Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Thomas Lenz is a partner in the Cerritos office of Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud and Romo and heads the firm's Traditional Labor Law Department.  

In a practice that emphasizes labor-management relations and the National Labor Relations Board, Mr. Lenz works with employers in all major industries.  He brings practical experience to advice, training, and representation of employers in unfair labor practice cases; representation election cases; union organizing campaigns including corporate campaigns and salting; collective bargaining; picketing; strikes; and related litigation.

Mr. Lenz was recently named to the “Top One Hundred Labor Attorneys in the United States for 2008” by Labor Relations Institute, Inc., a leading industry information source. Inclusion on the list puts him in the top one percent of labor attorneys in the U.S., making him one of the most active attorneys representing companies in National Labor Relations Board-monitored elections.

NLRB Experience
Before joining the firm he practiced law with National Labor Relations Board, Region 21 in Los Angeles where the majority of his cases required fluency in the Spanish language.   He received a formal commendation from NLRB's General Counsel for his performance.  While at the National Labor Relations Board, Mr. Lenz handled many cases of significance which included:

• investigation of numerous unfair labor practice charges at the heart of the SEIU Union’s “Justice for Janitors” campaign which changed the face of labor relations and union organizing nationally;

• successful prosecution of allegations involving protected concerted activity discharges, where non-union employees faced repercussion for strike activity; and

• successful prosecution of a labor union for causing the discriminatory discharge of employees who were members of a sister local.

AALRR Experience
Since joining Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, Mr. Lenz has played a leading role in precedent setting cases and rulings of broad impact which include:

• successful representation of the country’s largest foreign language newspaper where an NLRB election was voided based on union misconduct, as the union’s campaign spawned from the efforts of pro-union company supervisors;

• successful defense of “refusal to bargain” charges and an award of attorneys fees from the NLRB, after NLRB and a union claimed that a construction contractor, whose employees opposed union representation, had to remain unionized---the ruling caused NLRB to announce internal policy changes;

• successful closure of hundreds of NLRB “salting” charges and campaigns while avoiding litigation;

• successful litigation to declare a construction employer’s collective bargaining agreement terminated and a unionized employer “non-union”;

• successful litigation for a warehousing and trucking employer to secure rarely-available injunctive relief against a union for strike and picketing misconduct, despite recently enacted anti-injunction legislation enacted in 2000;

• successful bad faith bargaining charges and litigation against unions seeking to force terms on employers through negotiations, joint adjustment boards, and court actions;

• successful defense of a refusal to bargain claim seeking to force a nursing home employer to sign a contract when the employer contended no final agreement was reached - the union’s proven lack of credibility weighted heavily in our client’s favor; and

• successful “amicus” support of litigation to limit expansion of prevailing wage laws for construction projects in California “charter cities”.

Litigation and case results have value in many instances.  On a day to day basis smooth business operations, profitability, and avoiding the pitfalls of litigation generate even greater value to our employer clients.  On a daily basis, Mr. Lenz handles a multitude of labor and employment law questions, NLRB investigations, intricate labor law compliance issues flowing from union organizing and “salting” campaigns, collective bargaining negotiations, and grievance issues.  Mr. Lenz is frequently consulted for pro-active and forward-thinking strategic advice in these areas.  Believing that prevention is better than cure, Mr. Lenz spends extensive time with clients for advice on compliance and training.  The practice of labor law moves at the speed of business.  Quick action and responsiveness are fundamental elements of Mr. Lenz’s success. He serves as counsel to the Associated Builders and Contractors on local, state, and national levels. 

Mr. Lenz is a frequent author and speaker, and regularly consulted by the media as an expert on labor and employment law topics.  He is active in IRRA and ABA committees on labor-management relations and labor law practice.  He is also a contributing editor to the seminal labor law treatise, “The Developing Labor Law,” where he addresses employers’ successorship obligations, which flow from corporate changes affecting unionized workplaces.

While in college, Mr. Lenz participated in international study programs during college (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain) and law school (Universite de Aix en Provence, France).  He is licensed to practice law in California and Illinois, all California federal courts, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. 

Areas of Practice

• Employment Law

West Practice Categories

Employment Law -- Employer, Labor Law

Bar Admissions

• California
• Illinois
• U.S. Supreme Court

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Board member and past President, Marquette University Alumni Club of Southern California.
• Active member, Associated Builders and Contractors, throughout California, which serves construction and related industries with services including educational and training programs. Board member, Ora

Education

• Louisiana State University
  J.D.
• Marquette University
  B.A.

Published Works

• NLRB Issues Long-Awaited Ruling on Workplace Email Use
• Project Labor Agreement Struck Down By NLRB, 2007
• New Standard for Backpay in Salting Cases May Reduce Recoveries and Increase Litigation, 2007
• Construction Unions Take Steps to Reduce Turf Wars, 2007
• Through the Legal Lenz, 2006
• National Labor Relations Board Clarifies What it Means to Be a Supervisor Under National Labor Relations Act, 2006
• 9th Circuit Reverses Itself; Restricts Employers from Speaking Out Against Union Organizing, 2006
• California Construction Union Labor Agreements Set To Expire In 2006, 2006
• California Supreme Court Overturns Court of Appeal’s Expansion of Prevailing Wage Laws, 2004

Address

12800 Center Court Drive, Suite 300
Cerritos, CA 90703

Phones

(562) 653-3200 (Business Phone)
(714) 826-5480 (Other Phone)

Faxes

(562) 653-3333 (Business Fax)

Emails

Contact Us (Business Email)

Websites

http://www.aalrrlaw.com