Todd Lyon is a partner in the firm's Portland and Seattle offices and co-chair of the firm's Labor Relations Practice Group. He has been a labor lawyer for over 20 years, representing public and private sector employers in labor negotiations, collective bargaining, grievance and interest arbitrations, strikes/lockouts, relocation and closures, work jurisdiction disputes, and other litigation involving employment law and benefits. Todd has also successfully litigated before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and state labor boards in both representation and unfair labor practice hearings.

He has developed and implemented union awareness, strike operations and impasse contingency plans.  He regularly assists clients in responding to union organizing campaigns and developing labor strategies to avoid campaigns altogether. This work includes successfully defending against multi-site organizing blitzes and card-check neutrality campaigns.

Todd formerly represented labor organizations in both Chicago and Seattle. Drawing from this union-side experience Todd provides a unique perspective to the advantage of his employer clients. Due to his experience in representing parties on both sides of the labor spectrum, the American Arbitration Association has certified him as an Employment Law Arbitrator to adjudicate employment disputes.

Todd is a skilled negotiator who bargains pro-employer collective bargaining agreements. He has negotiated dozens of labor agreements for employers, covering construction, aerospace, manufacturing, warehousing, food processing, cannabis, transportation, hospitality, healthcare and public sector employers. He regularly assists clients with the interpretation of collective bargaining agreements and disciplinary matters so as to avoid grievances. However, if the grievance is advanced to arbitration, Todd has conducted hundreds of arbitration hearings with superior results concerning virtually every aspect of contract interpretation, discipline, union security, and interest arbitration.

Additionally, Todd has led management training sessions focused on investigating disciplinary misconduct, effective discipline, union awareness, responding to grievances, contract interpretation, and employment discrimination.

Todd is a regular speaker at industry conferences, continuing legal education programs, universities, law schools, and client training programs. An avid researcher and writer, Todd’s work has appeared in various labor publications. For example, since 1998, he has been a Chapter Editor of The Developing Labor Law, the nation's leading labor law treatise. Todd has also served as a Chapter Editor for Oregon's public sector labor law treatise, Labor and Employment Law: Public Sector.

Representative Work

Honors & Awards

• Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America (2021)
• National Public Employer Labor Relations Association’s 2017 Pacesetter Award
• Listed in Oregon Super Lawyers Magazine, Rising Star (2011-2012); Super Lawyer (2013 - 2018)
• Received AV ® Preeminent™ rating by his legal peers at Martindale-Hubbell
• 2016 Oregon Public Employer Labor Relations Association Pacesetter Award

Professional Activities

• President, Labor and Employment Relations Association – Oregon Chapter (2015-2016); Board member (2010-2017)
• Faculty Member & Employment Law Arbitrator, American Arbitration Association – Employment Law
• General Counsel, Oregon Public Employer Labor Relations Association (2016-2017); Vice President (2011-2016)
• Opinion Evaluation Committee Co-Chair (2012); Rule Advisory Committee Member (2012-2017), State of Oregon Employment Relations Board

Community Activities

• Classroom Law Project – Board of Directors (2012 - 2015)
• Oregon High School Regional & State Mock Trial Judge (2008 - 2017)
• Rose Villa Foundation, Inc. – President (2013-2015); Vice President (2012-2013); Board of Directors (2009-2015)

News

Seminars & Speaking Engagements

• Labor Arbitration Advocacy: Case Preparation - American Arbitration Association University - Seattle, WA
  2014
• Case Law Update - BOLI's 30th Annual Employment Law Conference - Portland, OR
  2014
• Elementary, My Dear Watson: Investigations of Employee Complaints & Misconduct – Barran Liebman Central Oregon Breakfast Seminar - Bend, OR
  2014
• Public Sector Labor Law: Reform or Attack? - Labor and Employment Relations Association 66th Annual Meeting - Portland, OR
  2014
• Can You Hear Me Now? Communications with Unions – National Public Employer Labor Relations Association’s Annual Training Conference ­Scottsdale, AZ
  2014
• In Employment Law, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished - Oregon Public Risk Management Association's Spring Meeting
  2014
• Discipline: The Struggle for an Appropriate Level - University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center, Public Employment Relations Conference
  2014
• Labor & Employment Law - Guest Lecturer for Employment Law I, Lewis & Clark Law School
  2013
• 2013 Labor Grievance Advocacy Program - American Arbitration Association University - Honolulu, HI
  2013
• Public Service Without Public Servants, Panel Member - National Academy of Arbitrators, Annual Meeting - Vancouver, BC
  2013

Articles

• Public Service Without Public Servants," Arbitration 2013: A Tale of Two Countries, Proceedings of the 66th Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Arbitrators
• "Privatize Public Sector, Bridge a Gap," Daily Journal of Commerce
  4.26.13
• Quoted in "Union Presents List of Demands Including Higher Wages, More Vacation," Statesman Journal
  2.22.13
• "Public Sector Employee Strikes and Interest Arbitration: As American as Baseball and Air Traffic Controllers?" Daily Journal of Commerce
  September 28, 2012
• "Public Sector Labor Relations: Oregon," XpertHR.com
  July 2012
• "Union Organization and Labor Relations: Oregon," XpertHR.com
  July 2012
• "Examining the Changes in Public Sector Bargaining Statutes," Cascade Business News
  6.12.12
• "The Developing Labor Law," Chapter Editor
  1998-2017
• "Oregon Labor and Employment Law: Public Sector," Oregon State Bar Chapter Editor
  2012
• "Union Does: The AMA, the HMOs, and Physicians' Rights to Collectively Bargain," Illinois Bar Journal
  2001

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