NLRB appoints Melissa Olivero as administrative law judge

The National Labor Relations Board today announced the appointment of Melissa Olivero as an administrative law judge in its Division of Judges.  She will be transferring to the Board from a similar position with the Social Security Administration.  The Board also expects to announce the appointment of two additional new judges within the next two months.  The new appointees will replace judges who recently retired.
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.
Judge Olivero served as a judge with the Social Security Administration for 2 years.  Before joining Social Security, she spent 6 years as a trial attorney with the Peoria office of the National Labor Relations Board.  She also spent several years in private practice and as a criminal prosecutor.  In addition, she spent 4 years in the United States Army and 4 years in the Army Reserves as a platoon leader and company commander, attaining the rank of captain before her honorable discharge.  Judge Olivero graduated from the University of Michigan and received her law degree from the Northern Illinois University College of Law.  She will take her assignments from the Washington, D.C. office of the Division of Judges.