Robert F. Prorok

As a Director in the firm's Labor and Employment Group, Bob represents employers in a full range of legal matters in court and before arbitrators. Bob is a certified mediator, early neutral evaluator and arbitrator for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and also a member of the firm's Alternative Dispute Resolution team.

Experience

He focuses on representing employers in labor and employment litigation matters, primarily before various federal and state courts, federal and state agencies, national and state labor relations boards and labor arbitrators. Bob has testified before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Committee on Labor Relations regarding strike replacement legislation. Prior to joining Cohen & Grigsby, Bob was a Partner at Reed Smith in its Pittsburgh office.

Among his reported judicial cases are Dorsey v. Pittsburgh Associates, 90 Fed. Appx. 636, 2004 WL 243508 (3^rdCir. 2004); and Solomon v. Society of Automotive Engineers, 2001 WL 866974 (W.D. Pa. 2001).

Reported administrative cases he has handled before the National Labor Relations Board include Union Switch & Signal Inc., 316 NLRB 1025 (1995); and Beth Energy Mines Inc., 308 NLRB 1242 (1992).

Bob's reported arbitration cases include: First Energy Inc./First Energy Nuclear Operating Co. (FENOC), 2004 WL 3021848(Paolucci, 2004); ECC Specialty Chemicals Inc., 1999 WL 908644 (Allen 1999); Upper St. Clair Educ. Ass'n, 1996 WL 865245 (Duff 1996).

Additional Roles

Bob is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association and the Advisory Board for the Duquesne University Paralegal Institute. He has also served on the Advisory Board for the National Institute of Business Management's publication, You and the Law.

He is a former board member for the National Association of Legal Assistants.

His community service has included being a board member for the St. John Capistran Pastoral Council.

He is a former adjunct professor in the Master of Arts in Personnel Administration/Industrial Relations Program at St. Francis College of Loretto, Pa.

Honors and Achievements

Bob is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for labor and employment law.

He has written articles that have been published in the Employment Law Review, Facts & Findings, American City & County, the Pittsburgh Business Times, the Allegheny Business News and the Accommodating Disabilities Business Management Guide-CCH.

Bob has given presentations throughout Pennsylvania and in other states on numerous topics related to workplace law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, drafting employee handbooks, the hiring of temporary and replacement workers and selecting and terminating employees in Pennsylvania.

He is a frequent presenter of Continuing Legal Education Programs for both the National Business Institute (NBI) and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI). Two presentations given at events sponsored by the PBI were "What Can and Will Go Wrong with Settlement Agreements and How to Avoid Costly Mistakes" and "How to Win (or Defend Against) Summary Judgment Motions in Employment Cases."

He has spoken at numerous NBI events, as well. In particular, he has discussed "Fundamental Issues in Pennsylvania Human Resources Law, Strategies for Retaining Key Employees and Protecting Confidential Information in Pennsylvania" and "Employment Law Dilemmas: Unraveling Advanced Issues in Pennsylvania."