Labor Department Official Resigns Amid Possible Ethics Probe (1)
Source: Bloomberg Law
News
Labor Department Official Resigns Amid Possible Ethics Probe (1)
Posted April 8, 2019, 9:54 AM Updated April 8, 2019, 2:30 PM
* DOL official worked on lawsuit against union after joining agency
* House Democrats sought more information
A Labor Department official who continued legal work against an Ironworkers' union after joining the agency has stepped down from his post in the face of ethics questions.
Associate Deputy Labor Secretary Michael Avakian resigned effective April 5, a Labor Department official told Bloomberg Law. The move comes less than one month after Bloomberg Law reported that Avakian was briefly suspended following an ethics inquiry.
Avakian's resignation also comes after House Democrats requested information about his work on the lawsuit for more than three months after joining the DOL last year. Lawmakers have voiced concern that Avakian may have been working on union-related policy work at the same time he was representing D5 Iron Works Inc. in the lawsuit against an Ironworkers local union in Indiana.
Avakian filed two motions on behalf of D5 Iron Works Inc. and participated in a pair of conference calls with the judge in the case after joining the department last April. He was suspended without pay for two weeks last year for exercising "bad judgment," a DOL spokeswoman previously told Bloomberg Law.
Labor Department officials determined that Avakian didn't use government resources for the case and didn't "knowingly" violate "a criminal statute or particular ethics rule," the department spokeswoman said. Instead, he misunderstood what ethics officials meant when they instructed Avakian to "wrap up" his work on the case.
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To contact the reporter on this story: Tyrone Richardson in Washington at trichardson@bloomberglaw.com
Read more: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/labor-department-official-resigns-amid-possible-ethics-probe-1-6
Hat tip, Joe.My.God.: https://www.joemygod.com/2019/04/top-labor-dept-official-resigns-amid-ethics-probe/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Wimberly, Lawson, Steckel, Schneider & Stine has established an affiliated office in Washington DC. Its principal is Michael Avakian, a member of the Georgia and DC Bar Associations. The new office operates under the name of Wimberly, Lawson and Avakian.
Michael has been recognized as a public policy expert in labor law by the Heritage Foundation, a public policy research institution, and has appeared on the NBC TODAY SHOW, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, NIGHTWATCH, MCNEIL LEHRER NEWSHOUR, CNN NEWS and on radio shows nationwide. Mr. Avakian has been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, People Magazine, the Daily Labor Reporter, and many other newspapers on labor topics. He contributed to Agenda ’82 and Mandate II in recommending policy proposals for the National Labor Relations Board, Federal Labor Relations Authority, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Department of Labor.
He received his undergraduate degree from St. Lawrence University, holds a Juris Doctor degree from Potomac Law School, and a Master of Laws degree in Labor Law from the Georgetown University Law Center. He is a retired Colonel in the Army Reserves, is also Counsel to the Center on National Labor Policy, Inc., a non-profit legal foundation chartered to protect individual rights in the field of labor relations. In this capacity, he directs the legal program of the Center in federal and state trial and appellate courts as well as in federal and state administrative proceedings.
Michael has practiced law for over 30 years specializing in representing management while litigating cases under the ADA, ADEA, Davis-Bacon Act, NLRA, Service Contract Act, Sherman Act, and Title VII. His NLRB experience includes filing and litigating unfair labor practice charges, petitioning the NLRB’s General Counsel to issue complaints, and submitting Requests for Review of Regional Action before the Full Board in Washington, D.C.
We are very pleased to have Michael affiliated with us and available to work with our clients as needed. He may be contacted at:
{Snip. Yeah, I'm leaving that out.}
riiiiight...
here's your Labor Department under this administration.
