John S.F. Gross is an attorney in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Mr. Gross’ practice focuses on advising clients in all areas of labor and employment law, including litigation, mediation and arbitration, compliance with the Railway Labor Act (RLA) and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), administrative investigations and proceedings, collective bargaining negotiations, union organizing campaigns, union representation disputes/elections, and labor issues in mergers and asset acquisitions, including seniority integration.
He also has substantial experience representing employers in labor arbitrations, and handling all phases of NLRB unfair labor practice and representation matters. Mr. Gross has particular expertise in the RLA, the federal statute governing labor-management relations in the airline and railroad industries. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Gross spent over 18 years with American Airlines, Inc., serving in various in-house labor counsel positions.
In his most recent role as American’s chief labor and employment counsel, Mr. Gross successfully managed the labor restructurings at American Airlines and American Eagle in AMR’s recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization (achieving approximately $1 billion in labor cost savings). In addition, he had significant involvement in all major labor matters related to American’s subsequent merger with US Airways.
In his in-house roles, Mr. Gross gained significant experience across the entire spectrum of airline labor issues, including negotiations and mediation, arbitration, union representation disputes, strike contingency planning and preparations, employee job actions, labor injunction proceedings, and Presidential Emergency Boards.
In addition, he represented American Airlines and American Eagle in numerous employee discipline and contract interpretation arbitration matters; conducted training in the areas of labor arbitration, the RLA, National Mediation Board (NMB) processes and proceedings, employer interactions with employee committees in the non-union setting, collective bargaining negotiations, union organizing campaigns, NMB representation disputes, and various statutory reporting requirements.
Mr. Gross began his legal career as an attorney with the NLRB (Region 34), where he (among other responsibilities) represented the General Counsel in unfair labor practice hearings and injunction proceedings in federal district court, investigated and negotiated settlements of unfair labor practices cases, presided as hearing officer in representation case hearings, and conducted representation elections.
Education:
- J.D., Catholic University of America – Columbus School of Law, 1989
- M.I.L.R., Master’s Degree in Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, 1986
- B.A., College of the Holy Cross, 1984
Admissions:
- Connecticut
- District of Columbia
- Texas
Cost
Rate : $$$