Overview
Dina Kolker focuses on public sector labor relations, working with some of New York City's most significant public employee unions, including United Federation of Teachers, Association of Legislative Employees, Council of School Supervisors & Administrators, and the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Union, Local 831 IBT, as well as the New York City Municipal Labor Committee, a consortium of the City's municipal unions, and their affiliated welfare funds. She has represented clients in negotiations, arbitrations, administrative proceedings, and litigation in a variety of areas in both state and federal court, including labor, employment, contract, pension issues, and constitutional rights. She has been involved in various collective bargaining-related matters, including binding and non-binding contract arbitration pursuant to the Taylor Law and related court proceedings. She also advises clients regarding internal union governance and compliance with applicable federal laws. Dina is a frequent speaker on public sector labor matters.
Dina has been recognized by Chambers USA as a leader in Labor & Employment in New York. "Dina has deep experience at the bargaining table and in court pressing the rights of unions and workers, focusing on new and novel issues. She is a creative and nuanced problem solver," a source reported to Chambers.
- New York
- US District Court, Southern District of New York
- US District Court, Eastern District of New York
- US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- Hon. Brian M. Cogan, US District Court, Eastern District of New York, 2006-2007
- J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2003
- B.S., Cornell University, 2000, Industrial and Labor Relations
Representative Matters
- Representing a new union of legislative employees in its historic effort to organize employees of the New York City Council, successfully forming the largest union of legislative employees in the country.
- Guiding the unions representing pedagogues and administrators, among others, in the City school district through every stage of the COVID pandemic.
- Representing administrators in community based-publicly funded early education programs who are predominantly women of color in seeking pay parity with their less diverse district counterparts.
- Defending unions in the education sphere from a coordinated effort to defund them by seeking retroactive recovery of agency fees in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Janus case.
- Representing one of the City’s largest municipal union in contract arbitrations and related mediation and administrative proceedings.
- Representing the municipal union umbrella organization in various health benefits and collective bargaining related matters.
- Successfully representing a coalition of unions, community groups, parents and elected officials in challenging the improper closure of schools in violation of provisions of the State Education law.
- Representing a class of some 48,000 current and former public employees and their unions challenging systemic inaccuracies in the calculation of pension benefits amounting to more than $160 million over the course of decades.
- Successfully representing a municipal union in its contract arbitration seeking to enforce contractual workplace assignment seniority rules in the context of the unprecedented influx of demoted long-time managerial staff.
News & Publications
Press Releases
Steptoe Announces Lawsuit Brought on Behalf of the United Federation of Teachers
January 5, 2024
Noteworthy
- City & State, Law Power 100 (2023)
- Crain's, Notable Women In Law (2022-2023)
- Chambers USA, Labor and Employment, New York (2023-2024)
- Legal Writing Award, The Burton Awards, a nonprofit program associated with the Library of Congress (2020)
- The Legal 500, United States (2023)
- Benchmark Litigation, Future Star (2017)
- Super Lawyers, Rising Star (2013-2016)
- Super Lawyers Magazine, New York Metro Super Lawyers (2013)
Authored Articles
- "'Jab or Job': Where Are We on Vaccine Mandate Litigation?" New York Law Journal, January 19, 2022
- "BLM Mask Cases May Shape Activist Free Expression At Work," Law360, August 2, 2021
- "Religious Schools Get Public Funds Yet Discrimination Pass," Law360, June 22, 2021
- "Public Employee Speech in a Pandemic," Employee Relations Law Journal, January 4, 2021
- "Public Sector Unions Can Survive Janus," ABA Journal of Labor & Employment Law., October 2020
- "A Legislative Storm Is Brewing Over NYC 'Rainy Day' Fund," Law360, March 4, 2020
- "For Public Employees, Speech Is Free, But Is Anyone Listening?" Employee Relations Law Journal, May 2019
Media Mentions
- "Union Workers Sue to Stop NYC from Firing Unvaccinated Employees," New York Post, February 9, 2022
Speaking Engagements
- "COVID-19: Permanent Impact on the Public Sector Workforce," Cornell University, January 27, 2021
- "Janus & Beyond: The Future of Public Workers," The Murphy Institute for Labor Education and CUNY School of Professional Studies, New York, NY, July 26, 2018
- The Janus Workshop at The Worker Institute, New York, NY, May 24, 2018
- "The Future of Labor and Public Employment: Implications of Janus v. AFSCME, Part 2," New York, NY, April19, 2018
- "Labor Relations & Employment Law Committee Meeting," NYCLA, New York, NY, December 7, 2017
Professional Affiliations
- Honorary member, The Supreme Court Justices Association of the City of New York
- Honorary member, The Association of the Justices of the State of New York
- New York State Bar Association