Michael P. Ellement

Michael Ellement believes in standing up for workers who are mistreated, and defending their right to organize for change in the workplace.

Michael Ellement represents workers and their unions in a variety of matters. He is an experienced litigator who has represented clients at arbitration, before administrative agencies, before a jury at trial, and on appeal. He has briefed and argued precedent-setting cases across the country in state courts, federal trial courts, and federal appellate circuits.

He also has extensive experience providing advice and negotiating settlement agreements prior to litigation, including in cases involving unlawful discrimination, harassment, pay inequity, and whistleblower retaliation. He has advised unions on a number of internal matters, including contract bargaining and governance.

Prior to joining James & Hoffman, Mr. Ellement was an Associate at Bernabei & Kabat, PLLC where he represented clients in employment and civil rights matters.  Before that, he served as an attorney with the National Labor Relations Board in the Office of General Counsel where he focused on trial and appellate litigation.  Directly following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, in New Orleans.

Mr. Ellement is an accomplished author and legal scholar in the areas of labor and employment law, constitutional law, election law, and civil rights litigation. His work has appeared in a number of prominent legal journals, and has been cited in journal articles, policy papers, legal briefs, and textbooks.

Mr. Ellement received his J.D. from the Catholic University of America, where he was a member of the school’s Law Review and its Trial and Moot Court teams.  He is also a graduate of Siena College, where he was awarded Siena’s two highest student honors after working to make Siena one of the first Fair Trade Colleges in the country.

Representative matters:

• Represented workers in securing a preliminary injunction requiring certain McDonald’s restaurants to improve their COVID-19 safety measures under the public nuisance doctrine (Massey v. McDonald’s (Ill. Cir. Ct. 2020)).
• Represented teacher’s union in obtaining order that school district must bargain over health and safety matters during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequently represented union in collective bargaining negotiations and in reaching agreements for safety protections during the return to in-person learning.
• Represented dozens of federal and state government employees in several collective action cases alleging violations of overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act, including successfully negotiating settlements.