Event
Michael Sullivan, chair of the firm's Labor & Employment Group, will be the headline speaker for the Alliance of Public Charter School Attorneys' conference being held September 11-12, 2014.
At 9:45 a.m. on September 11, 2014, Mike will present the "Supreme Court Update: What Does Noel Canning Mean for Charter Schools?"
In June 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court decided National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, finding the Obama Administration inappropriately made “recess” appointments to the
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This decision opened up the possibility that decisions previously rendered by the “improperly” constituted NLRB might no longer be valid. This Supreme Court decision may seem distant for charter school attorneys and operators – but it isn’t.
In December 2012 this very same “improperly” constituted NLRB decided a case about a Chicago-based charter school employer, ruling that the charter school operator, a CMO, was not a political subdivision under the Hawkins test. Therefore it was subject to the National Labor Relations Act, instead of Illinois state labor law. At the time, this was hailed a very favorable outcome for not only the charter school operator in question but also for the charter school community nationally. Now, however, with the Court’s Canning decision, we may be back in unsettled legal territory…or, are we?
Mike Sullivan and Jon Klinghoffer authored an amicus curiae brief for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools in the Chicago Mathematics & Science Academy Charter School, Inc. case that confirmed the National Labor Relations Board's jurisdiction over charter schools. The future of that decision's holding after Noel Canning is in question, and Mike has been asked to guide charter schools through the resulting, complicated decision tree for schools who are being organized by labor unions.
The Fall 2014 Alliance of Public Charter School Attorneys' seminar will be held at the DoubleTree Suites in Santa Monica, California. Other session topics include:
