Michael Loconto

Michael Loconto is a Boston-based arbitrator and mediator providing neutral, independent dispute resolution services for the modern workplace through Loconto ADR.

Arbitrator Loconto has trained with the FMCS and has apprenticed under two NAA members on labor, employment and pension fund matters. He has experience in K-12 and higher education, skilled and manual trades, construction (including project labor agreements and jurisdictional disputes), public safety, dining services, athletics, public sector, beverages, financial services and technology workers. Specific issues include: discipline and discharge; drug testing; contract interpretation; pay and wage differentials; benefits; disability; discrimination and harassment; FMLA; FLSA; USERRA; Title IX; and, related state and federal laws.

Arbitrator Loconto has two decades of experience in labor relations and employment law, previously serving as an in-house counsel to a small college and a labor and employment relations leader for a large university and a major metropolitan city. He has co-led the LERA Higher Education Industry Council and the Massachusetts Education Partnership's DCP, and has spoken on a number of labor-management issues before LERA and the NCSCBHEP. Arbitrator Loconto has taught legal writing and research to first-year law students at his alma mater, Northeastern University School of Law, and has lectured on school law and arbitration in athletics for college students and legislative drafting for Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education. He currently teaches courses on contracts and bargaining for union and management representatives at The Labor Guild School of Labor-Management Relations in Boston, and is President of the Executive Board for LERA's Boston chapter.

Arbitrator Loconto is available for in-person or remote hearingsthrough FMCS or at the state and local level in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington state. He is also available for direct appointment by the parties or through a number of other public and private panels in labor, employment and commercial disputes.

Arbitrator Loconto also offers meeting facilitation services and related training, card check services for union organizing, election and certification processes, and joint training on interest-based bargaining ("IBB") principles and techniques.