Michael Loconto Esq.

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

Arbitrator Loconto has trained with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services Institute and has apprenticed under two members of the National Academy of Arbitrators. 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 as a thought leader and convener in the fields of 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 worked with union representatives and neutrals to co-lead the Higher Education Industry Council for the Labor and Employee Relations Association and the District Capacity Project of the Massachusetts Education Partnership, and has led or presented on a number of labor-management issues before LERA and the National Centers for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions. 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 for undergraduate education 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.

Arbitrator Loconto is available on the East Coast and in the Midwest via the FMCS Roster of Arbitrators and at the state and local level through the Kansas Department of Labor, Los Angeles County (CA) Employee Relations Commission, Maine Labor Relations Board, Nevada Government Employee-Management Relations Board, New Hampshire Public Employees Labor Relations Board, New Jersey’s Board of Mediation and Public Employment Relations Commission, and Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Mediation and Labor Relations Board. He is also available for direct appointment by the parties or through a number of other public and private panels as a neutral, independent arbitrator, mediator, facilitator, fact finder or hearing officer in labor and employment-related and commercial disputes. Arbitrator Loconto also offers card check services for union organizing, election and certification processes and joint training on interest-based bargaining (“IBB”) principles and techniques.