President Barack Obama Reappoints IIT Chicago-Kent Professor Martin H. Malin To Federal Service Impasses Panel

Professor Martin H. Malin, director of IIT Chicago-Kent’s Institute for Law and the Workplace, has been re-appointed by President Barack Obama as a member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP). Malin was first appointed to the FSIP in 2009.

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.

“Serving on the FSIP has been a privilege and a pleasure,” said Malin. “For me it has been a great way to use my expertise to serve our country. My colleagues on the panel and our staff are tremendous, and I really enjoy working with diverse parties and assisting them in resolving their impasses.”

A member of the IIT Chicago-Kent faculty since 1980, Malin teaches courses in labor law, collective bargaining, arbitration, public sector labor law, employment law, contracts and jurisprudence. He has published six books, including Public Sector Employment: Cases and Materials (West 2011), the leading law school casebook on public sector labor law. Malin has also written more than 70 articles on labor law and dispute resolution.

In 1996, 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, Malin served on the National Academy of Arbitrators’ board of governors and on the executive committee of the Labor Law Group. A fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, he currently serves on its board of governors. Malin also serves as secretary of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law and is a past chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law.

During the mid 1980s, 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. Malin was the principal drafter of the association’s Neutrality Report, a mini-treatise on labor board and mediation agency impartiality.

Malin joined the IIT 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 completed his undergraduate education at Michigan State University’s James Madison College. Malin received his J.D. from George Washington University, where he was an editor of the law review and a member of Order of the Coif.