President Obama Appoints IIT Chicago-Kent Professor Martin H. Malin to the Federal Services Impasses Panel

Announcing the FSIP appointments, President Obama said, "This group brings a dedication and expertise in their fields that will serve this administration and the American people well. As we work to advance equal rights, keep our nation safe and put our country back on a path to prosperity, I look forward to working with these fine individuals in the months and years ahead."

The Federal Service Impasses Panel is the agency that intervenes when an agency of the federal government and a union representing that agency’s employees are unable to reach agreement on the terms of their new collective bargaining agreement under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute and the Federal Employees Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules Act. If bargaining between the parties, followed by mediation assistance, is unsuccessful, the FSIP has the authority to recommend procedures and to take whatever action it deems necessary to resolve the impasse. The seven FSIP members are presidential appointees who serve on a part-time basis.

"All of the members of the panel are highly regarded labor relations professionals and neutrals. I am excited and humbled by the opportunity to serve and am looking forward to the challenges ahead," said Professor Malin.

A member of the Chicago-Kent faculty since 1980, Professor Malin teaches courses in labor law, collective bargaining, arbitration, public sector labor law, employment law, contracts and jurisprudence. He has published five books, including Public Sector Employment: Cases and Materials (West 2004), the leading law school casebook on public sector labor law. Professor Malin has also written more than 60 articles on labor law and dispute resolution.

In 1996, Professor Malin established the Institute for Law and the Workplace, a national center for research, training, dialogue, and reflection on the law that governs the workplace. The institute serves as an intellectual home for the labor and employment law community, both in the Chicago area and nationwide.

An active arbitrator and mediator since 1984, Professor Malin recently completed a three-year term on the National Academy of Arbitrators’ board of governors and is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. He also serves on the Executive Committee of The Labor Law Group and is a past chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law.

During the mid 1980s, Professor Malin served as a consultant to Illinois’ public employment labor boards and drafted the regulations implementing Illinois’ newly-enacted public sector labor relations acts. From 2004 to 2008, he served as reporter for the Association of Labor Relations Agencies’ Neutrality Project. Professor Malin was the principal drafter of the association’s Neutrality Report, a mini-treatise on labor board and mediation agency impartiality.

Professor Malin joined the Chicago-Kent faculty in 1980 after teaching at Ohio State University and serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert E. DeMascio, United States District Judge, Eastern District of Michigan. He received his B.A. from Michigan State University's James Madison College and his J.D. from George Washington University, where he was an editor of the law review and a member of Order of the Coif.

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