Robert A. Boonin is a shareholder practicing in Butzel Long’s Ann Arbor office. He is an honors graduate of The University of Michigan Law School (J.D. 1985) and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (B.S. Economics 1976). He also holds a Masters Degree in Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University (M.L.I.R. 1980). Prior to law school, Mr. Boonin served on the labor relations staff of the Michigan Association of School Boards (1978-1982), representing Michigan school districts in their labor relations. Before graduate school, Mr. Boonin worked for the Legislators’ Education Action Project of the National Conference of State Legislatures in Washington, D.C. (1975-76).
Mr. Boonin's practice is largely concentrated in the areas of labor, employment discrimination, public contract and education law. He has represented public and private sector clients across the country, in over thirty jurisdictions, in wrongful termination, employment discrimination, wage and hour, tenure proceedings
Robert A. Boonin is a shareholder practicing in Butzel Long’s Ann Arbor office. He is an honors graduate of The University of Michigan Law School (J.D. 1985) and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (B.S. Economics 1976). He also holds a Masters Degree in Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University (M.L.I.R. 1980). Prior to law school, Mr. Boonin served on the labor relations staff of the Michigan Association of School Boards (1978-1982), representing Michigan school districts in their labor relations. Before graduate school, Mr. Boonin worked for the Legislators’ Education Action Project of the National Conference of State Legislatures in Washington, D.C. (1975-76).
Mr. Boonin's practice is largely concentrated in the areas of labor, employment discrimination, public contract and education law. He has represented public and private sector clients across the country, in over thirty jurisdictions, in wrongful termination, employment discrimination, wage and hour, tenure proceedings and other employment-related lawsuits and claims, as well as in labor grievance arbitrations, labor negotiations, unfair labor practices and representational proceedings and labor strikes. His public sector clients include universities, community colleges, K-12 school districts, charter schools, as well as cities and townships. He has negotiated well over one hundred collective bargaining agreements, and he has also successfully represented employers in over one hundred arbitration cases. He is also well versed in NLRB issues, having extensively practiced before that agency in many NLRB Regions.
Mr. Boonin is active in national and state bar association sections in labor and employment law and public contract law. He is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Federal Labor Standards Legislation Committee and the American Employment Law Council. He is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America (a national legal honorary) and is a Past-President; he is also Chair of the Wage and Hour Defense Institute of the Litigation Counsel of America. He is also a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Law Lawyers (a prestigious and highly limited national honorary of employment law practitioners). Mr. Boonin has been repeatedly recognized by his peers as a Super Lawyer in labor and employment law matters, and he has also been recognized in Chambers USA as a leading attorney in labor and employment law. His other professional services include being: a member and Treasurer of the governing board of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan; Past-President, Board member and a founder of the Michigan Council of School Attorneys; a member of the NSBA's Council of School Attorneys; a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys; and a member of the local chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (formerly IRRA). He is a past chair of the Washtenaw County Bar Association’s Employment Law Section, and is a past Co-Chair of its Trial Practice Section. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Ann Arbor/ Ypsilanti Regional Chamber Board of Directors.
Mr. Boonin frequently publishes articles and presents at conferences on various topics involving labor and employment law matters. He is a Co-Editor of the chapter on national origin discrimination in the 2007 edition of the preeminent treatise Employment Discrimination (BNA 2007), and a contributor and Chapter Editor to the annual supplements of the American Bar Association’s treatise The Fair Labor Standards Act (BNA 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010), and is also on the Editorial Advisory Board of each of Thompson Publishing Group’s four legal services on wage and hour law. Among his presentations are: recent seminars regarding overtime pay compliance – including presenting two seminars at the recent conventions of the Society for Human Resource Management in Las Vegas (2007), Chicago (2008), New Orleans (2009), San Diego (2010), and Las Vegas (2011); a regularly featured speaker at the Institute of Continuing Legal Education’s Annual Employment Law Institutes. Among his other professional writings are: “The Constitutional Constraints in Dealing with Drug Abuse in the Schools,” Michigan Bar Journal (Nov. 1989); “Wage and Hour Law for Michigan Public Employers, Michigan Public Employers, Michigan Public Employment and Labor Relations Law” (MPELRA 1994); “Damage Recoverable in the Employment Case, Michigan Wrongful Discharge and Employment Law” (ICLE 1994); MPELRA Manual Chapter on FLSA for Public Employers; numerous articles on the new overtime regulations; “Damages in Employment Litigation” (ICLE).