Overview
(March 1, 2019, Phoenix, AZ) — Steptoe Phoenix partner Steve Wheeless has been named to The National Law Journal's list of Trailblazers in Employment. The list is featured in a supplement in the March issue of the legal publication.
Wheeless leads the firm's Labor & Employment Group and serves as national outside labor counsel for the world's largest private employer. Wheeless has litigated more than 2,000 unfair labor practice allegations, making employer-friendly law at trial before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regions in every part of the country from initial investigation to oral argument, and in the federal appellate courts.
Wheeless continues to lead a dedicated trial and appellate team in a ground-breaking proceeding before the NLRB that will determine what, if any, protections apply to the one-day strike tactic currently used by union-backed "work center" organizing campaigns in America.
In addition, Wheeless is taking the lead on two other precedent-setting labor issues that will affect the entire American private sector workforce: whether the National Labor Relations Act gives employees and their union or community allies the right to stage disruptive demonstrations inside an employer's facility and wear large and distracting union or work-center paraphernalia during work time.
Wheeless also continues to lead a nationwide effort to address union trespass tactics involving coordinated facility invasions by massed demonstrators at scores of locations across the country; resulting in preliminary and permanent injunctions from numerous state courts notwithstanding union arguments of federal pre-emption, free speech rights, and prohibitions on labor injunctions.
Wheeless recently led the legal efforts that resulted in the expansion of voting units during a union petition campaign that directly influenced the outcome of the elections. He represents multinational employers in labor-related litigation and collective bargaining in the aviation, trucking, grocery, food processing, and retail industries as well as providing support to NGO organizations dealing with union relationships.
Wheeless serves as the immediate past management chair of the American Bar Association's only substantive labor law committee (Committee on the Developing Labor Law). He is one of six associate editors of the seminal treatise on labor law in America (The Developing Labor Law).
Wheeless established Steptoe's Labor & Employment Blog, which provides guidance and timely updates to employers on key HR topics.
Prior to joining the firm, Wheeless served as a US Air Force F-16 instructor pilot and a diplomatic exchange officer to the Royal Danish Air Force.
About Steptoe
In more than 100 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.