Schuyler, Roche & Crisham, P.C. Large enough to to the job right, small enough to listen
 

Edward M. Graham
Partner

Edward Graham is a member of the labor and employment team at Schuyler, Roche & Crisham. He focuses on counseling management in labor and employment law, and prosecuting and defending labor and employment litigation.

In both federal and state courts, Ed has considerable litigation experience concerning claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful discharge and other claims arising under Title VII, ADEA, ADA, ERISA, FMLA, NLRA, WARN, the Illinois Human Rights Act, and other statutes. He also represents employers in proceedings before state and federal agencies under the National Labor Relations Act, the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, and the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act and has successfully argued appeals before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and Illinois appellate courts.

Ed regularly advises employers on a range of labor and employment issues, including discharge and discipline matters, harassment investigations, severance and separation agreements, collective bargaining agreements, drug testing, plant closings, subcontracting, strikes and picketing, and compliance with federal, state and local laws regarding civil rights and employment. He has been sole or lead counsel representing employers in numerous arbitrations concerning discipline, discharge, and contract interpretation issues.

In addition to his labor and employment concentration, Ed also has significant general litigation experience. He is part of a rapidly growing labor and employment practice at Schuyler, Roche & Crisham that is serving the needs of management both locally and nationwide.

Representative Experience

Labor and Employment Litigation:

  • Adkins v. Local 705 International Brotherhood of Teamsters Pension Fund, 787 F.Supp.2d 812 (N.D.Ill. 2011) (obtained summary judgment in favor of pension plan in ERISA action, upholding plan's decision to deny pension benefits to plaintiff, despite fact her employer mistakenly made contributions on her behalf during her employment, because she was not a covered employee who performed bargaining unit work, and rejecting plaintiff's alternative claim for "restitution" of the contributions under federal common law).
  • Beard v. Sprint Spectrum, LP, 359 Ill.App.3d 315, 833 N.E.2d 449 (3rd Dist. Ill. App. Ct., 2003) (argued appeal before the appellate court, which upheld the decision of the Illinois Department of Human Rights to dismiss charge that employer discharged former employee based on his arrest record in violation of 775 ILCS 5/2-103 and the Illinois Human Rights Act).
  • Zhou v. Guardian Life Ins. Co., 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21460 (N.D. Ill. 2001), aff'd 295 F.3d 677 (7th Cir. 2002) (obtained dismissal of provider's ERISA claims against insurance company in the district court based on his failure to exhaust administrative remedies and anti-assignment clause; argued subsequent appeal before the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed the district court's decision).
  • Zamani v. American Dental Association, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18510 (N.D. Ill., 1998) (obtained dismissal of Title VII, Section 1981 and 1983 claims, which alleged that professional association discriminated against plaintiff on the basis of national origin and prevented him from obtaining dental license; the court declined to exercise pendent state claims under Illinois Human Rights Act).
  • In re Albert Christian and Illinois State Board of Education, (Ill. Hum. Rts. Com'n, 2012) (ALJ Robinson) (obtained decision in favor of employer after administrative hearing which rejected former employee's claim that the employer failed to accommodate his alleged disabilities).

Labor and Employment Arbitrations:

  • In re Metropolitan Alliance of Police and Village of Orland Park, (Bierig, 2012) (employer did not violate collective bargaining agreement when it denied particular police officer's request for compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay or when it issued a blanket policy denying such requests, regardless of alleged pas practice, where provision governing compensatory time expressly required “mutual agreement”).
  • In re the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County and AFSCME Local 3486, (Cox, 2010) (employer did not violate “safety” provision of collective bargaining agreement when it refused to arm parole officers in the field).
  • In re Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois Federation of State Office Educators, 127 LA 891 (Wang, 2010) (upholding discharge of employee for failing to return from medical leave within one year, in violation of provisions governing leaves of absence).
  • In re Metropolitan Alliance of Police and Village of Orland Park, (Cox, 2009) (employer did not violate collective bargaining agreement when it refused to reimburse officers for fees and costs related to educational courses incurred during the negotiation of a new contract because the parties never agreed to apply educational reimbursement provisions in new contract retroactively).
  • In re Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois Federation of State Office Educators, (Yaeger, 2009) (upholding discharge of employee based on long record of poor performance).
  • In re Illinois State Board of Education and AFSCME, Council 31, Local 2811, (Grenig, 2008) (employer did not violate collective bargaining agreement when it gave employee a poor performance rating).

General Litigation:

  • Meyer and GMAC-Koenig & Strey (AAA Arbitration, Arbitrator Kent Lawrence, 2007) (homeowner did not owe broker's commission where ownership of listed home transferred to former spouse under terms of divorce decree; awarded attorneys' fees).
  • Illinois Dept. of Public Aid v. Victory Memorial Hospital (IDPA, 2005) (Department of Public Aid's claim to recover alleged overpayments from hospital were based on an improper statistical method and the Department's recovery was limited to only the actual hard dollar overpayments identified by hand in the sample audit the Department used for extrapolation in its statistical model, dramatically reducing the client's liability).
  • Hart v. Colgate, American Dental Association, Des Moines, Iowa (Iowa State Cir. Ct., 2000) (obtained summary judgment in favor of professional association on product liability and negligence claims over its “Seal of Approval” for tooth-whitening product).
  • Gray (Trimarco) v. ADA, et al. (Cook County Cir. Ct., 2000) (briefed and argued professional association's successive motions to dismiss class action complaints based on its “Seal of Approval” for toothbrushes and ultimately obtained a dismissal with prejudice at the pleading stage).
  • FTC v. California Dental Association (FTC 1996, 9th Cir. 1997, Supreme Court. 1999). (second chair in administrative trial before Federal Trade Commission on behalf of statewide professional association in which FTC alleged the association's Code of Ethics constituted a restraint of trade; participated in briefing subsequent appeals to Ninth circuit and United states Supreme Court, which reversed FTC's judgment and held that FTC and Ninth Circuit should have employed a more complete rule-of-reason analysis to determine whether the Code of Ethics actually restrained trade).