woodward HRT, Inc. Fuel and Pneumatics product line to TransDigm

West Practice Categories

Collective Bargaining, Employment Law -- Employee, Employment Law -- Employer, International Law, Labor Arbitration, Labor Disputes, Labor Law, Labor Legislation, Labor Relations Boards & Proceedings, Unfair Labor Practices, Unions, Wage & Hour Laws, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act

Bar Admissions

• Illinois
• Texas

Education

• U of Dallas
• U of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Published Works

• Labor & Employment Alert: New Process Steel, L.P. v. NLRB: Supreme Court Invalidates Hundreds of Decisions Issued by Two-Member Board, 2010
• Labor & Employment Alert: Federal Government Contractors Must Post Notice of Employee Rights to Organize, 2010
• Is Coordinating Medicare-Based Benefits with Retiree Medical-Plan Benefits a Form of Age Discrimination?, 2007
• Kentucky River Trilogy: Recent NLRB Decisions Clarify the Definition of the Term “Supervisor” Under the NLRA, 2006
• The Developing Labor Law, contributing editor, 1999
• Texas Employment Law, contributing author, 1998
• Creating a Records Management Program, Employee Relations Bulletin, 1996

Address

77 West Wacker
Chicago, IL 60601-1692

Phones

1.312.269.4230 (Business Phone)

Faxes

1.312.782.8585 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.jonesday.com