Eleanor Laws appointed NLRB administrative law judge

Eleanor Laws appointed NLRB administrative law judge
The National Labor Relations Board today announced the appointment of Eleanor Laws as an administrative law judge in its Division of Judges.  Judge Laws is transferring to the Board from a similar position with the Social Security Administration.  Her appointment keeps the number of NLRB judges at 40 nationwide.
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency vested with the power to safeguard employee rights to organize and to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative.  The agency also acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions.
With offices in Washington, D.C., New York City, San Francisco and Atlanta, the Division of Judges is responsible for docketing unfair labor practice cases brought by the Board’s General Counsel on charges filed by unions, employers and individual employees.  The Division disposes of those cases by settlement or by conducting trials and issuing initial decisions, which may then be appealed to the five-member Board and thereafter to an appropriate United States Court of Appeals.
Before she was appointed a Social Security judge in July 2009, Judge Laws spent several years in private practice specializing in employment law, including the representation of clients before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Merit Systems Protection Board.  She also served four years as an EEOC administrative judge.  In addition, she handled employment relations cases for the United States Postal Service, and spent two years as the Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity at the University of Montana.  She has written extensively on employment law issues and has co-authored several textbooks in the field.  Judge Laws received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and her law degree from the University of North Carolina. 
Judge Laws will take her assignments from the San Francisco office of the Division of Judges.