Ellen Kearns

Practice Areas

-Labor and Employment

-Employment Litigation Prevention & Defense

-Labor Relations

-Wage and Hour Compliance & Litigation

Career

Ellen represents management in a full range of traditional labor and employment issues, including NLRB proceedings, negotiations, and arbitration. Ellen has obtained injunctions in labor disputes, and has resolved strike issues. She has appeared before federal and state courts and administrative agencies with respect to employment discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge cases, wage and hour matters, and other employment related litigation. Ellen is recognized nationally for her wage and hour expertise, having served as Editor-in-Chief of the first, second and third editions of the ABA/BNA Treatise, The Fair Labor Standards Act.

Professional Memberships

-Former member of the American Bar Association's Labor & Employment Law Section Council

-Past chair of the ABA's Federal Labor Standards Committee

-Former chair of the Boston Bar Association's Labor & Employment Law Section

-Former member of the Labor & Employment Law Council, Massachusetts Bar Association

-Admitted to the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers in 2003

-Section liaison to the ABA Commission on the Status of Women

-Elected chair of the Reading Municipal Light Department's board of commissioners, as the first woman to hold that office in the Light Board's 102 year history

-Member of the Board of Trustees of Regis College

Publications

-"Labor and Employment Law on the Line - An Interview with Ellen Kearns," The BNA Books Monitor, Volume 3 Issue 1, March 2011

-"2005 May Bring Changes To The Federal Minimum Wage," College of Labor & Employment Law, Spring Newsletter, 2005

-"A New Standard to Determine Joint Employer Status,” Bender's Labor and Employment Bulletin, April 2004

-"The Legal Implications of Non-Traditional Employment Relationships in the Healthcare Industry," American Health Lawyers Association, 2003

Education

Awards