W. Melvin Haas Appointed as Vice Chairman of U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Labor Relations Committee

CONTACT:
Wendy Angel
Public Relations Coordinator
Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLP
404-230-6724 Office
wangel@constangy.com

MACON, GA —  National labor and employment law firm, Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLP, has announced that W. Melvin Haas, partner, has been appointed as vice chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Labor Relations Committee.

Haas has a wealth of labor and employment law experience, having handled more than 100 union elections, including several of over 1,000 employees in the voting unit. He has represented management in numerous unfair labor practice proceedings, representation case hearings, objections case hearings, as well as arguments before the Courts of Appeals. Haas was recently named to Human Resource Executive Magazine's list of "Top 10 Most Powerful Labor Attorneys for 2009."    

            “We are pleased that Mel Haas has agreed to serve as Vice Chair of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Labor Relations Committee,” says Randy Johnson, senior vice president, Labor, Immigration & Employee Benefits, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Mel’s in-depth experience of employment law, as applied in many real-life situations, will help us move a pro-business agenda and counter many of the misguided initiatives, such as the Employee Free Choice Act, we are now confronting on Capitol Hill.”

One of the Chamber’s largest and most active policy committees, the Labor Relations Committee is responsible for helping to form the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Labor & Employment agenda. The committee’s nearly 150 companies, law firms and trade associations from across the country develop Chamber policy and programs on a wide range of labor and employment issues, including: employment nondiscrimination, minimum wage and wage-hour, occupational safety and health, immigration, labor-management relations, union corporate/strategic campaigns, workplace privacy, work-family issues and leave mandates, and emerging international labor policy issues. 

            The head of Constangy, Brooks & Smith’s Macon office, Haas has served on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Labor Relations Committee for three years.

Haas has acted as the collective bargaining spokesman in numerous collective bargaining proceedings and arbitrations. He has represented management in claims involving sexual harassment, retaliatory discharge, disability, age, race, religion, and sex discrimination. He has successfully represented companies in numerous wage and hour claims and has successfully represented management in the largest elections in Georgia and North Carolina in the last ten years. Haas also provides companies with preventative training in all areas of employment law and has conducted numerous mock union campaigns as a training exercise. 

Before joining Constangy, Haas was an attorney with the National Labor Relations Board, an in-house labor counsel, and a partner in other management labor law firms. He graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law and received his undergraduate degree from Emory University.

About Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLP:
Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLP has counseled employers on labor and employment law matters, exclusively, since 1946. A “Go To” Law Firm in Corporate Counsel and Fortune Magazine, it represents Fortune 500 corporations and small companies across the country.  Its attorneys are consistently rated as top lawyers in their practice areas by publications such as Chambers USA, Super Lawyers, and Top One Hundred Labor Attorneys in the United States.  More than 100 lawyers partner with clients to provide cost-effective legal services and sound preventive advice to enhance the employer-employee relationship.  Offices are located in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas, Massachusetts and California. For more information, visit www.constangy.com.